Woman on bus told me to move seats because she was allergic to my cats. Who was BU?

[EweHaveGoatToBeKiddin]

Just in from the vets and rushing to get dinner sorted so shall make this quick-ish.

My kittens had a check up today at the vets. I don't drive, so me and dd took the bus with them in their pet carrier.

A woman was blocking the aisle with her legs out and shopping trolley so i asked if she could please move to let us by. She made a face as she looked at my pet carrier but finally moved and let us sit in the two seats behind her.

Then she starts coughing. After a minute of it, she turned round and informed me she's highly allergic of cats and they cause her breathing difficulties. I apologised and said I'd put them on the floor by my feet instead of on my lap, but she said that would't make any difference. She suggested i find somewhere else to sit.

The bus was unusually busy. There were only two seats left, but they weren't together. One had a dripping wet carrier bag on it (looked like a tub of spilled curry sauce inside) and the other was at the back of the bus between a group of loud (seemed very drunk to me) people playing music and talking about not so nice things...

I told her that dd won't sit on my lap and I needed two seats together so would be staying put.

Next time the bus stopped, she got up to speak to the driver! She didn't even try being quiet. I was mortified. She said that she was struggling to breathe because of my manky cats and that they shouldn't be allowed on public transport. And that her shopping is covered in fur now.

The driver asked her repeatedly to sit down, there's nothing he could do. Then he asked me how much further i was going. I told him still a fair bit, as the vets is in a different town. After another few minutes of arguing, the driver firmly told her to sit down or she'd need to get off.

Everyone was laughing at this point. The people up the back were calling crude things down to me thinking they were hilarious. ("I don't mind your pussy being on board etc etc")

Anyway, she sat back down and we set off again. She sat there swearing under her breath and coughing. Three stops later, she got up again and demanded a refund as she had to get off now or else she'd get seriously ill.

I'm not undermining allergies in any way, but what was i supposed to do? The driver said he doesn't do refunds as he doesn't handle the money and she'd have to write to head office. Ten minutes of arguing later, she got off.

I was 20 minutes late for my appointment because of her! Luckily i had a double appointment booked, but it meant the vet had to rush and do two cats in the space of one.

So, dare i ask? Who was BU? Please say it wasn't me. I feel rotten about it already. But i don't know what i could have done differently.

[Feminine]

But valium op doesn't drive.

[ClaraOswald]

So how would you get your pets to a vet in a neighbouring town when you don't have a car for whatever reason?

You have the money to be spending out on double taxi fare?

[valiumredhead]

Yes, it doesn't change my opinion. I've been on buses where cats have shat in their carriers, obviously very poorly. And once had to get off the bus as an Alsatian puked at the back of the bus and every time the bus braked it rolled down the aisle. Everyone had to get off including driver.

[Bogeyface]

I have a severe allergy to cats and dogs and I am fine as long as I dont touch them or anything they have sat on or touched. Stupid cow.

[valiumredhead]

Yeah me too ever long

[valiumredhead]

I just can't cope with animal errr...waste! It's ok,I know I'm in the minority.

[tabulahrasa]

I wouldn't take cats on a bus - it freaks them out enough getting a taxi or a lift to the vets.

[SpockSmashesScissors]

Very interesting, as pointed out, this would have had very different responses had op been eating a bag of peanuts behind somebody allergic.

Just because the lady got up to speak to the driver doesn't mean a serious allergic response/asthma attack wasn't starting and she could possibly have ended up in hospital later. Also if she could already feel problems starting it wouldn't be that easy for her to get off and walk instead.

Very difficult for both of you, the driver could perhaps have asked two people further back to swap seats rather than arguing with her for twenty minutes. Feel sorry for both of you, not sure why this makes her a stupid cow though.

[OTTMummA]

I don't mind animals on buses so long as they are on a leash/in a carrier.
I once had to sit next to a Yorkie dog (yes on it's own seat) who was shaking and pissing all over the seat.

YANBU op, she was probably in that space because of the shopping trolly.
If she had a real allergy she wouldn't have harped on about her shopping having hair on it.
I don't get why some people think the elderly should be catered to just because of their age,, some old people are right twats you don't suddenly turn into a naice old dear when you hit 65.

[Sirzy]

Spocks - most people have said they would respond exactly the same whatever the allergen was.

DS has severe asthma that is triggered by cigarette smoke. If someone is smoking in an area it is perfectly legal to do so then I move DS I wouldn't expect them to move because of him.

[Bodicea]

I have a cat allergy. You have to touch the cat for it to affect you that quickly. She was talking bollocks!

