‘You paid for your seat, that's how the system works,’ one commenter on Reddit wrote. “I politely inform her that I think that’s my seat show her my ticket and ask her to move. She checks her ticket and just says ‘Well I must have sit in the wrong seat’ and puts her head down,” the post reads. They said the woman’s husband then chimed in to refuse their request. “He suggests I find another seat (which there are none because it’s busy) and I say but I booked that seat and there are no other available seats in the carriage,” the post continued. “He then raises his voice and says well someone else is in our seats and that his missus is pregnant.”.
The passenger told the man that they have a heart defect and that a lot of people have medical reasons for needing to sit on the train instead of standing. They then told the man to not speak to them with an “aggressive tone” or they would complain. “He then starts swearing at me and I ask him to stop,” they wrote on Reddit. “Eventually, the woman gets up and allows me to sit there and he continues to berate me saying he hopes I feel good for myself and that I’m quiet now I have my seat when really I just stopped engaging as I felt there was no point.”.
However, one of the people sitting next to the passenger then offered their seat to the couple and they started to laugh and point at them. The ticket inspector then came by and asked the couple to move to their assigned seats, telling the passenger that someone had complained about the couple on their behalf. “Even so was I the asshole? Should I have just left them alone as she was pregnant? And did I in any way escalate the situation?” the post concluded.
Many people were quick to turn to the comments section to defend the passenger for standing up for themselves and what they needed. “There's no reason why the husband, as the healthy one, should have stayed in his seat. It's ridiculous that after hearing that you have a heart defect he didn't get out of his seat and give it to his wife, allowing you to take yours,” one comment read. “Even if they couldn't sit in their seats there was no reason for her to have yours. The husband was being a selfish ass.”.
