People putting their feet on seats on public transport - what is their thought process?

[angelos02]

Sat on the back seat of a bus this morning, 3 people had their feet up on the seats in front of them! They were all on their own and in their late teens/early 20's. Do they genuinely not understand that other people have to sit there or do they know this and think 'fuck it'? Not that it makes any difference but seeing as it is Winter, the bottom of their shoes can't be spotless!

What MrsKoala said.

Both posts

MrsKoala, it is by definition thoughtless if you haven't thought (or don't care) about other people sitting on your dirty footprints.

'my shoes/feet/backs of my shoes are actually quite clean' is nonsense if someone's been walking about outside and unless they've scrupulously inspected them for muck.

'no one else wants the seat'; how on earth does the person know that will be true once the bus or whatever gets to the next stop, or the next?

I'm with MrsKoala too.

They just want to comfortable.
I also don't think this world is that dirty. I mean, it's not like the streets are awash with excrement like medieval times anymore.

I think the word 'dirty' is being taken a bit too literally here TBH.

I know people who have their feet up on seats don't generally have shoes caked with shit or even mud.

But the fact is that those shoes have been walked through puddles, pavements, dog wee, grass etc. So whilst not necessarily dirty they are still covered in stuff, even if it's just rain water, that will get left behind on the seat and that other people don't want to sit on. Even if the shoes have just been through a boil and are sparkling clean but wet, okay, but I don't want a wet bum when I sit on the train.

It's all about 'matter out of place'. It's not about something being objectively dirty because it's covered in shit. It's about the fact that by putting your feet up on the seat you're transgressing a norm, an expected behaviour and that's off-putting and jarring.

Okay 'no more dirty than the seat already is' and when the bus/train has other people on it 'i will then move my feet because i have functioning legs and a thought process'. I thought thoughtless was when no thought had gone into it, thinking about it and weighing up that your actions will actually not be detrimental to anyone is not thoughtless in my book.

I also happily sit on floors etc. I think everything on public transport is dirty. The grime on my hands from hand rails is grim sometimes, but i still absent mindedly bite my nails or touch my lips.

I don't do this, but what a lot of pearl-clutching here. I bet most of you would actually sit on the floor on the train if it was a long journey and there were no seats, so being quite so precious about the sole of (probably quite clean) shoes near the seats is ridiculous. Also, a lot of people do it, and I've yet to ever see dog shit on the seat of a train.

Mrs Train seats are grim, covered in nasty bacteria. Okay, fine. But if they haven't been used as a footrest, the chances of getting visible marks on my clothes are minimal. If they have been used as a footrest then there is an increased chance of my clothes being marked. Why the hell should I increased my chances of marked clothes because some cunt other passenger wants to be a little bit more comfortable?

I've seen matter on a bus seat. Didn't fancy getting close enough to determine whether it was dogshit or 'just' mud, but also didn't fancy sitting on it.

Yes, I'd sit on a train floor if there were no seats, but the difference is that a lot of people here are talking about when there IS a seat but someone's got their feet on it.

I totally agree with MrsKoala. I would never put wet feet on a seat but dry, with no mud/poo/other transferrable dirt etc, yep, have done and would do in the future, except that where I live now you can get fined for it so I tend not to.

I think people worrying about germs are being a bit nutso in all honesty. People place their bags on the floor outside all the time and place them on the seat. I have also and would also sit on the floor, maybe I should never sit on a bus seat?

Park benches get rain water, bird poo, spilled food on them all the time, and you don't consider those too dirty to sit on, I assume?

It's about the fact that by putting your feet up on the seat you're transgressing a norm, an expected behaviour and that's off-putting and jarring.

Do you think it's really about that? I find that a very strange way of thinking about things.

Not sure if i'm meant to be licking these seats, but when i sit down i use my arse, which is covered in pants and clothes and a coat. Is that not the way people sit anymore? How bad could a some dried puddle water be? Wet is worse than dirt imo. I'd be irritated if i got a wet arse from a seat because that is uncomfortable. Invisible dirt doesn't bother me.

When i had my leg in a full brace and was in a lot of pain, the only way i could be comfortable (or not in agony) on the train was to put my foot up. I weighed up that as reasonable cost versus benefit. Ie me being in horrible pain versus some invisible dirt from the back of my shoe transferring to a seat where someone wearing numerous layers of clothes would sit on it, wasn't much of a contest. obviously i'm not saying everyone is in pain, but there was a thought process there.

