Pram debacle on the bus

[bibetyboo]

Boarded the bus today with 9mo asleep in pram, underneath of pram half full. In the designated pram area there were a couple of shopping trolleys that had been left by two elderly passengers. The driver asked for them to be removed so that I could fit pram in, but both of them contested that I should not have been let on the bus and ought to have waited for the next one.

The driver looked at me and apologized and I replied that it was fine, I would just stand with her somewhere out of the way (the gangway really). It was pissing down with rain, and buses here come every hour.

Whilst standing with pram, both trolley owners began to mutter, enough so I could hear, about my being on the bus. That I ought to have waited for the next bus, that it's ridiculous as in their day they would have to take the pram down. I was entitled and privileged. Lots of sighing and eye rolling.

At this point I'm fuming. I've let it go, not challenged the trolley parking and am just trying to get home. Acquaintance of trolley owner begins to witter on about how on earth he will get off the bus with 'that woman and her baby'. Trolley owner explains nice and loud, 'she'll just have to get off in the rain'.

Patience. Reached. The bus is PACKED at this point. I ask 'acquaintance' to mind his business and asks both trolley owners why they are so hateful towards a young woman, getting on the bus with her baby, followed by, in the fog of rage, telling them to simply 'fuck off'.

All parties were silenced and the remainder of the bus journey was tense to say the least. It involved a few three point turns and reversing to allow other passengers OFF and ON.

Now I feel terribly guilty that I shouted at an elderly person.

EQUALLY, I've come to realise there is an old sun culture within the elderly or let's say 'older' community. This bizzare disdain for the 'youth of today' who have 'never had it so easy'. Lol, come see me when we remortgage next month (HELP).

Was I unreasonable to tell them where to go?

My son has a disabled persons buspass. If we need to get the bus before 9.30 we just have to pay. Wouldn't be an ass about it and hold the whole bus up just to make a point. They will be first to moan when they're bus is late.

But if their trolleys weren't taking up the designated point for her pram they wouldn't have had anything blocked? Your not aibu op. Miserable bats

Yawn. Bored of having my post quoted all afternoon with the same irrelevant, incorrect response 🥱 Crack on.

Read original post? Where is the generalization? Please point it out?

Just because they are old doesn't mean they are wise or kind. Being old just means they haven't died yet.

@oakleaffy Pensioners can be bloody entitled. They get TONS of govt help, generous grants, had houses bought for sixpence, free uni education, the best of the NHS and then tut and moan.
Granted, not ALL Pensioners, but those lucky so and sos that got pensions at Sixty and houses for sixpence really don't know they are born, sometimes.
YABVY

What is the TONS of govt.help pensioners get? Basic pension is £141 per week, £182 per week with pension credit. That makes people very rich NOT. What grants? What houses for sixpence? My first mortgage took all my salary at 15%, leaving my DH salary to pay for everything else. What free uni? Only 5% of pensioners went to uni - more of my age group worked from 15 to 66! Many in their 40s and 50s had free uni and cheap houses - it was much easier in the 90s.

I'm expect you would be one of those young people on a bus who would enjoy sitting watching an elderly frail person struggle standing on a bus.

Tbf though alot of those trolleys are used as a mobility aid. End of the day it's down to the driver to police and he shouldn't let anyone block the walkway with a buggy. If he didn't want to move the elderly fuckers he should have told you to get off.

EQUALLY, I've come to realise there is an old sun culture within the elderly or let's say 'older' community. This bizzare disdain for the 'youth of today' who have 'never had it so easy'. Lol, come see me when we remortgage next month (HELP).

This.

I feel for you, OP. Once you’re a bit older, you won’t give a damn (I would have “helpfully” moved the trolleys myself to fit in the pram).

🤣🤣🤣

I don't agree, and I'm elderly. I keep my trolley by me on the bus. Prams and wheelchairs need that space.

@Roomytrouser

Typo that I couldn't correct.

Old sub culture within the elderly community.

Even with typo you could have worked out I meant within the community. Not the entire community.

No, they were vile. Telling someone to mind their business and fuck off isn't going to cause PTSD. They were bullying you.

I'm glad you did that and they didn't get away with it.

I don’t agree with your generalisation. I worked out what you said and I think it’s lazy and wrong. I’m not going to generalise that a lot of younger people think the way you do though as that would also be wrong.

You did the right thing. We use the bus regularly with double buggies and always have issues with older people with shopping trolleys. I have learnt to have thick skin. We always fold for a wheelchair when it needs the space so I am always adamant that I help the older people move their trolleys so I can get the buggies in.

I totally get why you snapped OP.

It's also a bit frustrating that no one else would stand so that you could sit down with your baby and fold your buggy or at least have a better chance of tucking it in out of the way.

I'm not sure what the elderly passengers would have done with their full trolleys if they'd been made to move them, especially as the bus was full, so it was probably going to be a tricky and frustrating journey either way.

Utterly not being unreasonable.
Just because someone is old does not mean that they are right and they are exempt from being an arsehole.

Why did they expect you to take the next bus just so that their trolleys could travel comfortably? How selfish.

I get where you are coming from. I give elderly people a pass for quite a few things as I was brought up to always respect elders. Dh was told recently in a shop that there's too many of his kind (Asians) around and he retorted something (forgot what) but then later felt really bad about it and I get that as well. It doesn't feel good having a go at elderly people. It feels as if you are punching down.

Anyway they were wrong. Im Sorry you had such an unpleasant (and uncomfortable) experience.

There's lots of people saying to fold the pram- but a folded pram still takes up space- so it doesn't really help? Fair enough if it's an older child and a tiny umbrella fold stroller that can be put under a seat, but an actual lie flat pram would take up as much room folded but now doesn't have the baby or shopping in it?
Where we are there are no separate luggage/ pram storage areas, just the fold up seats. No one folds big prams, there is no point, it doesn't save space.

Back in the day there is no way people took their silver cross prams on the bus, women with small babies often could not go further than their local, walkable high street.

Yanbu OP. What cunts

What are you talking about? Buggies and prams do get priority after wheelchairs and people generally move out of the way when they see someone get on the bus with one.

Give over! Old people don't become wonderful people just because they're old. They're not mobility aids, they carry shopping. If they didn't have the trolleys they'd have bags of shopping. Neither of which take priority over a baby.

And you're allowed to be rude to rude people. They were bullying OP. Thinking that being older and in a group they could keep saying nasty things right in front of her and she wouldn't stand up for herself. It's vile. I absolutely despise when people do that. Bullies, old bullies, young bullies, disabled bullies, it makes no difference, bullies are vile.

I use my trolley as a mobility aid.

My husband has cancer. He can walk short distances but only with support. He can no longer bend sufficiently to get in a car, but he can still get on a bus. When he's on the bus he has to sit in an aisle seat as he can't get into the window seats. Going to the market on the bus, with his shopping trolley for support, is pretty much the only 'normal' outing that's left in his life and it's one of the very few things that brings him joy.

If he didn't have the trolley he wouldn't have bags of shopping, he'd be at home, isolated and depressed and just waiting for the end. Perhaps those of you who hate old people sitting in aisle seats, or think they should only go shopping if they can carry everything, would prefer that.