When we’re pregnant , we are honestly so tired, overwhelmed, and just overall done. Traveling around and having to carry not only ourselves, our belongings , but also the weight of our unborn child can be exhausting . Many unspoken etiquettes in society are that when you see a pregnant woman, you offer them help, your seat, or assistance if they need it. However, sometimes, people don’t get that memo.
One Reddit user recently asked the community for advice after she experienced a situation with a passenger on a bus.
The 30-year-old Reddit user said she is 8 months pregnant and takes public transportation to work on a daily basis. She says that although the bus is packed every day during her commute, she is always lucky enough to ride with decent people who offer seats to her.
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She made it clear that she doesn’t ask for special favors or treatment.
She says that she doesn’t ask for people’s seats on the bus, but people are kind enough to offer them to the woman when she is riding. She shares that she “doesn’t use her pregnancy as an excuse” to get what she wants from anyone.
One day, while riding the bus, she noticed a man had his hand on an available seat.
“I go to sit but I find a guy in his business attire sitting there with his hand on the empty seat (sort of like resting it?) I say excuse me and ask him to remove his hand so I could sit, but he tells me the seat was ‘taken,'” she shared.
He said the seat was currently “taken” by his hand.
“I laughed a little but wasn’t feeling well so I ask him to remove it so I could sit but he refuses again, folks start staring I tell him I’m tired and needed to sit and he replies saying my pregnancy isn’t his problem,” she continued.
Being exhausted and fed up, the pregnant woman decided to have a seat—right on his hand.
“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,” she wrote.
Many bus riders were staring at the pregnant woman and she felt “a bit of shame” for what she had done.
When she told her husband about the story, he said that she “did act inappropriately” and she shouldn’t have made the guy “uncomfortable” by sitting on his hand like that. He thinks that his wife is in the wrong for doing this.
When asking Reddit users if she was “wrong,” many disagreed with her husband.
Others who are also pregnant said they would have done “the same thing.”
“I’ve been 8 months pregnant on public transportation and I 100% would have done exactly as you did. Seriously, what did he expect?” one person asked on the Reddit thread.
Another woman said she should have done something even worse.
Others were disgusted that the person riding the bus would be so rude as to not allow her to sit. Another person suggested that she should have even farted on the guy’s hand, just for safe measure.
Some were surprised that no one spoke up for her.
“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. (I was zipping my backpack first instead of jumping up),” said another Reddit user.
Some said the guy seems like a “snob.”
“When I was in my 20s, 30s, and 40s I used the public bus system every day and I know this kind of rider. Sometimes they are snobs whose car is in the shop and they are horrified that they have to deal with a — gasp — STRANGER sitting next to them. Or they are touch-phobic. Or they think “I call dibs on two seats” should be honored on a crowded bus,” said another.
And, others said even if she wasn’t pregnant, the guy was in the wrong.
“I mean, even if OP wasn’t pregnant, there’s nothing worse than someone who takes up extra space on public transpo for no reason. For example, the people who put their bag on the seat next to them when there’s a ton of people standing. The fact that OP is super pregnant makes it even more justifiable,” said another Reddit user.
