To get irrationally angry at train behaviour

[MisanthropeLikely]

I'm not an angry person, but I'm thinking I might be becoming a Victor Meldrew when travelling. Particularly by train. Particularly long distance. Specific behaviour that enrages me:

1. People that have loud phone conversations or video calls on trains

1. People on long train journeys with limited space in the luggage rack who selfishly put their small bags on it rather than in the overhead, meaning people with larger cases have no space to put it

1. People who spend ages farting around standing in the aisle during boarding so no one can pass.

1. People who act like it's the Olympic 100m in their rush to get off

1. Men who manspread into the aisle

1. People who sit on your reserved seat and then refuse to move.

1. Lone travellers who take up 4 seater sections, preventing people in groups from sitting together

1. People who ostentatiously poo on trains. I mean, I get you sometimes have to go but some of the things people do are disgusting

1. Listening to music or watching videos with no headphones

10. Train stations that are massive but wait until 10 minutes before the train to tell you your platform so you need to have a stress race to make it with your bags.

11. People who wont move their bags off seats on an obviously full train.

I get irrationally angry about this stuff. My worst ever experiences were:

I was on a train once and this man had vrazely taken our reserved seats despite them being marked reserved and other empty seats. He'd set himself up some kind of fucking buffet on our table with a cloth and everything, then when I politely asked him to move, he told me to go and sit somewhere else because I was disturbing his meal.

Another time I was boarding a eurostar in an intense heatwave after a huge delay. It was roasting, I'd been standing at the gate for two solid hours in menopause sweats with a load of heavy bags. They started boarding. It's about 29 steps down to the platform, and a ramp os provided for people with luggage. The attendant was at the top of the ramp telling everyone who did not have luggage to take the stairs.

Anyway, there I am struggling to keep ny heavy suitcase from rolling right down the ramp and taking me with it, and some woman with no luggage at all aside from her small handbag decided to walk down the luggage ramp and overtake everyone on the inside. As there was no space, she moved her legs into my suitcase and then shouted at me "YOUR SUITCASE IS ON MY LEGS, WHY DONT YOU WATCH WHERE YIUR GOING"

I flushed bright red and said "I'm going downhill with a heavy bag I can barely control, multiple other bags and you walked into me trying to overtske", she turned and sniggered at me. A real deep, patronising snigger.

I still hold a grudge a year later.

Does anyone else experience these feelings or is it just me? I am petrified of flying so travel extensively by rail and I am at a point where I don't enjoy travelling because I feel so irrationally cross at inconsiderate and rude people.

Anyone else?

I don't. I chose my table and I'm staying there, even if you deliberately let your kids make a mess to try to drive me off.
Honestly, do some people get off on harassing people who are just trying to sit quietly on a train?

Have you ever used a word incorrectly? God forbid.

I've given up booking seats because of all the faff involved. Fortunately I can usually travel at quieter times when there is some hope of getting a seat.

I despise ppl refusing to move from a booked seat! I’ve only once had someone refuse to move when challenged their family were in our family’s seats. Even when asked by staff to move, the ticket guy just turned to me and said I have some other seats for you. Took us to first class, beautiful karma that day! So many ppl seem to lack basic manners it does add to the stress of travelling

Could well have been me and my kids on our way to Ed, although young kids so no booze lol we had done 6 hours of trains to get there so may well have been some crisps being eaten

Why do you keep insisting she used the wrong word or insisting that you know exactly how her son's autism manifests? It's really weird.

I agree with most but lots of people can't lift their smaller bags up to the overhead luggage racks (and under seat storage is rubbish for the less mobile too).

I've never had anyone who sat in my seat refused to move, apparently I can be quite scary (and persistent).

I will give it to you each of those is genuinely infuriating. But the reserve seat stealers are a different level of nerve.

I agree with all your points except the No.1 about a No. 2!
I don’t think that anyone defecates “ostentatiously” - my DH is on medication that causes him to a) require to “go” urgently, with little warning, and b) make quite a smell when he does “go”. There are many people with issues like this - you can’t expect them to hold it in or wear adult nappies, as the first solution may not be possible and the second would be worse!
If you’re meaning Ostentatious in the context of not flushing or not cleaning up after themselves, then I agree, but think you’ve used the wrong adjective!

I agree with many of your points but I think the 4 seaters are fair game for anyone to use. Other people can still sit there and they shouldn't hog the table of others are sat with them.

Just standing up for her.

My pet hate is people taking up too much leg room on table seats. Have sympathy if they are tall but you still can't put your feet on my side of the table.

