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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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To have expected this woman to move seats

610 replies

appletarts · 16/01/2014 21:05

I was on the train back from London, with a first class ticket. In the carriage there was one space available for a buggy with a seat facing it, also described as disabled access. I arrived just as a woman was putting her things on the seat, I said excuse me do you think I could put my buggy here? She goes yes but sits down in the seat opposite it. Uh... I said do you think I could have that seat so I can look after my child during the journey and she starts moaning saying she's booked in advance and wants to sit in her booked seat. I asked her does she have a specific need which means she needs this seat, she says no. I said well I'm sure you don't want to meet the needs of my child for three hours do you? How about you let me have that seat so I can look after my DD and if someone comes on a disputes you being in that free seat we'll deal with it then. She then moans more saying she's booked and why is she being made out to be in the wrong, lots of eye rolling and tutting on her part. I say she can sit in 99% of the seats available and I need this 1%, I need this one seat. Eventually she moves but behaves as if she's been evicted and sits with a cats arse face for most of journey sighing everytime my dd dared utter a gurgle. Seriously? Is this unreasonable of me?

OP posts:
Rosencrantz · 16/01/2014 21:06

Yabu. She booked that seat.

ifyourehoppyandyouknowit · 16/01/2014 21:06

Didt she book that specific seat?

BillyNotQuiteNoMates · 16/01/2014 21:07

YABU if you didn't book a seat. I would not have been happy to move - those seats give extra leg room, which, disabled or not make for a more comfortable journey. Next time book your own seat.

Shakey1500 · 16/01/2014 21:07

If you needed that one seat, why didn't you book it? She was entitled to sit in her reserved seat and you made her feel unreasonable.

CaptainTripps · 16/01/2014 21:07

Yep - you are totally being unreasonable. I wouldn't have budged. She's a better woman than I am!

Bootycall · 16/01/2014 21:08

I try and sit as far away from a buggy as humanely possible in any public transport.

so she was being brave as well as unreasonable.Grin

Sammie101 · 16/01/2014 21:08

YABU

Bowlersarm · 16/01/2014 21:08

YABU. What's the point of going to the trouble of booking a seat just to have a stranger stop you using it?

SeaSickSal · 16/01/2014 21:08

YABU. She had booked the seat. Babies do come out of buggies you know, they're not welded in.

ifyourehoppyandyouknowit · 16/01/2014 21:08

I wouldn't have moved and I perhaps suggested you take your child out of the pushchair and sat it on your knees.

WorraLiberty · 16/01/2014 21:09

I asked her does she have a specific need which means she needs this seat, she says no.

OMG I would have told you to mind your own fucking business

Why should she have to explain something personal to a total stranger?

MuttonCadet · 16/01/2014 21:09

SHe booked a seat, that seat - you are being incredibly unreasonable, at least she moved, I wouldn't have.

PostmanPatAlwaysRingsTwice · 16/01/2014 21:09

Did you leave your child in the buggy for three hours? My DS would never allow that!

HandMini · 16/01/2014 21:09

YABU. She'd booked the seat plus she was there first.

I would have asked ONCE but I would not have badgered someone who clearly didn't want to do me a favour into doing me a favour.

Sirzy · 16/01/2014 21:10

so she had booked the seat yet you thought you should be allowed to sit there? YABU

BillyNotQuiteNoMates · 16/01/2014 21:10

Were you the woman who had booked the seat OP? Just dawned on me that this is a reverse as no-one would be that daft.

southwest1 · 16/01/2014 21:10

If it was the seat she had been allocated, then you shouldn't expect her to move seats. If that was the only seat you could sit in why didn't you book it in advance? If a wheelchair user had booked it you wouldn't have been able to sit there and would have had to find an alternative seat.

cupoftchai · 16/01/2014 21:10

But it was the decent thing for her to do, to move. Plus the happier the baby, the more comfortable a journey it was going to be for the whole carriage.

However op it might be worth thinking through how to do the journey if someone is in that seat who cannot or will not move.

coffeeinbed · 16/01/2014 21:10

Why didn't book the seat then?
It was hers of she'd booked it.

appletarts · 16/01/2014 21:11

Why book a seat in a disabled space which is also for the use of parents with buggys if you are able bodied and have no buggy - work that one out!

OP posts:
BabyDubsEverywhere · 16/01/2014 21:11

Why couldn't you just take your DC out of the pushchair and sit in any of the 99% of other seats that were available?

ThatBloodyWoman · 16/01/2014 21:11

I think I can see both sides on this one.
It would have been nice of her to offer the seat willingly - but in the event of her not agreeing to move, there is little to be done about it unfortunately.

Zabelithe · 16/01/2014 21:11

I think the woman could have been kind and just offered you the seat, I would have done, booked or no booked seat. It's a pity we all can't be nicer to our fellow humans.

aderynlas · 16/01/2014 21:12

What would you have done if the train was busier op. Or if someone was already using the space for a buggy. Maybe wise to book your seat next time or a buggy you can fold.

Bowlersarm · 16/01/2014 21:12

It's none of your business why she booked that seat!