Utterly odd exchange on the train

[notabletocope]

Loads of empty seats on the train carriage that I’ve got on.

So because there’s loads of room and I’m early I sit down at a table facing forwards.This woman comes up and says ‘I like to sit facing forward and at a table, do you mind if I sit next to you?’

I said yeah sure no probs.

So we are squashed like sardines whilst there’s loads of empty seats (without tables) all around us.
I got up and said actually I’ll just go over here nil probs and she was like ohhh are you sure?

Yes I’m sure lol because I don’t want to sit next to you squashed up for the next 3 hours whilst there are loads of seats!

How bizarre

Surely you’d just say to yourself ‘oh well the table seat is taken, I’ll sit somewhere else in the other 59 forward facing seats available’? Or AIBU?

I said yeah sure no probs- apparently this wasn't strictly true

We were once sat in an empty cinema, film starts and someone came in and sat NEXT to me where there were about 300 empty seats. I was so shocked!!

I have to be facing forward on a train if reading, otherwise I get travel sick. But if I really wanted to be facing forward and someone was already at the table, I would just sit in a different place. I wouldn't sit next to them.

Same. Seems like she was actually really polite about it too! I don't get some of these "I have zero fucks to give" bolshy replies, it seems like she was direct, polite and meeting her own needs instead of sitting rear facing, not at a table to "be kind" to OP.

She played a blinder because she got the exact seat she wanted AND you moved so she had it all to herself.

I'm not sure what I'd have done. She's entitled to sit where she likes but it's socially weird & awkward!

I'd definitely have made her sit squashed against the wall, not the aisle side.

Because she was squashed up and didn't want to remain that way for 3 hours next to the cuckoo in the nest.

Reminds me of this really weird experience I had on the underground once. Think it was on the Bakerloo Line as I was sitting on my own at one of those 4 seaters that face each other. Almost empty carriage. I was sat by the window and had my bag on the floor, but by the aisle seat next to me. A woman comes up and (rudely) said "your bag is on the floor". I think I was a bit blank and confused. She then said, "well as long as you don't mind me kicking it" and sat down next to me in a huff. I moved into one of the many empty seats available. I think there were about 3 other people on the carriage. I remember this occasionally but am still none the wiser as to why she wanted to sit there

I understand that the table was 'meeting her needs' and that she was polite and direct etc, but have we lost our common sense as well whilst attempting to meet those needs?!

Similar to every time I go to the supermarket. If there's ever a car behind me it will ALWAYS follow me down whatever row I go down

Fuck off!

Fucking hell the world has gone mad. You paid for one seat. So did she. If she's not sitting ON you, she can sit wherever she likes. The only odd thing she did was ask your permission to sit in a free seat.

Very odd.

Whenever I travel by train I end up with some oddball who wants to talk to me about themself for the whole journey. It’s a standing joke in our family. DH says I send off ‘approachable vibes’ and need to stop - maybe you’re the same?

I was on a train once, sat facing forwards at a table seat. There were approx 7 other sets of 4 table seats, all with just one person at them. A lady comes and sits directly opposite me, and proceeded to start gently nudging my feet under the table and eventually asked me if I could move them. They weren't past 'half way' under the table, I wasn't sprawled out. I suggested that perhaps she moved to the seat next to her, or any of the other ~12-14 seats available that had no-one opposite, her response "or you could?"....the cheek! Needless to say, I didn't move, and nor did I move my feet, and she didn't move either, so we had a somewhat awkward journey for the remaining 1hr or so!

Oh god, I hate this too. I got on the empty top deck of a bus with my young DC yesterday relieved it was quiet so I didn't have to worry about his incessant chatter. Then a couple bounded up at the next stop and sat in the two seats right next to us with armfuls of food for a bus picnic feast. I don't want to sit next to a couple eating when the rest of the bus was empty so I moved saying 'come on DS let's find a quiet seat as there are so many others'.

I had the reverse of this when, a few months post lockdown, I went to a small independent cinema. They had blocked out lots of seats, presumably for social distancing, and there were only a handful of places to book for one person alone. I like to be towards the back and in the middle. I booked and got there promptly - I was directly behind and one space along from the only other person in the screening, a lone man. He turned round and huffed and puffed and shook his head. I said to him ‘is there an issue?’ And he said ‘there are plenty of other seats’ 😂 I said ‘yes, I know, but if I sit in one that isn’t mine the people who booked it will want me to move as well!’ Can’t go any fucking where! Eventually other people came in and sat down and it got less weird. It was just the fact he seemed to think I’d done it to annoy him. I was wearing a mask and so was he, so I dunno what it was all about.

However, I would not voluntarily sit beside a stranger in an otherwise empty carriage, different if it was my booked seat (in my case the awkwardness would have been so much I’d have moved to one that wasn’t booked) so while it was her right to do so I can see why it struck you as weird OP

I sit at a table so I can work on my laptop, do might sometimes sit next to someone rather than in another available seat.

Annoying when I get allocated a noddy squeaky back of the seat flap that is just slightly too shallow/narrow even for a small laptop.

Yep.. apparently I’ve got “one of those faces” that (according to my family) encourages all the worlds weirdos and chatterers to come and find me!!🙄 it happens at work, too, with our customers.
Take heart, OP, if we’re ever on a train at the same time, I’ll get the oddballs and you’ll be left in peace!👍

I've been the other woman in a similar scenario. The table seats are obviously premium compared to the normal ones. I needed one to get work done. There was a table seat available but when I asked the woman in the aisle seat to let me in she got all huffy and loudly announced that she would just go and sit elsewhere (ie a non table seat) because there were plenty of them available.

It's fine, if you're not bothered enough about having a table seat to deal with someone next to you, to move to a regular seat. No need for drama. But some people like/need table seats enough to sit next to strangers at them.

genius move! Next time I want a table seat this is what I am gunna do!!!

Me too! 🤣

But the type of seat she wanted, forward facing and at a table, was only available by sitting next to you. She obviously isn't bothered about sitting next to someone and cares more about the type if seat she wants. Neither odd nor rude.

Problem with the older style cinema seats though is that if they had sat infront of her then they probably blocked half their view! So no they wouldn’t have had a problem but it would have been common courtesy not to sit right in front of someone.

We had the same thing happen in a theatre where you could sit where you wanted and it was about 80% empty. Two men came and sat right in front of us and one of them had a huge hairstyle which totally blocked my view. They could have sat anywhere else! So we then had to get up and move.

This once happened to me in a drs surgery. During covid. A man came in and sat right next to me when there were tons of empty seats in the main bit of the waiting room - I was sat at this side part. Then he starts coughing!
I moved. Like why sit right next to me?! I find it creepy.

Maybe she was planning on doing some work and gets travel sick?

Some people get sick going backwards so I understand the forward thing. But yes, you’d think she would just do without a table in this scenario. It’s funny though that it would be perfectly acceptable on a crowded train but not on an empty one. We are all strange creatures in that respect because why is that really?

That one really is odd.