Well, I’m proud of her fearlessness in general, but yesterday seemed noteworthy. We have good local transit, including light rail. All of these have priority seating for seniors and disabled folks, and it is clearly marked as such. But it seems that people of a certain age are either too engaged with their smart phones or just don’t give a shit that someone older may need to sit for a lengthy ride. For a city that is supposedly so friendly, there are a lot of self-absorbed people.
The train was crowded yesterday when we got on carrying our purchases, and there were some 20- or 30-somethings occupying all of the senior seating. A few of them even looked up at us as we got on the train, then went right back to staring at their tiny screens as we stood there. My lovely, talented and fearless spouse leaned over two of them as though squinting at the sign, and loudly read off “Oh look: Priority seating: you are required to move for seniors and people with disabilities.” Then stood back upright and waited. One of the two sitting there finally squeaked out “Oh, would you like to sit down?” No, dumbass, I’d like to stand for the next twenty minutes so you can LOL to your ‘friends’. Being nicer than I am, she just said “Why yes, thank you.”
Or just use your words and ask to sit. This sort of passive aggressive bullshit is something to be embarrassed about, not proud of. Shame on the kids for paying her any mind.
In addition to being old, I have spinal stenosis, which means I cannot remain on my feet more than five minutes, before I absolutely MUST sit down. On a recent visit to Motor Vehicles, I knew the place would be crowded, so I brought my cane, in case I had to stand. A very nice young lady saw my cane and offered me her seat. I’ll always be grateful for that.
Years back, I was commuting to and from work via Metro (DC area).
I had sprained my ankle.
I remember one occasion standing directly in front of the “move for senior / disabled” seats, with my cane.
The seat occupants didn’t even have the excuse of being locked into their screens.
Now, I did have someone offer me a seat once, entirely unsolicited, a couple years back. To be fair, this was after the insanely overcrowded car caused me to actually faint… I don’t recommend this as a way of getting a seat, but it did work.
You don’t know shit about passive agressive. :rolleyes:
The Passive aggressive option would be :
“Oh look! We are in the presence of really special people. The kind of special people who get to ignore the rules and sit where ever they want instead of letting the designated people sit there. Normally people who sit in seats designated for others, without conscience, when everybody knows they shouldn’t, are worthless assholes , But some people are just so special they can just sit there pretending they don’t notice everybody else seeing how special they really are”
I’ll say this for the teens in Montreal. Even while on their phones, they notice me when I get on a bus and invariably one will offer me their seat. Sometimes, I get on a Metro for just two stops and I have to explain to someone that I don’t even want to sit down.
Seriously, man. I’ve had people pull that crap on me when I was on crutches after leg surgery. And I was wearing shorts, so it’s not like they missed the cast. I think however they are called out is just dandy. (In my case, it was another young man standing next to me who asked in a loud stage voice, “you’re in a cast and on crutches. Don’t you think you should be sitting down in these seats right here where those young men are sitting and reading the newspaper?” “Why yes, yes I do. That would be VERY helpful!” Finally one of them was embarrassed enough to give me a seat.)
And if I were the target of such passive-aggressiveness I would tell the speaker to go pound sand. You can ask for a seat but it is presumptuous to think that someone is not disabled because they don’t obviously look disabled. I have absolutely no duty to discuss my medical situation with a stranger on public transit.
Perhaps, but what do you think the odds are that on any given train car with all handicapped seats taken, every person in a handicapped seat who doesn’t appear to have a disability actually has an invisible disability?
