Public Transit Princess

[Seanette]

OK, so this was customer-to-customer. Still counts, IMO.

I was on the train today, scouting out the run for the temp assignment that starts tomorrow. On the way back, I'm sitting there with my PDA, doing a sudoku, minding my own business. Another passenger boards, and with plenty of seats available, demands that I move my purse and shopping bag (had to get printer paper) so she can sit next to me. I simply gathered my gear and moved to a perfectly good completely empty seat behind the one I'd been in. Didn't feel like arguing with her, but did say something along the lines of, "Sure, I'll move. After all, I obviously didn't pay the same fare you did". No response (at least not audible, and I wasn't looking at Her Majesty at that point).

Seems to me that if you're so OCD you have to have a *specific* spot on the train car, maybe public transit is not your best option.

[Primer]

Another passenger boards, and with plenty of seats available, demands that I move my purse and shopping bag (had to get printer paper) so she can sit next to me. I simply gathered my gear and moved to a perfectly good completely empty seat...

Similar situation: I was at the doctor's office Monday. A mother plops her sick child (10 yo or so) next to me. So I got up and moved to another bank of completely empty seats. I don't want whatever the kid may have, and I'm really surprised that the mom would want to expose her kid to anything I might have.

I was in for a check up after the wreck, but she didn't know that.

[Bliss]

You're both assuming these people think.

By now I assume 70% of the population are zombie automatas.

[Blueberry]

Maybe she had to sit there.
You know, so that the aliens could contact her.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I would have told her to get stuffed, personally. I have done on an occasion when a chavette girl sat down next to me, ignoring the miles of empty seats (I was sitting right at the back of the top deck of a bus). A few minutes later, she tapped my shoulder, indicating to me that I should turn my music off and talk to her. I paused the Discman, and looked at her. "Turn your music down," Her Majesty ordered. "I hate rock music." I just gave her my best Death Glare, and said, "I like my music loud. You don't like it, then shift your fat arse into one of those empty seats. You choose to sit next to me, then you pay the consequences." I then unpaused the Discman, and turned the music up for good measure. Her Majesty then flounced down the bus and plonked herself down in an empty seat, which is what she should have done in the first place.

[Becks]

Maybe you guys exude an aura of "Sit next to me!!! We can bother the hell out of each other for no good reason!!!!!!!!"

[wagegoth]

Happily, mornings there's another rider who I always sit next to on the bus. It can get really crowded in the morning. We've actually become friends.

Nights the bus is less crowded and I usually don't have anyone having to sit next to me. This can all change, though, if the previous bus broken down, and suddenly it's sardine time.

I just remind myself how much money and stress I'm saving myself.

And I always sit next to the window if no one is there.

[Captain Trips]

I just don't get it. If someone else is the only one on the bus/train/whatever, and all the other seats are empty, what would motivate someone to sit down next to a total stranger? Me, I'd rather move a few rows on down to have a seat where I'm not crowding someone else or their not crowding me. It's a personal space issue, I think -- and why should I violate someone else's space if I don't want them violating mine?

[Tufty]

A few years ago, on a bus, i was sat at the back, just trying to get home. A couple of chavvettes sat next to me and asked me if i had a spare cigarette. I said no.

End of, right?

Course not.

She kept bugging me, saying that i was lying. She was irritating, and i was getting increasingly aggitated, but i wasnt going to be the one who kicked off anything.

Then my mum called my mobile. When I finished talking, I hung up, and this girl made a grab for my phone.

Not a good idea when youre on a MOVING BUS. And I had a bit of trouble controlling my temper at that point.

But she had given me a good enough reason.


So I grabbed the arm that was reaching for my phone, and twisted it, not painfully, but forcefully, into an armlock and said "Dont...Touch...My...Things".


Yeah, she moved to an empty seat. (After trying to punch me, missing, and planting a fist into the window behind me)

[Auto]

OK, so this was customer-to-customer. Still counts, IMO.

I was on the train today, scouting out the run for the temp assignment that starts tomorrow. On the way back, I'm sitting there with my PDA, doing a sudoku, minding my own business. Another passenger boards, and with plenty of seats available, demands that I move my purse and shopping bag (had to get printer paper) so she can sit next to me. I simply gathered my gear and moved to a perfectly good completely empty seat behind the one I'd been in. Didn't feel like arguing with her, but did say something along the lines of, "Sure, I'll move. After all, I obviously didn't pay the same fare you did". No response (at least not audible, and I wasn't looking at Her Majesty at that point).

Seems to me that if you're so OCD you have to have a *specific* spot on the train car, maybe public transit is not your best option.

you should have refused and told her to take her choice of the other empty seats.

people who pull stunt like that in NYC are at risk for being accused of attempted something -- theft, perviness, whatever. in NYC, you give strangers their space. crowding someone like that means yu're up to no good.

most likely, in your case, it was some elder nut, perhaps OCD. but still.

[Auto]

I would have told her to get stuffed, personally. I have done on an occasion when a chavette girl sat down next to me, ignoring the miles of empty seats (I was sitting right at the back of the top deck of a bus). A few minutes later, she tapped my shoulder, indicating to me that I should turn my music off and talk to her. I paused the Discman, and looked at her. "Turn your music down," Her Majesty ordered. "I hate rock music." I just gave her my best Death Glare, and said, "I like my music loud. You don't like it, then shift your fat arse into one of those empty seats. You choose to sit next to me, then you pay the consequences." I then unpaused the Discman, and turned the music up for good measure. Her Majesty then flounced down the bus and plonked herself down in an empty seat, which is what she should have done in the first place.

that girl had brass balls., i'll give her that.

try that with the wrong person in the NYC subway and you risk a beating.

[protege]

that girl had brass balls., i'll give her that.

try that with the wrong person in the NYC subway and you risk a beating.

Try that with the wrong person here on buses, and you risk getting messed up

[Becks]

Sooooooooooo...Tufty...did you get a good laugh at her ending up punching the window?