The ultimatum
Before I begin, we should establish that you're not going to win this one.
From the scenario I decribe, there is no get-out clause, and there is no right choice.
I was stood on an absolutely packed train this morning, along with a lot of other people. There was a woman to my right, and a man to my left. Both were stood up, and that is all of the "stood-up carriage" that I could see.
A seat frees up behind me as we arrive at a new station, and nobody takes it immediately. I put on my diplomacy hat, and get to work.
Ladies first. "Would you like a seat?" I ask.
"No thankyou, I'm comfortable as I am." she says.
Chap to my left who's close to the seat next.
"Would you like to sit there? You're a bit closer than I am."
"No thanks mate, I'm getting off in one stop anyway. I should just take it yourself if I were you."
So I take the seat with a grateful smile on my face.
Immediately I catch the eye of a woman who is stood up and out of my range of view when I was stood.
She's eyeing me up with a sort of dirty look that you would give someone who just put their finger somewhere unpleasant and unnecessary and put it under their nose.
I avoid eye-contact, but notice her coat. She is stood fully-frontally to me, and as a result I have no aspect of her side-profile. She is wearing a coat with a tie that goes just under her chest and above most of her belly.
Immediately it strikes me that it's fairly likely she's pregnant, and that I should offer her my seat.
Is she pregnant though? I have no way of telling. If I stand and check, I make the riskiest move of my journey due to:
a) Losing my seat.
b) Looking like a bloke who just stood up and checked out a woman's gut.
If I ask "Excuse me, are you pregnant? Would you like to sit here?" I risk a punch in the face due to an ill-fitting coat.
She has several people around her who she could ask to move, but she chooses to look 3 rows in front, directly at me with a look of disgust on her face.
Like I said, there's no right and no wrong answer.
I stayed in my seat. Sod her.
From the scenario I decribe, there is no get-out clause, and there is no right choice.
I was stood on an absolutely packed train this morning, along with a lot of other people. There was a woman to my right, and a man to my left. Both were stood up, and that is all of the "stood-up carriage" that I could see.
A seat frees up behind me as we arrive at a new station, and nobody takes it immediately. I put on my diplomacy hat, and get to work.
Ladies first. "Would you like a seat?" I ask.
"No thankyou, I'm comfortable as I am." she says.
Chap to my left who's close to the seat next.
"Would you like to sit there? You're a bit closer than I am."
"No thanks mate, I'm getting off in one stop anyway. I should just take it yourself if I were you."
So I take the seat with a grateful smile on my face.
Immediately I catch the eye of a woman who is stood up and out of my range of view when I was stood.
She's eyeing me up with a sort of dirty look that you would give someone who just put their finger somewhere unpleasant and unnecessary and put it under their nose.
I avoid eye-contact, but notice her coat. She is stood fully-frontally to me, and as a result I have no aspect of her side-profile. She is wearing a coat with a tie that goes just under her chest and above most of her belly.
Immediately it strikes me that it's fairly likely she's pregnant, and that I should offer her my seat.
Is she pregnant though? I have no way of telling. If I stand and check, I make the riskiest move of my journey due to:
a) Losing my seat.
b) Looking like a bloke who just stood up and checked out a woman's gut.
If I ask "Excuse me, are you pregnant? Would you like to sit here?" I risk a punch in the face due to an ill-fitting coat.
She has several people around her who she could ask to move, but she chooses to look 3 rows in front, directly at me with a look of disgust on her face.
Like I said, there's no right and no wrong answer.
I stayed in my seat. Sod her.
posted by Karl at
9:37 am
2 Comments:
Commuting by train every day I can empathise with you here. A problem I often have, though, is that we don't have the side facing seats, just front and back and, in the middle most section of the coach, bank of six - aisle - bank of four, all inward facing.
Now, people can be right sods at times and will just plonk themselves on the outter most seat of the 6-bank. Then another stop, someone will sit *right* opposite them (quite why, nobody knows). Few stops further down the line, I board the train and there's four empty seats, but with two munchkins stuck on the end and they give me a good tut, flick of the head and or look of utter disgust as I request passageway to sit there.
What gives?
By
Mr Dom, at 3:41 pm
Baby shmaby i would have kept the seat :P
By
Martin, at 8:55 pm
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