what not to do on the train

"so i walked under a bus, i got hit by a train" - bachelor girl (buses and trains)


so everyone knows that if you're a young, able bodied person, technically you should give up your seat for someone who needs it more. but really, how many people actually do that?

besides the usual pretending not to notice, pretending to be asleep and various pretendings in general, there are those who just blatantly don't care.

recently i was taking a particularly long train ride when i saw such a display of disregard that annoyed me.

i was standing in the crowded train when the person next to me got up from his seat. the few people standing near his seat all moved a lil so that the guy could make his way to the train door. then out of courteosy we all hesitated for a short moment to see who should take the seat. but before any of us could make a move, this young lady from a distance away started pushing her way through and plonked herself on the seat.

okay, fair enough. you snooze, you lose. but what irritated me was that there was an old man who was also making his way to the seat. he was nearer to it than she was. she knew that he wanted to sit and yet she sat anyway.

even worse was that she didn't sit in her seat proper. instead choosing to sit at an angle so that she was blocking everyone else's way and her umbrella poked and nearly tripped someone. yet she remained oblivious to all.

and then the seat next to her was vacated. so she put her hand on that seat to reserve it and shouted for her train companion (who was standing a distance away) to come and sit down. her train companion couldn't hear her, so in the midst of everyone else standing in the train, she poked her with her umbrella.

when her train companion sat down, i saw that she was an elder lady. it shocked me that the young lady would go sit in an empty seat first instead of offering it to the elder lady she was with.

talk bout terrible train etiquette.