I swear, I run into the strangest people! Especially on the train.
Last night, when I was already on the train, a man asked if he could sit down. I was on the end of a 3-seat row and another man was by the window. I got up to let him sit down in the middle because my stop was next. He said, rudely "Just move over!" And so I did. It didn't seem like a big deal to me where I sat.
A few minutes later, the train arrived at my stop. I politely asked the man if he wouldn't mind letting me out as we were approaching my stop. The man then had the audacity to complain to me! He said there was nowhere for him to move to let me out and he refused to get up while the train was moving.
After the train stopped and everyone else got off the train, he finally huffed a few times and stood up to let me out. I had to run down the aisle in order to get off the train before it started moving again. Missing the stop was out of the question since Josh works late this time of year and the walk back from the next stop is quite a few miles. I would have been stuck! I booked it to get off that train just in the nick of time.
Really, I'm just not sure what I did wrong. I offered to let the man sit in the middle so I could get out without bothering him. Then I didn't complain when he rudely asked me to move or wanted to let the train stop before getting up. But making me almost miss the stop, that's just crazy! I swear, these things only happen to me.
I once went to a Persian shul in Boston and I was sitting at the end of a row. A woman came by looking to scoot in (or so I thought) so I got up to let her pass. Instead, she just sat in my seat. And it wasn't as though the seat immediately next to me was empty. I stood there awkwardly, stuck between her knees and those of the person in the next seat.
ReplyDeleteI thought for a second that if that was proper Persian etiquette, it must be just as acceptable to sit on her lap :)