Elderly couple on train

[brummiesue]

Initial thoughts were what utter twats they were especially after hearing that the woman in question is heavily pregnant. I then however saw the unpixelated photo and the poor woman who wouldn't move looks poorly. AIBU to have a little sympathy for them now??
Link below hopefully
mol.im/a/7602911

I agree with WanderingBar.

So all's well that ends well. Article is the usual inflammatory tripe from the Daily Fail.

I'm not a DM reader but I don't think all did end well. The old couple got to keep something that wasn't theirs. The conductor didnt do his job properly. I like fairness. I wouldn't want my kids thinking that the old couples behaviour was ok. If this was a couple of teenagers refusing to move, I think the conductor would have made them. I can't stand entitled people of any age but I've definitely come across more older people who think everyone owes them something.

We have an autistic child in our family. His parents always book the same seats on transport/venues where possible as it makes things easier. This would have been a real problem for them.

I just can't get worked up about two rude, entitled people being exposed for being rude, entitled people.

If reserved seats had been cancelled, I assume that the train company would have included that important fact in their public, written response.

If the elderly couple had an excellent reason for requiring a table seat, and another excellent reason for not booking one themselves, and another excellent reason for taking one pre-booked by a pregnant mother and her three children, well then they just needed to explain those excellent reasons in an apologetic way.

It wasn't taking the seats that incensed this woman to write about them, it was their awful attitude when challenged about it.

Perhaps if they'd been challenged a bit more over the years they wouldn't have turned into such an ill-mannered couple.

But nobody knows what happened. Maybe the elderly couple did apologise and explain their reasons well. Maybe they took a last minute trip with no time to reserve seats, got on the train to find no seats apart from those 4 were free, sat down and when confronted explained they were unable to stand and maybe the woman with kids said she didn’t give a shit?

Maybe it didn’t happen like that......but nobody knows.

I’m not sure I trust a publicity hungry blogger 100% for their side of the facts.

@Mammylamb exactly this. I worked in retail for a number of years doing various positions and not once did someone of my age or younger behave so ill mannered with me.
On the other hand I've been screamed at, shoved and sworn at by those much much older whilst trying to help them. & the amount of times I've not had a please or thank you for doing something that was clearly me going above and beyond...
Obviously there were occasions where I've encountered absolutely lovely older people (and anyone in general really) which makes you feel like actually what you are doing IS worthwhile after all).

This woman set out to destroy those people

Ok

"I’m not sure I trust a publicity hungry blogger 100% for their side of the facts."

Well there were plenty of witnesses so if she's fabricated any aspect of this she can expect to be called out on it shortly and look forward to a much-diminished sm following and writing career.

As she says in her post, people like this rely on us slinking away.

it isnt an actual newsworthy story

@cactusthief so she has thousands of followers.She put it on her own page.And anyway you cant make things go viral.It doesnt work like that.

After all,stories from Mumsnet have been lifted and reprinted in the paper.

@Potnoodledoo

My point was she wasn't simply posting on an ordinary SM account. She has more than 40 thousand followers. I know how things go viral fgs, but I have about 20 people follow me on Twitter, so 20 v 40.5 thousand? Who has the better chance of their story being spread and picked up by news outlets? It isn't me, is it?

Come on, let's not pretend this is an ordinary mum having a wee vent on Twitter. She is a 'professional blogger' who's very own page tells you she will wither be at home or outside being 'disgusted'

Come on, let's not pretend this is an ordinary mum having a wee vent on Twitter. She is a 'professional blogger' who's very own page tells you she will wither be at home or outside being 'disgusted'

Exactly. I can’t help thinking that this person got exactly what they wanted from that train journey. A massive load of publicity.

Regardless of how many followers she has, or that she is a blogger is irrelevant.
I have two twitter account. I have things go viral when I had around 50 followers and 100k followers from both accounts.
Every time you post anything on sm your posts can be shared regardless of who you are as long as it's something people are interested in.
Papers like the fail also trawl everywhere looking for something 'newsworthy', and cheeky fuckers are something everyone comes across in real life. We are encouraged to call them out, and she did from the moment she arrived at the table.

