To think this woman was being an unbearable nob?

[ShushBaby]

Reminded of this by another thread about offering seats on trains, but didn't want to hijack...

Recently I was on a cross-country train and it was extremely busy. Lots of people standing up. The guard was passing through the carriages asking people to remove luggage from seats so that others could sit down.

One woman- pretty heavily pregnant- who had her bags on the seat next to her, in response just looked apologetic and said 'sorry... I'm pregnant?' (no further explanation as to why this meant she needed two seats). And the guard just walked on and left her to it.

I don't blame him for not insisting she move the bags- he was probably wary of coming across as bullish and bossy to a (simper) pregnant woman.

But I do think she was being a bit of a twat, frankly.

Why on earth should being pregnant mean you need two seats? She wasn't abnormally massive, she could have moved to aisle seat if she wanted to have access to the loo....what other reason could there be?!

AIBU?

BigWitch never fear, after some soul-searching, I have managed to get over it.

Didn't realise this was a forum for only discussing very serious matters. Wasn't aware that it is forbidden to find the trivia of life irritating/amusing or to talk about it.

YANBU but maybe they were heavy so she wanted to keep them close so when her stop arrived she wouldn't need to struggle getting them off the floor or in an overhead luggage holder! There could be a number of reasons......someone could have put her on the train and she was being assisted off at the other end?!? No one knows, why care? as long as you were following the rules then let her be, she's the one who embarrassed herself by not moving them without explaining but then I have to say, my sister would have done that when she was pregnant as she was the only pregnant person in the world and we were always saying "your pregnant not disabled!" yet when she's not pregnant she would be the first to moan about it! Lol

drip drip drip

Dont you just love wasting time on an op who decides to give some information such the train being cross-country, deliberately giving the idea that bags referred to more than just a handbag and some magazines....

It doesn't matter if the bags were tiny tiffant ring bags or hulking big Louis Vuitton valises, they should still be moved for a person to sit.

If I was next to her standing, I would have knocked her bags on to the floor and sat my arse down.

Plus the fact you shouldn't pack bigger bags than you can move/carry by yourself. Especially for a train journey.

Though I did once get a train to Gatwick airport which had no room for suitcases.

Quint what a horrible post.

did waste quite a bit of time arguing with the "maybe she couldn't move them" folks before we all found out it was ahandbag and whs smith bag, which is a bit grrrr since i could be looking after my child doing something else [grim]

Quint, why so unpleasant?

Was enjoying a bit of lighthearted chat about something which made me .

Apparently there are a set of unspoken/written rules to posting on Mumsnet. I'm not au fait with them I'm afraid, not being a frequent poster. Perhaps you could draw up a list of what is and isn't acceptable.

To be perfectly honest, the whole 'heavy bags' issue hadn't even occurred to me, hence I didn't mention it. And the cross-country thing was to indicate that it was a long journey where people would need seats. And to set the scene, you know, tell a story...

Was just having a laugh, do cheer up.

And alien when I returned to the thread and read those comments re heavy bags I clarified.

Sorry to have got people's knickers in a twist!

Bit of a minefield this innit?

wasting time? Because the rest of your intense mumsnetting is so worthwhile and useful?

Enjoying Light-hearted chat?

Having a stab at a heavily pregnant woman:

"But I do think she was being a bit of a twat, frankly. "
"Unbearable knob"

And you call me unpleasant?

Pregnant women can be twats too Quint.

was joking shushbaby jeez seems i need a list too :)

I think it's actually quite insulting to suggest that because a woman is pregnant she is incapable of being polite and having manners. This particular woman was anti-social and used being pregnant as justification for her poor behaviour. Being pregnant is an excuse for many things but being a selfish cow is not one of them.

I thought that about Quint too......I've seen rather a few comments now left by Quint and they've always been reasonable! Are you ok?

Maybe she was in pain and didn't fancy her handbag resting on her belly, maybe shes's on of those poor preganant woman who faints everytime she raises her arms and is tired if explaining same each time someone gets arsey about her extra seat, maybe she'd just had a CVS, maybe she was a "nobber" but I'm with quint on this - why the venom? and the drip

Social niceties work both ways. Some people are selfish bastards, most or not. I prefer to work on basis of assuming she needed space for whatever reason. Had I also needed the seat, as opposed to simply feeling entitled I would have asked her - I know I know novel eh?!

That's an odd thing to do on a busy train - I would be too embarassed. Mind you, people's behaviour on trains can be most peculiar. I had to stand at the front of carriage for at least an hour when 30 odd weeks pregnant with a sleepy 2 yr old who I couldn't put down. There were two older (but not that old; 50ish or so?) ladies tutting away a few seats back about how nobody was getting up to give me a seat and wasn't it just disgraceful, as they ripped open their box of chocolates and settled back to admire the view ...

Oh please. Its far more likely she was a lazy arse who wanted two seats to herself.
You wouldn't need to rest your handbag on yourself or lift your arms above your head to move two small bags onto the floor. Any more ridiculous excuses?

Sakura - you must know far more selfish lazy people than me to make that assumption. Most people I know behave decently, most people I come accross do so also.

If the bags were so small as to involve no effort in placing them on floor/overhead locker/lap why on earth would DH bother taking another seat? It makes zero sense.

I am going on a long train journey tomorrow.

I hope there are lots of such incidents to keep me entertained.

(thanks for asking, I am not ok actually. Me and both kids have suffered noro virus since monday, maybe I am not really well enough to enjoy "light hearted" chat on the interweb )

That aside, I dont agree with "pregnant women bashing". And calling people twats and unbearable knob on the basis of bags on the seat.