I just want to sit with my legs at a right angle and my feet directly under my knees on my side, I don't need to stretch out my legs but neither am I going to tuck my feet under my own chair for you so that you can stretch out!

This is why I have headphones. I'd prefer quiet eating of crisps where you place the whole crisp in your mouth, close it and eat it than the slack jawed open mouthed crunch some people do.

On the (commuter) train home one evening though one guy sat opposite me and sat eating with his mouth wide open the whole time. Fortunately I was able to move to another seat before I turned to violence.

Eh?
Everyone knows what shame means.

Ha! This made me laugh. We were in a service station in Switzerland and I politely (and in my best A-level French) asked for some tap water from one of the men serving. He answered me in English (as so many of the Swiss/French patronisingly do) and asked if we have tap water in 'Brexit-land', and if it's drinkable, and a string of other inane questions. Not quite understanding at first what he'd said, as I had mis-heard Brexit-land, I smiled through it, and then later when I did realise, I also smiled through the lingering exchange, mainly as I'm 'brung up proper' and wouldn't dream of anything else, but I went back to my seat with an extremely bad taste in my mouth (not the water!) and have – in the days since – wished I could rewind and ask for the manager to explain that it's wholly unprofessional to bring up Brexit when I'd already paid for a meal.

Some people are just t*ssers who aim to prod and provoke. I'm getting better at knowing when I should answer back (politely or more assertively), but don't always get the timing right!

You see, I think they are designed for people who need to work on the train. I often have to do business travel for 3-4 hours and will happily sit there with three strangers working on their laptops. I would always offer to swap if I got a 'two' rather than a table seat, so a parent and child can sit next to each other. (N.B. I have done lots of travelling with small kids myself)

Not RTFT, so have I missed an explanation of what ostentatious pooing actually is?
I’m intrigued.

Possibly what one of my dogs does, he runs around and up and down, barking for 5 minutes before he defecates.

Apart from this (which I like ) , we're all still waiting eagerly for the explanation, I think.

People who use phones, tablets and laptops without headphones or carry on phone calls on loudspeaker on trains (and, indeed, any form of public transport) need fucking shooting, imho. Selfish fucking twats. I actually hate them and will generally ask them to turn it down/use headphones. Nine times out of ten, they do but there's always that one wanker who thinks the whole world should be forced to listen to their shit choice in music - and it's ALWAYS shit - or whatever You Tube video they're watching.

There were two blokes in a cafe the other day watching a comedy show on a tablet REALLY loudly and, when I asked them to kindly turn it down (or off), they acted like I'd just asked them to fuck off and die. Wankers.

It might not compute to him but it wouldn't shame me into moving from my reserved seat. ETA I see there are no reserved seats. If I were there first and I'd chosen that seat I still wouldn't move faced with open criticism like that.

People travelling alone can still sit at a table, particularly if using a laptop. It’s unreasonable to think that they should all leave the table free in case a family of four gets on.

I would put my bag on the seat next to me if it’s vacant when we leave the station and at the following stops I check for anyone looking for a seat and move my bag when needed. There is space for others to share a table if they want to and I use noise cancelling headphones so I’m not listening to their calls, chat etc.

I do get frustrated with people who occupy booked seats and then won’t move. Happened more than once to my mum who is over 70. When the train is full the conductor can’t always get there to sort out the situation

Good grief wasn't expecting this level of reaction to a light-hearted anecdote about ASD DS's obsession with train seat justice!

Just to clarify:

Of course, my preference is just to get on the train and take the first four seats available in reasonable proximity to each other. DS always has other ideas.

He is never rudely addressing other people, he is talking at himself / to me but inevitably loud enough that other people can hear him because he doesn't really have volume control. This is slightly mortifying but that's often life with DS.

Do I deliberately want to shame other people into moving? No, I just want to sit down as quickly as possible with minimum fuss and without DS insisting on travelling the full length of the train on the hunt for an elusive four-seater. I'd never ask or expect other people to move.

Am I grateful when other people move? Yes very! Do I think they should? Well personally I will always (on local trains like this) offer to move if I'm travelling alone, there's other seats to move to and it will facilitate a group of people being able to sit together. It's an easy courtesy. It's not an obligation but it's nice thing to do for the mild inconvenience of standing up and sitting down again.

Different situation on long-distance trains with tables as that's quite a different set up.

You can claim compensation for delayed trains. The only time I have been on a train where passengers were being advised of this was a Virgin service

Didn't know about this. I'm in the age group least likely to use apps and most likely to need extra time to board!