Before I lovingly pen this post, I must point out that I myself, am a lovely round woman of girth. However, I don't feel my roundness bestows upon me a handicap, rendering me disabled and gives me the right to plant my butt across two seats on a crowded train and then cry foul when a slender gentleman wedges himself next to me.
But that's what happened two weeks ago on the Barrie line, according to the Lady in Pink.
A woman, a rather large woman, with a cane (this may be a crucial component to the story), sat herself down in the two-seater that faces another two-seater, near each door. The Barrie trains fill up quite quickly and for those who ride it all the way to Barrie, it's a long train ride. Apparently a weary fellow spotted this woman in the two-seater and asked politely if he could sit. She told him, "It's too tight." He says he disagrees and goes to sit down. Before his butt even graces the seat she gathers all her stuff up in a huff declaring, "This is ridiculous, I'm going to tell the conductor".
Lady in Pink is certain this woman did not pay for two seats. About five to six minutes go by and a GO constable comes 'round and tells the man he has to vacate the train, that he violated GO's policy about priority seating. He was then escorted off the train. The woman then reclaims the two-seater as her own and the man has to wait for the next train to Barrie.
Thoughts?
14 comments:
I hope the guy protested that, or filed a complaint with GO. It sounds like he did nothing wrong. It doesn't sound like he harassed her or anything, let's assume he bought a ticket, he was just trying to sit in an empty seat (albeit a crowded one). That lady had her seat, he wasn't trying to take it away from her or anything.
That's ridiculous. There were two seats, so I don't see what the problem was.
The definition of disability can be quite broad, so next time he could claim any those described in GO's Accessible Customer Service Policy (see below). I think I'd go with "lack of physical coordination" myself. ;p
http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/docs/publications/Metrolinx-GO%20CSP%20-%20Mar%2029%202010%20_2_.pdf
Wait, can we clarify which seats we're referring to? Aren't the two seaters by the doors that face each other "courtsey seats"? Passengers are not required to vacate those.
According to Lady in Pink's email, these would be the two-seaters near the doors that face each other.
So clearly she wasn't on the accessibility coach if it took a while to get the CSA. You have to go up and down stairs to get to the next coach, so I don't see why she needed to sit in that exact seat in the first place. She can walk upstairs if there's no room down. She could have sat in an outside seat where there's lots of room. There were 2 seats. I don't think the conductor/CSA had the right to throw the guy off the train for sitting down, especially in this instance.
Bullying at it finest, perpetuated by the authorities....disgusting!
Unreal.....
Or there are those less slender types that will sit perpendicularly so that no one can even fathom sitting next to the other person in the 2 seater. People are just lazy nowadays and don't give two craps about others.
Him getting kicked off the train was rediculous though. If I was him, I would've filed a complaint.
Lindsay
There is a crucial piece of information missing here. HOW did this woman complain to the conductor? Did she get up and walk to find the CSA?
Seriously - I hope he complains. People who have entitlement complexes irritate me!
Was that literally (and I mean literally) the last seat on the train? Because otherwise, he should have just foudn another seat.
That's it! What a brilliant scam!!!!! I'm going to gainn 60 pounds, buy myself a cane and sit wherever the hell I want. BTW Tom I read it as there weren't seats left which is why the gent wanted to sit next to King Kong.
Yes the lady got up with her cane and all her bags and stuff and walked herself off the car obviously to the accessibility coach and told the csa who had him removed from the train...
The thing that was most shocking was people on the train thought she was right...
So much for being "disabled".
To the lady in pink, you need to get your facts right; I am that passenger of ‘girth’; I am a disabled person, and carry medical documentation to the effect so if EMT assistance is ever required, they have information they would need. Under Ontario disability access legislation the right to accessible transportation is mandated. This passenger of ‘girth’ has attempted in the past to get appropriate seating on the handicapped accessible coach and without exception had been challenged for rights to those seats by those who verbalized that is was a hospitality coach NOT a handicapped accessible coach.
If being classed disabled, as one commentator mentioned is merely a matter of going to Shopper’s Drug Mart to buy a cane, or to put on 60 pounds, I sincerely encourage you to try that. However, you also need to experience the physical pain endured on a daily basis and the ignorant discrimination of armchair critics combined with that. I truly encourage you to do this.
The ‘gentleman’ in question did not ask permission to sit, did not offer to accommodate the space and simply forced himself down into the available space. On completion of this the gentleman was informed he was hurting me to which he replied too bad and if I didn’t like it I could go sit somewhere else. Did you hear that? Did you choose to relay this information in your posting? Did you also hear that I asked if the ‘gentleman’ needed me to get the conductor to assist me, and the gentleman challenged me to do so?
Did the lady in pink see me struggle to regain my belongings and walk along the platform to the accessible coach and ask the conductor there to call transit security? Transit security attended and THEY ascertained that assault had occurred and removed the gentleman from the train. Did you relay in your post that the lady of ‘girth’ did not plunk herself back down in the space, but remained off the train and attended with the transit security back into the GO concourse to facilitate the completion of their paperwork for the assault charge. This lady of girth than had to take alternate transportation home. Don’t presume to embellish the facts to add colour to your rendition.
As mentioned, the lady in pink needs to get her facts straight and I reiterate, not embellish her rendition of this ‘story’ for the entertainment the armchair critics who presume to pass judgment. The lady in pink needs to walk one day in the life of a handicapped person, we know her story would very much change.
Hello,
Thank you very much for speaking up.
There is always two sides to every story and it's very easy for many of us to jump to conclusions in today's busy rush-rush-rush society, never mind the fact there are people like the man you encountered who carry a sense of entitlement, that we don't necessarily pause to fully assess the situation.
By no means am I defending how the story was written or the actions of those involved, but it does happen quite a bit that many of us walk off the train with a distorted perception of any drama we may have witnessed as very few of us do stick around to find out the whole story.
I appreciate you taking the time to inform us of the events that led up to what was witnessed.
As for the handicapped remarks, etc, assumptions... This website is a valuable tool as it exposes all the ills of society. People need to be educated first in order to become self-aware and that's what you did.
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