Man sparks backlash after refusing to give up train seat for pregnant woman
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: Maskot/fancy.yan/Getty Images
While many of us were taught from childhood some basic manners from helping out an elderly person with some heavy shopping or holding doors open for people behind you - it seems not everyone got the same memo.
Now, we all know it's simply common courtesy to give up your seat for someone less able to stand, whether they are disabled, older or pregnant.
However, one bloke has sparked some major backlash online after refusing to give up this train seat for a pregnant woman.
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In a social media post, which has since been removed by Reddit's filters, the anonymous man took to the 'Am I the A**hole' thread to ask the internet whether he was in the right or the wrong for his behaviour.
According to the man, there were 'no vacant seats' left on the jam-packed train when the expecting mother walked onto the carriage - understandably 'looking for a seat'.
The Reddit user's seat was apparently the first in the pregnant woman's immediate eye-line with every other passenger occupying the nearby seats being much older than he was.
He wrote: "I wasn't sure whether I should offer mine [to her] or not."
When trying to make up his mind, a different elderly woman told the woman to take the man's seat which subsequently left him angered as it had been done without his say-so.
"You can't just ask tell someone else to claim my seat," he told the elderly seated woman. "It's mine, I get to decide."
Yikes.
And it only got more heated from there.
The elderly woman simply explained that the woman was very obviously pregnant and therefore had a priority to sit down and that he, as a younger man, had 'the ability to stand'.
"Everyone was eyeing me as if I had said something wrong, but I got p***ed off," the man recalled.
After claiming he 'wasn't having that nonsense', the man declared: "I told her that I am not doing it, and she began to accuse me of not having respect for elders."
It seems it wasn't just the elderly woman who had an issue with the situation as other fellow passengers then got involved in the matter - siding with her request.
However, the chap still refused to abide.
"I told the old woman that she has to mind her own business, to not interfere in my affairs, and that I have every right to remain there," he added.
While admitting he probably made a 'bad impression' on everyone, the man concluded the post writing: "I didn't like her attitude."
The Reddit post has since been met with a load of backlash, with one user writing: "The old woman shouldn't have offered anyone else's seat to the pregnant lady.
"But you showed a very prominent lack of empathy towards someone in a physically demanding state who did nothing wrong."
They continued: "Everyday gestures of kindness improve happiness for the givers and the takers.
"You're the a**hole not because you were obligated to offer, but because of the way you handled the situation."
Another echoed: "You do not have to give up your seat to people with disabilities, the elderly, or pregnant people, but that would be the courteous thing to do.
"You seemed to want to spite the old lady more than you didn't want the pregnant passenger to sit. This makes you more of an a**hole. It wasn't principal so much as it was spite."
"You dug your heels in like a child," condemned a final Reddit user.
What do you make of it?