Wow. What some people teach their kids...!

[conuly]

I wasn't there for this, which might be just as well.

Jenn went with my mom into work today - she needs a little more help in the mornings, Mommy, so somebody has to go with her to the boat and then she goes the rest of the way alone. And they're waiting for the bus and then when it comes - it passes them! And the one after does the same, so when the third bus comes there's a lot of people waiting and the next one fully seven minutes away. And that bus is PACKED, so the driver apparently opens the back door and tells everybody to just go on through there - except my mother, who he knows and anyway, he can see she uses a cane. (She tells people it's mostly to get a seat, but she really does need it if she's going a longer distance.)

And as my mother gets on, somebody gets up to let her sit down. Except that as my mother is carefully turning to sit down, another woman swoops in and plops her four year old in the seat, with the end result being that my mother nearly squashes a small child.

And if that wasn't bad enough, this woman then (apparently) starts screeching about entitled old people who should be using access-a-ride. My mother was this close to hauling up her shirt and showing her the scars! The driver very nearly kicked that woman and her kid off the bus. Eventually everything settled down, but that awful woman gave my mother the finger as she got off. And her kid is right there watching everything, you know.

One day she's going to be the one using a cane, or a walker, or a wheelchair, and we'll see if she learns anything then.

Comments

[low_delta]

She won't. She's self-centered now, and will remain that way.

[alexseanchai]

*inarticulate screeching*

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Wishing that the small plopped child gets to read the short story about the wooden bowl when it does the most good.

Sadly, your mother 'almost' crushing her is probably the best she's gotten in awhile, proving that some people notice others and take them into consideration.

[glaurung]

In Toronto, all transit vehicles have signs informing everyone to please give up their seats for elderly/disabled riders. Failing to do so can get you a ticket (although drivers are not authorized to intervene, there are transit cops who are). Is this not the case where you are?

[conuly]

Oh, it is most DEFINITELY the case here, especially for those first seats, the ones which are wheelchair accessible.

[rahirah]

Ugh, people!

[conuly]

I KNOW.

[lilysea]

Many years ago now, I got onto a crowded bus. The only seat available was a double-seat priority seat, where a slender elderly man was determinedly taking up two seats by manspreading.

Although I looked young and healthy, I had severe lower back pain and severe balance issues, and desperately needed a seat or I would fall when the bus started moving, badly injuring myself.

I was on my way to work, and the next bus was 40 minutes away.

I asked the man to scoot over. He ignored me. So I started gradually lowering my bottom towards the seat, expecting him to move.

He did not move. All 85 kilograms of me rested on his knee.

He was not happy.

"YOU SAT ON ME!" he screeched.

Hopefully, next time, when someone else asked him to move over, he moved.

[conuly]

Well, if he had some legit reason for taking up two seats, he had ample time to tell you!

[rebeccmeister]

Thank goodness for that bus driver.

Sadly, I think it's true, that the mother in question may never learn. One can only hope that bus drivers and society at large can help those four-year-olds see things from different perspectives.

[silveradept]

Eugh. Sometimes I wonder how some people managed to make it through childhood without learning some of the basics of human interaction.

[conuly]

Their parents screamed and cursed people out on the bus a lot.

[silveradept]

Clearly.

[zesty_pinto]

Ahhh, that classic entitlement problem.

Reminds me of when I sat next to a pregnant lady and she was upset that I even did that. I was sweaty and exhausted and she didn't like it one bit so decided to stand on the way to her next station.

I don't think it would have helped if I told her I didn't realize she was.

[conuly]

Realized she was pregnant?

You should've told her. I did that once. Got on a train that wasn't crowded but that had no seats left. Overheard somebody fussing that "nobody offers a seat to a pregnant woman". Turned around, frowned, asked which of the two young adults in that conversation was pregnant, and when told which one said straight up that if she needs a seat she should ask for one, because she didn't look even remotely pregnant at all. (And she didn't, either!) She had NO idea how to take that.

Of course, you can need a seat and not look like you need a seat, but it's still better to ask than to passive-aggressively bitch about it.

As for your random pregnant person, honestly, seats are made to be sat in! Just because you're eating for two that doesn't mean you get to sit for two unless you actually take up two seats. (In which case, you need as much space as you need and everybody else can mind their own business.)

[zesty_pinto]

Yeah, being more assertive about things like that is something I still need to get used to. I'm not great at snappy comebacks (hence why I prefer typing my feelings instead of saying them, hah!).

Most of the people I explained that sitch too had a similar take to yours. I did offer to let her sit again, but she told me I needed it more than her in that passive-aggressive way. Sigh, some people.

[conuly]

I did offer to let her sit again, but she told me I needed it more than her in that passive-aggressive way.

"I sure do! Thanks for your understanding! :D"

[zesty_pinto]

Ha ha, awesome. Thank you.