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!

I really don't get how 'well it's never happened to me' is meant to add weight to an argument that it's OK and/or rare for people to put their feet on seats.

You don't need everyone to be a selfish wanker; you only need a few and voila: dirty seats and dirty clothes.

Well, I don't know what people's thought process is when they put dirty or wet shoes/feet on a seat, but I wouldn't do that. Perhaps you're right that they aren't thinking about anything at all.

I don't really think "Oh well it's dirty anyway", I just think I'm not making it dirty. Which it's not, if people aren't bothered about invisible, non transferrable germs. Right?

I put my feet up on ALL seats if I can and my feet aren't dirty, so it's sort of the natural response if that makes sense. I don't find it comfortable to sit on them in the normal way, which is probably just because I've never got used to it, I suppose? I understand that chairs are designed to be comfortable for most people so others must be comfortable sitting with feet on the floor. Even at work or a restaurant or something I normally have one leg up on the chair. I don't go to really posh places very often, clearly!

And this is why a lot of newer buses have "luxury" e-leather seats, btw. Nothing to do with luxury and everything to do with being easy to wipe down.

I can't believe anyone thinks it is OK to put their mucky shoes on a seat on which they know someone else will have to sit. I suppose it is shorthand for knowing when someone is a cunt.

This is why i only have leather furniture and wood floor at home too.

It wasn't really meant to 'add weight' to my argument Only, it was more a response to 'it happened to me'. What i am saying i suppose is that given the amount you and i travel on public transport and how dirty it is and how many people put feet, food, bags, drinks, vom, piss, whatever on seats, the fact that you only need to have your clothes cleaned so rarely and i haven't at all means that our clothes are not really getting marked by it and therefore most people with their feet on the seats probably can exercise some reasonable judgement. And a small minority probably can't. Doesn't make everyone who does it a thoughtless bastard.

They might be a cunt, but at least they're a comfy cunt.

Rock on Tommy.

Even at work or a restaurant or something I normally have one leg up on the chair

You put your feet up on a chair in a restaurant?

Doesn't make everyone who does it a thoughtless bastard.

Erm...yes it does. I don't care whether you have a disability, you don't put your feet on seats. No excuse.

Doesn't make everyone who does it a thoughtless bastard.

I agree with angelos, it does. Or, if they've actually thought about it and come to the conclusion that it's OK, then they're selfish rather than thoughtless. Or a bit hard of thinking.

Doesn't make everyone who does it a thoughtless bastard.

It really does.

I don't care whether you have a disability, you don't put your feet on seats. No excuse.

Wow, so you would rather someone travelled in agonising pain than put the 'relatively' clean (ie no visible dirt, no mud, nothing to visibly transfer or mark clothing) foot on a seat which was not in demand by anyone else at the time? And who is a selfish thoughtless bastard in this scenario? Very black and white thinking.

Used to do that in my early teens i was a right little cow

It is one thing doing it when you're an idiot teenager. It is inexcusable for an adult to do it.

I wouldn't put my feet up on a public transport seat. I might get my shoes dirty

Try wiping the soles of your shoes with a tissue after walking to the bus-stop. There will be a dirty mark, because you've been walking outside on dirty pavements. That's what you're transferring to the seat that people, wearing clean clothes, want to sit on.

All you people with medical reasons for putting your feet up - why not put a newspaper down on the seat first?

And no, slipping off your flip-flops so I'm sitting next to your sweaty feet is not acceptable behaviour.

Everything goes in the washing machine at the end of the day, what's the big deal...?
Bloomin germophobes! what an uncomfortable life you must lead

Our local rail service fine people up to £75 if they put feet on seats. Shoes on or off

at how many people seem to think this is OK. If we all did it, the seats would be sooo dirty... it's a rule for a reason IMO!

The worst thing is when they have gum on their shoe and the gum goes onto the seat.

Or workmen with dusty boots.

I think these people just have that childlike disregard for the rest of humanity - as long as they are comfy, that's all that matters.

Scumbags, the lot of them.

Our local rail service fine people up to £75 if they put feet on seats. Shoes on or off

That's a good start but should be more IMO. My coat costs way more than that.

Do people actually put the soles of their shoes on the seats though?
Surely it's the back of the shoe which unless you have been in thick mud and in which case shouldn't put feet on the seat, isn't that dirty. If you wiped the back of your shoe and a bus or train seat I imagine the seat is far dirtier than the shoe.

Being clean isn't criteria for being allowed on public transport, the person sat on the seat before you might have been on a dusty building site all day, have sat on a manky bench or the floor, pissed themselves, not washed their clothes for months, sat on dog shit on the grass, they might have been working in a hospital and be covered in germs.
If you sit on the seat you risk getting dirty regardless of any shoes that might have been there.
Perhaps standing is a better option. If you can bear to touch the filthy handles...

I have long ago cpmw to the conclusion that some people just don't step on dog shit - especially the toddlers standing on bus seats (because we know how careful toddlers are) - or they glide above the pavements without touching the ground. Fact.

Especially the manky mares at DSs dojo. I love to watch the kids bare footed or face down on the shitty mats.

Surely it's the back of the shoe

What? No. Often it's the sole. The toe end of the sole, usually, although I do sometimes see people planting their whole foot flat on the seat.

Its not germophobia, incidentally, it's not wanting to get a muddy/gum-sticky coat/dress/whatever. And no, not everything does go in the wash, if you RTFT; some stuff is dry-clean or handwash and that's even more of a pain in the arse.

Do people actually put the soles of their shoes on the seats though?

Yes, they do, especially on buses. They bend their legs at the knee and rest the soles of their shoes on the upholstered edge of the seat.

Or its the bit in the middle of your sole on the very edge of the seat.