People desperate for seats on a train

hitokiri

Ok, wth is up with some people and seats on a train. They sprint to get an open seat if one person gets up.

But the funny thing is, there can be someone standing in FRONT of the seat that the person is getting up from, and they will still sprint across the train to try to grab it.

The biggest offenders I see (mainly R and D trains) are old asian people. OMFG, whats the deal?

It happens to me or around me everyday. If you are in front of the train doors when the train stops, they will try to worm their way in front of you to grab a seat. Just this morning I was standing in front of someone getting up, so I moved to the side so they can...you know...GET UP. This old asian man (always middle aged to old people) just pushes his way to get to it. In which case (me a 6'3 italian) put my hand on his chest and physically stopped him.

Why?
Because it was my intention to give it to the pregnant lady standing right next to me!

whats the race about?

/end rant

*edit note
edited the post because it was brought to my attention that I might have sounded racist. Thank you Scarlett

meredithb

Yeah it's called the rat race and I guess when you come from a place where you must claw for your own existence it comes a liitle bit more naturally than to you and I.

scarlett

You're a 6'3" Italian? Never would have guessed.

Excellent topic to get the racism stirred up this early on a Thursday!

mougar

guhhh?

scarlett

^^ valuable contribution, Mougie.

hitokiri

Scarlet - really? I guess it does sound a bit racist. I didnt mean to, so let me edit it up a little.

It's just that with the 2 trains I use, it seems they are more prominent there in the neighborhood i start at and it happens a lot. So I am just venting it up

However, I see your point. In my initial post, I am grouping them all in the same light when I shouldnt. I apologize for that. It not ALL ASIANS. The younger crowds (30 and younger) do not seem to do that. I've always had my issues with the "old" ones lol

I guess it set me off when the guy cut me off before even thinking about the lady. It all falls on manners I suppose.

scarlett

Mkay.

I think in a lot of cultures the older populations are revered and would always be given a seat, even before a young pregnant woman.

Here, yes, perhaps this is an issue of manners. But what you consider good/bad manners does not necessarily set the bar.

So, which shows better manners? Giving up a seat to an older person or a pregnant woman?

PS thanks for editing your post and taking that one part out while I was writing the above.

anastasia beaverhausen

Stop bitching! I will take both your subway seats and beat you with them!!

The elderly and breeders should be given priority seating. I take pretty much the same trains as hitokiri and have noticed an inordinate number of perfectly healthy people shoving and pushing to get seats.

meredithb

scarlett wrote: So, which shows better manners? Giving up a seat to an older person or a pregnant woman?

A pregnant woman. If that older perosn is still working (for whatever reason) then they can suffer the rat race like the rest of us or retire.

hitokiri

lol @ breeders

I have not noticed (or perhaps they dont dare shove me) any "youngsters" doing this.

You see, I have no problem giving my seat up, especially for the elderly or "breeders" (unless i am dead asleep in it lol. in which case im oblivious to anything). But its the fact that they move like freekin ninjas to get the seat before you can even offer it! It makes you think if they even need it with the way they move! lol

urbancowgirl

Haha, I didn't consider this post to be racist at all. It's actually an observation that has been very often documented online. It made me recall a Craigslist posting that a cranky co-worker kept taped to his cube a long time ago http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/nyc/33327633.html.

In all seriousness, though, has anyone ever tried to take the subway in China? It's absolute chaos. There is so much overcrowding that everyone has to push and shove to get on a train (rush hour Bedford L x 10). The transit system actually employs people whose job it is to push passengers onto the train and they'll hold you in so the doors can close.

snazzybangs

I would like to add to this thread that the most frequent offenders who "pretend" to sleep while a pregnant woman stands in front of them seem to be males. I've had many women offer up their seats to me but rarely a man. In fact, just yesterday, I was standing in front of a younger male (prob around 25 - I'm 31) with my pregnant belly in full view, AND reading a book on pregnancy, and he looked up, read the title of the book I was reading, looked at me, and then resumed reading his book.
Now look, I'm not above asking for a seat when I need one, and at the time, I was just fine with standing. It just seems like some men I've come across on the train are not raised with manners and common decency. He should have at least offered, and I would have politely declined the seat. But to not even offer when it was clear he understood I was pregnant shows poor manners indeed. Just my two cents.

danielle123

Yes, I always see women offering their seats to pregnant women on the subway and men who just sit there - what IS that? It's either misogynistic ("find your own damn seat, preggo") or just plain lazy. Thoughts?

