Leaving one’s seat and offering it to a pregnant lady on any public transportation is pretty common. We all do it- but there will always be people who wouldn’t. While we don’t know what their reason is, it does seem pretty inhumane to let someone struggle like that. And usually, we would see arguments breaking out between the pregnant woman and whoever refused to give her their seat. In this particular r/AITA post, the original poster mentioned that she had sat on a man’s hand- after he refused to remove it from a seat. Now, this does seem pretty ludicrous until one realizes that it was not even the man who had to move! The lady was simply asking him to shift his hand so that she could sit. The man reeks of entitlement, doesn’t he?
“So, I, F30, am 8 months pregnant. I take public transport to work daily. I’m always exhausted cause I have to work extra time to be able to afford basic necessities. I take the bus to work everyday and oftentimes it’s packed, but I get lucky enough when decent folks volunteer their seats for me. Now I should mention that I don’t use my pregnancy as an excuse to get what I want but people just offer me their places by themselves which is kind and sweet. On Wednesday, I get on the bus like usual but this time there’s one empty seat. I go to sit but I find a guy in his business attire sitting there with his hand on the empty seat. I say excuse me and ask him to remove his hand so I could sit, but he tells me the seat was ‘taken’.” At this point in the story, the pregnant lady would be well within her rights to scream at the man. After all, one can see that she has trouble even moving. How callous would one have to be to not let her sit?
Read: Man Forces Mom And Two Children To Move Out Of Plane Seat – So He Can Take A Nap
Pregnant Lady Sits On Man’s Hand After He Refuses To Remove it
“[…] I tell him I’m tired and needed to sit and he replies saying my pregnancy isn’t his problem. I had enough at this point, my legs were burning and my back was hurting, so I go ahead and sit on his hand. He freaks out and tries to remove it quickly while shouting at me. He then starts arguing about how disrespectful I was to do this inappropriate thing and in public no less. I argue back but then he gets off after saying I was being inappropriate and disrespectful. Everyone stares at me and I just sit there feeling a bit of shame about what happened.”
To be perfectly honest, the pregnant woman didn’t do anything wrong. She was heavily pregnant and had to support the weight of an additional human. This was one such situation when another individual should always comply.
So, what did r/AITA think of the case of this pregnant lady? u/gamerdarling mentioned, “Seats are for butts, not hands. If you don’t want a butt on your hand keep it on your own seat.” u/Shuai_Ran added to it by mentioning, “This. Did he buy two tickets? Otherwise, he has no right to occupy two seats. Same with people who put their bags on the seat. If there are plenty of free seats, it is ok, but once seats are running out, it is common courtesy to free up seats. And it is also common courtesy to give up your seat for elderly people, pregnant women, and handicapped people, because public transport, buses, and trains alike, can be quite dangerous if they have to hit the emergency brakes. It actually happens quite often, that people get hurt because they fall when a bus brakes unexpectedly.”
Man On Public Transport Acts Entitled- Gets Put In His Place By Pregnant Woman
Several other users responded accordingly. u/MechanicMel84 commented, “I’ve been 8 months pregnant on public transportation and I 100% would have done exactly as you did. Seriously, what did he expect?” To this, u/planet_rose mentioned, “I’ve been 8 months pregnant twice and I would have clapped when he left in a huff. I can’t believe no one spoke up for her. Old ladies are not as fierce as they used to be. I still remember an elderly lady reading teenage me the riot act for not getting up to offer my seat to a pregnant lady fast enough.” u/illustrated_womxn commented, “I’ve never been pregnant, but I’ve still totally done this before on a crowded train in NYC. I’ve also sat on some man-spreaders legs before. If you want people to respect your personal space, don’t be a selfish prick.”
u/SummitJunkie97 had a reasonable opinion about the entire saga involving the pregnant lady. “This isn’t about whether someone should give up their seat for a pregnant woman. Your pregnancy is irrelevant here. You don’t get two seats. Not for your bag, not to sprawl out or lay down, and not for your hand. He shouldn’t have tried to take up an extra seat, and he absolutely should’ve moved the first time you asked. I don’t know whether that completely justifies sitting on his hand, but it’s kinda unbelievable he still didn’t move his hand as it was clear you were sitting. He was playing some kinda weird power-trip chicken and he lost.” u/Sableandstable responded, “Believe me if you were a well-built tall man that guy would have moved his precious hand. He was messing with you because you didn’t pose a threat to him.”
Keep Reading: Pregnant woman branded ‘lazy’ for refusing to give up bus seat for older lady
Sources
- “AITA for sitting on a man’s hand after he refused to remove it from the empty seat?” Reddit
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