[orangeandemons]

I don't have to touch them at all! Just being near them sets me off!

[valiumredhead]

You don't have to touch a cat for an allergy to come on quickly. You might.

[5madthings]

I don't have to touch a cat/dog/rabbit/guinea pig etc to set off my allergies just being around them or even being around a person who has a pet and has handled that pet recently, can set off my allergies.


But its my issus to deal with, I keep my home allergy free, I cannot expect the public to not take their let's out or to change clothes after handling their pets so that I am not affected if I happen to sit near them on a bus. I carry anthistemines and inhalers to take if I need to and I move!

[TabithaStephens]

I was on a bus once and a bloke got on with a box of puppies. The driver charged him 50p for each pup! I couldn't believe it.

[TheSmallClanger]

She was being a pain and the driver agreed with you. She should have moved.

When I used to use public transport regularly, it really cheered me up to see dogs, cats and even ferrets out and about. I've seen more humans fouling seats and stinking the place out than animals.

[WestieMamma]

When I was little I went on the bus with my uncle and a cardboard box containing 6 kittens. He was relocating them to the farm where he worked. The kittens escaped and pandemonium ensued :o

[alreadytaken]

the OP lost my sympathy when she objected to being late for her appointment. She could have sat or stood with the pet carrier further down the bus, instead she was happy to make someone ill. When she forced them to leave the bus she didn't even offer to pay their fare. But no - she has paid for her seat and her daughter's and that matters more than forcing someone who is having an allergic reaction off the bus. Would she happily have continued to sit there if an ambulance had had to be called? She doesn't know how ill she made this woman, how long it took her to recover or how long the woman's trip home was delayed. But that is nothing compared to nearly missing her vet appointment.

As this woman was in seats for the elderly/disabled they were probably at the front of the bus so getting up to speak to a driver is not much effort.

[ClaraOswald]

alreadytaken- can you please explain why anyone would be likely to believe that this particular person had the allergies she claimed to have when she told the driver that her shopping now had cat hair all over it.

The cats were locked in the cat carrier the entire journey and had no access to the shopping. So how the hell could cat hair be over her shopping?

If she is outright lying about that, I see no reason to believe that she had any allergies at all and was causing the fuss just because she doesn't like cats.

Which is a whole different ballgame to having an allergy.

[kali110]

They really cant have been that bad if she repeatedly argued with the bus driver. I also wanted to know how her shopping got fur all over it?
Its public transport op is entitled to take her pets, they werent causing trouble. I wouldnt be able to afford a taxi to the bets and back with my pets. I take mine on the bus because i cant drive either.i really wish there was an alternative as theyre scared.

[SelectAUserName]

Did she use an inhaler, OP? I would expect someone with an allergy to something as common as cats, which apparently affects her breathing, to carry and use an inhaler if she had encountered her allergen to that extent. I'm mildly allergic to strange animals - short-haired ones I have to touch for it to trigger, but long-haired ones would probably start me wheezing just from proximity - and so I never go anywhere without my inhaler and use it at the first sign of tight-chested-ness.

So if she wasn't prepared to move despite being capable of getting up and down to the driver and if she had neglected to take the precautions of carrying an inhaler, then she WABU.

[Chandras]

We have allergies to cats in the family, my sister gets in a rash if she sits next to someone who has hold a cat in yhe same day (it is quite funny really. She starts itching and getting urticaria before asking who was near a cat). I have a friend who had an asthma attack at our house, we didn't have a cat but the previous owner of the house did.

And finally, DS has asthma, a bad cough is the prelude to a to be connected to a nebuliser in A&E or get admitted in the children's ward. Having said that, it is my responsibility to avoid Ds getting near to cats.

I think she was unreasonable but I wouldn't say she was a cow, she may have been panicking about an incoming asthma attack, and in that I can't blame her. As un impressive as they may be, asthma attacks could be quite scary (for the sufferer mostly, the rest of gge people could be totally unaware)

[alreadytaken]

since I wasn't present I dont know where their hair did or didnt go and who was exaggerating. The attitude on the thread has been affected by comments about blocking the bus - just as possible that there was room to go past and the story has been exaggerated. However on the OPs own admission someone was coughing and forced to get off a bus - when it sounds like a country area where the next bus could be hours away. But the OP is only concerned that they were late for their appointment. Makes it VU in my book.

[PomBearArmy]

If there were two other available seats she should have moved. Instead she chose to be an awkward arse twitcher.

That line about getting fur all over her shopping proves how U she was. My cat moults insanely, but I'd be impressed if she could cover a three bus seat radius while in a carrier.

Just forget about her.