Also, I lived in Japan way back when and it wasn't the Japanese who would race for a seat as if their lives depended on it, but the Chinese who were living in Japan. Like MeredithB wrote, I think if you're used to competing with a billion other people to make it through life, you might tend to me a little more "me-focussed" (just as a New Yorker might seem a bit more aggressive in the middle of Iowa to an Iowan).

meredithb

Please do not expect men to give up their seat to a pregnant woman.

voodoonyc

I always give up my seat to the elderly and the clearly pregnant. I have also offered my seat to a seemingly pregnant woman who, well, wasn't. It was completely humiliating. After that I have to be damn sure she's pregnant for me to make the offer.

jeffrey

VoodooNYC wrote: After that I have to be damn sure she's pregnant for me to make the offer.

Absent context, the above may result in much LAWL.

bohuma

I catch the 4/5 or 2/3. There are lots of people desperate to sit down. I usually stand all the way unless there are several empty seats, partly because I feel I am able to stand and partly because you burn more calories standing than sitting.

meredithb

I bet many of them need to burn the calories more than you do.

hitokiri

snazzybangs wrote: I would like to add to this thread that the most frequent offenders who "pretend" to sleep while a pregnant woman stands in front of them seem to be males.

I pretend to sleep when a begger comes along lol

You know what really annoys me? Those kids that want to break dance and blast their stereo right next to you. Im trying to listen to MY music with my headphones. Now I cant even hear myself think and on top of that, they come damn close to kicking you when doing their flips lol


i think i really hate the MTA lol Why cant we have teleporters like in star trek!

jeffrey

Really? I get a kick out of it, so long as I don't *actually* get a kick out of it.

snazzybangs

MeredithB wrote: Please do not expect men to give up their seat to a pregnant woman.

Why shouldn't this be expected? It's only polite, just as I would offer my seat to someone who was on crutches, or holding a baby, or elderly persons, or the clearly disabled?

meredithb

Well, I believe that if a man and a woman are sitting next to each other and a pregnant woman got on that they would expect the man to give up his seat.

If I were that man, I'd count to ten to see if the woman offered up her seat first.

danielle123

MeredithB wrote: Well, I believe that if a man and a woman are sitting next to each other and a pregnant woman got on that they would expect the man to give up his seat.

If I were that man, I'd count to ten to see if the woman offered up her seat first.

That makes absolutely no sense. Why should a man wait for a woman to offer her seat first? The first person to see the pregnant woman should offer his/her seat. Period.

The questions is why is it only women, seemingly, these days that are offering their seat and men just sit there like they don't know the woman is pregnant.

meredithb

danielle123 wrote: That makes absolutely no sense. Why should a man wait for a woman to offer her seat first? The first person to see the pregnant woman should offer his/her seat. Period.

The questions is why is it only women, seemingly, these days that are offering their seat and men just sit there like they don't know the woman is pregnant.

Makes sense to me. yes the first one to see should offer the seat, but if they both see her at the same time I bet that woman is thinking, "The guy next to me will offer his seat."

And I guess after decades of only men, seemingly, offering their seats to pregnant women that they feel it's about time.

danielle123

MeredithB wrote: [quote=danielle123]That makes absolutely no sense. Why should a man wait for a woman to offer her seat first? The first person to see the pregnant woman should offer his/her seat. Period.

The questions is why is it only women, seemingly, these days that are offering their seat and men just sit there like they don't know the woman is pregnant.

Makes sense to me. yes the first one to see should offer the seat, but if they both see her at the same time I bet that woman is thinking, "The guy next to me will offer his seat."

And I guess after decades of only men, seemingly, offering their seats to pregnant women that they feel it's about time.


Thanks, Amazing Kreskin. Like you know what some random woman on the subway is thinking. If we're going to go that ridiculous route, HERE's what she's probably thinking: "I'd better offer my seat b/c the a-hole next to me is goiing to act like he doesn't see the pregnant woman."

meredithb

Good and as she should.

That no one asked that women to get pregnant, she shouldn't be rewarded for having a child. And if she has to work while 6+ months pregnant, perhaps she shouldn't have gotten pregnant in the first place.

MOD

MeredithB wrote: [quote=danielle123]That makes absolutely no sense. Why should a man wait for a woman to offer her seat first? The first person to see the pregnant woman should offer his/her seat. Period.

The questions is why is it only women, seemingly, these days that are offering their seat and men just sit there like they don't know the woman is pregnant.

Makes sense to me. yes the first one to see should offer the seat, but if they both see her at the same time I bet that woman is thinking, "The guy next to me will offer his seat."

And I guess after decades of only men, seemingly, offering their seats to pregnant women that they feel it's about time.

And this folks, is why Meredith is single
Sorry hon, had to poke at you

meredithb

Actually, I'm single because I don't want anyone who expects anything from me.

vidro3

MeredithB wrote: Actually, I'm single because I don't want anyone who expects anything from me.

ditto

hitokiri

can we just go back to being racist? I'm so bored of sexism ;p

carnivore

The aggressiveness with which I pursue a seat depends almost entirely on whether the book I'm currently reading is a paperback or a hardcover.