I really don't know why people are still defending the couple. They were in the wrong. They should have moved their arses. Their reasons are not the families problem. Reservations had NOT been cancelled. The reason the family reserved their seats had their own reasons.

Just because the couple are older gives them no right to be cheeky fuckers.

And if you want needs to be the sole reason for seating. The family still had more of a need for table seating than a couple.

And some suggest that other travellers were also in the wrong? Why should they give up their reserved seats for someone else?
It's no different to planes when people don't book seats together, get on the plane and cause a fuss to sit together. Although at least on a plane where you have to pay, you understand why people take their chance. They are rightfully called out for being entitled or cheeky.

But the situation was no different regardless of her being an ‘ordinary mum’ or a blogger with loads of twitter followers.
The couple didn’t know who she was.

I saw someone else post almost exactly the same situation a couple of weeks ago but they had less twitter clout so it didn’t get picked up by the papers.
Didn’t make the end result any different.

This greatly amused me this morning....

@BlueNeighbourhood thats funny

But the situation was no different regardless of her being an ‘ordinary mum’ or a blogger with loads of twitter followers

I'm not saying the situation was different. I'm saying she is t an ordinary mum having a bit of a moan. The fallout of the situation was different. Irrespective of which view point is favoured, what she then did was awful.

And anyway you cant make things go viral.It doesnt work like that.

It works exactly like that. Otherwise why is social media such a widely used marketing tool? I get her calling them out over taking the reserved seats and refusing to move. I was fine with that.

The filming, photographing, inciting her kids to glare at them and posting to her 49k followers was nasty, spiteful and unnecessary.

I don't doubt for a second this couple do this all the time on trains.

It's just this time the seats they stole belonged to a blogger, good for her.

If the couple who took her reserved seats, had not done so, there wouldn’t have been any publicity.

I don't doubt for a second this couple do this all the time on trains.

There is a message on the mother's twitter from someone on the same train indicating that couple physically pushed others out of the way to get on the train first.

But nobody knows what happened. Maybe the elderly couple did apologise and explain their reasons well. Maybe they took a last minute trip with no time to reserve seats, got on the train to find no seats apart from those 4 were free, sat down and when confronted explained they were unable to stand and maybe the woman with kids said she didn’t give a shit?

Of course anything is possible, but there is a witness account on her Twitter saying she was very polite in face of provocation; there is also the statement from the company.

Of course, can we ever reality experience 'reality'? Perhaps the unknowable nature of existence is why women should STFU and be nice.

I really don't know why people are still defending the couple.

I do. It's the same reason the CFs would not have done this to four big blokes.

Of course, can we ever reality experience 'reality'? Perhaps the unknowable nature of existence is why women should STFU and be nice.

I really don't know why people are still defending the couple.

I do. It's the same reason the CFs would not have done this to four big blokes

Amen to that!

Sorry to resurrect this, but I get the sense from reading everything that there are parts of this story that have been missed out.
The reply from the elderly couple, " It doesn't matter," doesn't make sense as a direct response to. Bring asked to vacate the seats. I imagine the scenario might have gone like this:
Mum: These are our seats.
Couple: They're not. Reservations have been cancelled.
Mum: but we booked these seats.
Couple: It doesn't matter. The reservations are cancelled.

Couple: It doesn't matter. The reservations are cancelled.

But they weren't cancelled.

If I had booked the seats, I would be sitting in the seats. My dds and I, all have hidden disabilities. On a good day, one of my girls could stand and I would offer someone old, disabled, sick or pregnant the seat. On a bad day then we need it, just as much as they do but we would probably budge up to make space.

I however would not back down if the person was rude, entitled or both. No need for rudeness and some people are stunningly over entitled.

Alternatively "that's my seat"
"It doesn't matter" I got here first and I want it so it's mine