The owner of said back pack looked at me with a deer in the headlights look when I handed him his luggage. He had his music blaring and had heard nothing. It happened too quickly for him to fully process what was happening but when the lady sat down in the seat, and he realized what I'd done, he slunk down and stared hard out the window.
Damn right.
My heart was racing, as it always does when I pull these moves, but eventually I manage to convince myself I did the right thing and calm the hell down.
I just can't tolerate this crap anymore. I know that it pains a lot of you to ask people to move their stuff but let me remind you again, you have to assert yourself. You can no longer assume people will demonstrate common courtesy. There is no common courtesy these days, only rare courtesy.
In my case, I pay $16.80 a day to get to and from work. I'm entitled to a seat and so are you. Douchepicks are not entitled to pull an "all your space belongs to me" move during morning or evening rush hour. Not on my watch.
22 comments:
I LOL'd at douchepicks. Gotta use that one myself.
You're like a GO Transit Spiderman, you know...
I just get lovely name calling when I move people's shit, things like f****** bitch. Such lovely people we co-exist with, eh?
Brilliant.
I've also observed an increase in the number of seat hogs who play this cagey game of chicken with boarding passengers.
You've no doubt encountered this type. When the train/bus stops and passengers begin boarding, the seat hog glances around, mentally calculating the number of vacant seats. They put one hand ineffectually on their stuff as if prepared to move it only if absolutely necessary. Their attitude is that the seat beside them should be a "seat of last resort," to be occupied by a human being only if every other seat is taken.
I hate that. They'll grudgingly permit people to sit beside them only only if there are absolutely no other choices.
I did something similar to that and got called names while the two "ladies" whose stuff I moved were having one of those conversation where they pretended to be quiet. They hogged two seats and I took one by asking one to move her crap and then I asked the other to move it because this other guy needed a seat.
Another time I went to sit in a seat and the lady sitting by herself in a quad informed me that she was saving those seats. I thanked her and opened my book. It was the last open quad in the lower level too. Once I took that seat the other two filled up before her friends got there. They tried to complain to the ticket dude but got told off.
One more thing. Last Remembrance day my dear old father in law, a sprite 88 and his main squeeze at 85 were sitting in the end seats when a young guy came up to them and tried to kick them out of those seats because they are reserved for cyclists. When Ed refused, he actually threatened them. How classy is that?
Happy days.
@ Jack,
I've noticed that too! At least they are slightly more aware of their behaviour.
Now, if they had put their bag down on another seat and was asked to move it when they were still getting settled, that is different and I can understand (it happens to me in the winter when I am trying to take my coat off, then when seated, purse goes into lap). But to do it once settled, then no. Move your shit.
George
Your remembrance day story is appalling. That cyclist is lucky I wasn't on that train. He would have gotten an earful.
Actual;ly CJ that cyclist didn't realize just how lucky he was.
On the upper level was a squad of soldiers on their way to the CNE as an honour guard. If they had seen what the cyclist did, there might have been more of an incident. Imagine a young guy dressed in spandex threatening an 88 year old veteran in full dress uniform in front of a bunch of active soldiers who had just returned from Afghanistan.
It would not have been a pretty picture.
@Jack C: I've seen that happen too - I often choose to sit there regardless. Once I had someone point out there were othe seats, so I said earnestly "I always sit here. This is where I sit when I travel on this bus. Always".
Stranegly, it worked...
I'd like to think, had an altercation happened, those soldiers would have made a nice sculpture out of his bike and then called the media to show them the wonderful hardware donated by the cyclist to the soldier, currently being sold as a discussion piece with profits going towards various charities that support veterans.
Would have made for an awesome story.
OH CJ!
YOU'RE TOO FUNNY. That would be epic.
Unrelated but yet not so, my very obviously 6 month pregnant friend and I were traveling the TTC yesterday during rush hour and it took a young lady NOT in the "priority seating" section to give up her seat. I had asked my friend LOUDLY "Do you need to sit?" while looking at a guy younger than me (who was looking at me and my friend like "uh should I get up" kinda face) and it took someone else getting up to give her the seat! She didn't get offered one when we transferred either. She said at this point it's like a game to see who offers but that if she needed the seat she'd make someone move.
I've decided that when I'm pregnant my big fat preggo belly is getting stuck right in the faces of priority seat squatters....ya, ignore me now!
Your my hero CJ, I want to do this badly but my damn fear gets in the way. In my neighborhood a group of bikers (mostly with Kawasakis, etc) get together in front of Burrito Boyz every Tuesday night to eat and talk bikes (I don't care about this) but what I care about is them standing around the sidewalk effectively blocking it for pedestrians. They act like they own the damn place and rumor has it they get free drinks with their Burritos.
Lori,
Email me and we'll discuss my rates for security detail. LOL!
I honestly don't know why people suck so much. I'm sorry the bikers behave like that and it can be very scary to confront people because we can longer be assured that we aren't going to be harmed or assaulted so we say nothing. It's a damn shame.
I took a seat last week, clearly being saved for a friend of one of the ladies in the quad. There was a bag on it, one of the last seats available. I went to sit down and the woman grabbed the bag before I sat on it, handed it to her friend and said "I guess isn't going to sit here today."
No, I guess she isn't. Felt good to sit as I booted it to make the train with seconds to spare.
I think I'm developing some 'tude when it comes to GO Train etiquette. Twenty-one years has taken its toll. *le sigh*
lol, I'll be sure to do that. Thanks, if only they saw their own behaviour. It is a damn shame.
Vicky, something similar happened to me. In my case, the "ladies " said they were saving the seat for a friend who had just had surgery and couldn't stand. I replied that I was sure one of them would give up her seat, and sat down :)
CJ do you wear the cape in public? You are a go train super hero!
That would be an interesting mast head for a while - Go Train supper hero. A bit self aggrandizing, but funny all the same for those in on the joke.
Duh, "Bicky", not "Vicky" - silly auto-correct!!
I dunno. Skin Man's supper hero image is coming together for me. CJ in her cape making supper and dealing with Class A GO Train nimrods from her phablet at the same time.
I like it!
Sylv, no worries on the name! :)
I don't ask anyone to move anything; I just sit down while handing them their package or nearly squashing their feet. I weigh 210. I once sat a prickly rose bush on a guys lap. They have no manners so why should we.
A woman on the subway with 3 parcels, one between her feet, one on her lap and one on the seat beside her offered to try and pick up the one on the seat so I could sit down without being asked. As I was only going 2 stops I said no thank you. Not all people travelling with parcels are idiots.
RW
Of course it's not polite to put your stuff on the seat during rush hour BUT not everyone commutes and therefore don't realize just how busy the train gets. With that said, it's never acceptable to put your hands on someone else's belongings - not okay, ever. Ask them to move their stuff.
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