Feet on the Seats -- The Blog

^^ Drats! )

A friend was too chicken to post this, so I will! )

People put their junk on empty seats as a strategy - to discourage you from asking if the seat is free. This tactic works on a lot of nice people -- they just move on rather than risk interaction or an outright confrontation.

I'm not going to reward this kind of rude behavior with a polite inquiry. I'm going to just plop my weaponized, chromium-plated butt on the seat. And it makes a loud, explosive report upon impact. Their silly junk always manages to disappear just in the nick of time, trust me.

No, people don't do things as a strategy to discourage you or anyone else. They just do it. It's not all about you.

As I said before, IMHO your behavior is just as rude and obnoxious as feet on the seat. Bags on the seat are not an issue for me, and I've put mine there many times. I've never had a confrontation with anyone over it; when the train car starts to fill up, I remove it, or, if I haven't already, someone will ask me or motion to me, and I happily remove it. No problem. If anyone is intimidated by a bag on the seat, you've got far bigger problems.

What do you think goes through the minds of people who hear the announcement, imploring them to keep the seats clear and then deciding to put their stuff there anyway? True, it's not about me or ligeti. My guess is that it's all about the self. I imagine it goes something like, "I know I'm not supposed to put my bag here, but I like it here. Maybe people will pick an empty seat before they ask me to move my bag."

There are no overhead bins on the lower level of the double decker trains.
I do agree with Tom's comments.
Next time Ligeti is going to sit next to me will just have to leave something fun for him to sit on.

So I got on a bus once where it was half full... and every other seat had a bag on it. This was the Community Coach 77 to NYC, by the way.

I walked up and down the aisle once, and announced loudly, "OK, seriously? Not one person is going to move their bag to allow me to sit down?"

A guy looked up at me and sneered, "All you have to do is ask."

So I said- "Why do I have to ask you for permission to sit down on a public bus?"

That, to me, is the issue here. The seatbaggers and liers and hoggers are treating a public resource as private space, and demanding that other members of the public "ask" to allow to sit.

F that.

Look, I let a lot of insignificant things bother me, but this one is a no brainer for me. I've just found in life that if you're confrontational with someone from the get-go, that's what you're going to get back. You can't hope for anything better. It doesn't take anything out of you to just smile and nod at the person's bag, or just say "excuse me". You'll get more with sugar than with vinegar (oh, I sound like grandma).

That being said -- can we just keep this blog to "feet on the seats"? It's supposed to be FUN DAMMIT!!!!! :-D

marcsiry is right and poignantly points out why this behavior is so rude. On the other hand, mumstheword points out that we can let this roll our backs anyway. I'd rather get angry at other, more important things. It has raised my awareness enough that I won't be leaving my stuff on an empty seat at all any more. Perhaps it has had the same effect on other people.

I am not intimidated by people putting stuff on the empty seat, and I make it a point to ask those people to move their things for me to sit down. That said, imho it's disingenuous to claim that none of those people are doing it purposely in the hopes that no one will try to sit next to them. Often enough there's a little wall of stuff -- a bag, a laptop, a newspaper, all carefully stacked. and then they sloooowly move it when asked to do so, sometimes with audible sighing and harrumphing to emphasize how I'm inconveniencing them by asking them to relinquish "their" space.

ml1 said:

That said, imho it's disingenuous to claim that none of those people are doing it purposely in the hopes that no one will try to sit next to them. Often enough there's a little wall of stuff -- a bag, a laptop, a newspaper, all carefully stacked. and then they sloooowly move it when asked to do so, sometimes with audible sighing and harrumphing to emphasize how I'm inconveniencing them by asking them to relinquish "their" space.

I'm just saying that we can never assume what is in someone else's mind or what their motivation is for anything. So often we assume things and make judgments about people and act on those judgments, and then find out we're all wrong (or at least I have). So to see someone's bag on the seat, assume they're doing it to spite "you" (or whatever reason), to act on that assumption, and then to be nasty to that person by plopping your butt on their bags, is just wrong and doesn't serve any positive purpose, IMHO.

Again, if you want to talk about bags on the seat, please start another blog? Thankey.

This woman made herself nice and comfy, phone and water in hand.The conductor did not ask her to put her feet down.

Ugly boots!

Thank you! I sat down next to this offender and she announced that she was SORRY about putting her feet on the seats. I moved across the aisle, and somebody else with much more spine came by and gave her the evil eye, which she discussed at length on her cellphone. She was in SO MUCH PAIN. She HAD to have her shoes on the seat of the four-seater.

yeah, they were not nice boots.

I believe she was pregnant. Am I wrong to think that it is still rude?

SODawg, you are not wrong.

SODawg said:

I believe she was pregnant. Am I wrong to think that it is still rude?

As a currently-pregnant gal, I'll agree: it was rude.

Here is a picture of the same woman I posted on page 1--the quiet car enforcer... There were any number of seats, but she wanted to sit next to me. Fine. I didn't buy four tickets, but it was only so she could put her feet on the seat. She was telling everyone to hush... When I got up to leave, I told her she couldn't arbitrarily decide which rules she wanted to abide by, that's not how rules work, and that if she wanted people to abide by rules she had to follow all of them. She put her hands over her ears pretending she couldn't hear me.

also drives me NUTS! it is just so rude and disrespectful. I know its public transportation and lord knows WHAT is on that seat in the first place, but I really don't want to sit on that seat after someone has laid their shmutz filled shoes on it. Its just SO RUDE. I had the pleasure of taking a plane ride a couple of months ago and the woman in the window seat (I was in aisle and middle was empty) put her NAKED feet on the seat right next to me. I was apalled.

marylago said:

Here is a picture of the same woman I posted on page 1--the quiet car enforcer... There were any number of seats, but she wanted to sit next to me. Fine. I didn't buy four tickets, but it was only so she could put her feet on the seat. She was telling everyone to hush... When I got up to leave, I told her she couldn't arbitrarily decide which rules she wanted to abide by, that's not how rules work, and that if she wanted people to abide by rules she had to follow all of them. She put her hands over her ears pretending she couldn't hear me.

oh....I know this woman...the husher! Whata number.

I put my bag on the seat and my feet on my bag. Is that rude?

Tom_Reingold said:

I put my bag on the seat and my feet on my bag. Is that rude?

Not as rude as feet directly on seat, but still I'd have to say yes.

I'd say during rush hour yes. Off peak when the train is not crowded probably not as big of a deal. The pic I posted above was at 7:15 pm.

Tom, you can't be serious.
:-(

Oh, marylago, that's one for the books! Do people ever cease to amaze you? She put her hands over her ears? Oh, God, help me!!! ) ) )

Frankly, I haven't seen anybody. I've been in very crowded trains and not near the four seaters, so I haven't had an occasion to snap any pictures. But some day, somewhere.....

I would never do that in rush hour. No I did it on an empty train, and I was not in a 4-ganger. I put my bag and leg on the seat next to me.

Tom, you're just trying to find any way possible for someone to say "it's OK Tom to do what you do!" LOL!

Kinda. I want to know what's acceptable. Some of these trains have lousy seats.

Tom_Reingold said:

Kinda. I want to know what's acceptable. Some of these trains have lousy seats.

Actually, the double-deckers are not all that comfortable for the long haul, but quite serviceable for a half-hour or so.

I like the double decides the best. Different body types I guess.