I mean, if I'd sat on the floor, I'd probably go home, hang my coat up, not wash it, use it again. So there's a fair chance when I'm sitting on a bus seat with my bum that my coat has already been in contact with the floor. I've probably also leant against a wall that a dog has pissed on, too. You can't see or detect the majority of dirt or germs. I don't worry about it.

Bertie Good that there are fines where you live- this should be everywhere.

As I said, it's not about germs. The world's covered in germs. It's about the risk of my clothes being marked by whatever (mud, rain, clean water, wee, poo...) because someone put their feet on a seat which is intended to sit on

Park benches do get all of those things but they're all in the natural 'life' of a park bench, you know what you're getting. Train seats aren't intended to be used as foot rests; they are for people to sit on.

Yes, of course you're transgressing a norm or expectation. It's a fucking seat, intended for bums, not shoes

How about visible dirt, MrsK, which a lot of posters have mentioned?

My winter coats need dry-cleaning and I find it less than impressive if one of them needs an unscheduled trip to the cleaners because some selfish git has had their feet on a bus seat that I've then inadvertently sat on.

I mean, if I'd sat on the floor, I'd probably go home, hang my coat up, not wash it, use it again. So there's a fair chance when I'm sitting on a bus seat with my bum that my coat has already been in contact with the floor. I've probably also leant against a wall that a dog has pissed on, too. You can't see or detect the majority of dirt or germs. I don't worry about it.

I don't think many people are that bothered about the 'dirt' you can't see. The point is that feet on seats increases the chances of leaving visible dirt or marks on someone's clothes, which people are bothered about.

God, I really really hope people don't actually think the way they post on MN. I will truly have lost all hope for the world if that's the case.

i have never, in my non driving life of almost 40 years of living in London and using public transport, seen visible dirt. i have always worn dry clean only coats (ohhh get me!) and never had to have them cleaned because of sitting on something which has left any kind of mark on public transport (i did sit on chewing gum once in a club tho - grim).

Those who say that it doesn't matter, because the seat is already dirty, if you see litter in the street, do you through some more down rather than look for a bin, because the street is littered already?

I feel for the poor sods that have to try and keep the trains, buses and streets clean, probably for minimum wage, with such inconsiderate behaviours apparently okay to some.

I don't care about bacteria or germs or anything like that from feet on seats. I care about the marks left on my clothes.

If you sit on the floor or on a park bench covered in bird poo, you make a calculated decision that you will get your clothes dirty. If I sit on a seat I don't expect my clothes to be made dirty.

All those saying "but seats are dirty already so what's a bit more dirt" are ridiculous, it's all those little bits of dirt that add up to one skid-marky looking coat

MrsK, I'm also a non-driver, heavy user of London buses and tubes and trains, and I have had experience of visible dirt.

Just because it hasn't happened to you personally doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It does happen, it's happened to me (and DP actually), and it's one of my reasons for hating feet on seats.

Is it THAT hard to imagine that the phenomenon might exist, even if it's not your own epxerience?

This probably isn't the same reason as 3 people on one bus, but I once sat in an odd position on a train where my feet were partly on a bit of seat because I had cystitis and it was the least uncomfortable position for my burning crotch! I did get some glares but it was such a sharp pain if someone had been rude about it I probably would have snapped at them, even though I was the one in the wrong. But that was exceptional circumstances. I agree with the person who said they were probably trying to be comfortable, or that they didn't want someone to sit with them.

Surely the point is also that seats are intended to be, erm, sat on rather than used as a foot rest. To be honest, I assume people with feet on seats are intellectually sub-normal because they haven't managed to figure out how a seat works.

Where has respect for others gone ?

Only - i never said i can't comprehend that happening, all i said is that it hasn't happened from me and i think there are reasonable people who can put their feet on the seats and be aware of checking their shoes first before they do so, so it hasn't happened from them either. Of course in a city like London you are going to have selfish wankers, but i don't think everyone who puts their feet on the seat is selfish or thoughtless or leaving enough dirt to mark anyones clothes.

That it's comfy.

Yes, it's not right, it's bloody annoying, but it's still comfy. (Unless you have knees like mine, in which case it's crippling)