Last week, I offered my seat to a woman who was clearly pregnant. As well as saying thank you, she also loudly said "Isn't it funny how it's always women who offer up their seats". I imagine it was to shame the many other seated men who hadn't offered their seats & I muttered a rather embarrassed "Spose so".
A few stops further down the line the seat behind me became free. I was about to move myself into it, when a man, who seemed to fall into the "drunks less able to stand" category, plopped himself into the seat.
In London Underground seat chasing selfishness, this took the biscuit. Both me & pregnant lady gave him hard Paddington stares. His seated mate (who had ignored the pregnant woman earlier), said "Oi give that seat up, there's ladies standing". Thinking I was about to get a seat back, another woman behind me leapt at the opportunity & grabbed the seat when he got up.
Leaning against the pole in the middle of the carriage, I then had drunk man, closely behind me, reading The Standard, over my shoulder. I was in the middle of a crossword puzzle and have never been more tempted to write the words "IDIOT", "BUFFOON" and much ruder words on my paper for him to see.
I really felt like I'd been the victim of bad Tube Seat Etiquette. Ignoring the fact that I'd given up my seat in the first place - isn't there an unspoken rule that people who're on the train before you get first dibs at empty seats? Should the woman behind me, have said "No you first"? Shouldn't drunken seated mate have also got up and offered us both seats - rather than chastising his mate for sitting? Am I being super sensitive over this?
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