A woman with a limp was gobsmacked when an “entitled” mother “demanded” she vacate her priority seat on a busy train so that her family could sit down. However, the woman took “malicious delight” in letting the mother’s actions come back to bite her.
Train etiquette is a contentious subject, with many passengers becoming irate and frustrated by the unwanted behaviour of their fellow travellers – whether it’s due to loud phone conversations, spreading their bags and belongings all over empty seats which stops others from sitting down, or tucking into pungent food.
One woman, who has a limp and finds it difficult to walk quickly, usually occupies one of the priority seats on her train commute home each day.
The train operates as a “full train for 90% of the line” before it “splits into two trains” towards the end of the journey, with one part continuing on to residential, suburban areas and the other heading towards the airport.
Passengers wishing to travel to the airport must be seated in the correct section of the train or they’ll find themselves being taken to “the suburbs”.
The woman noted there’s currently a surge in tourists and people travelling to the airport due to it being “holiday season” in her German town, and “every day” she observes people intending to go to the airport but mistakenly boarding “the rear part of the train towards the suburbs by mistake”.
On Reddit, she explained: “I usually help those people out and tell them when they can best change to get into the front part of the train to the airport. You can easily spot them with a big suitcase looking a bit out of place.
“I have a bit of a limp on [my] right leg so I’m pretty slow and usually sit in the disabled seat, makes it easier for me to get in and out of the train.”
She revealed that recently, an “entitled family” consisting of a mother, father, two children and a grandmother boarded the train with their luggage, and “started arguing about if the train goes to the airport or not”, with the mother “being very sure” it did but she was wrong and they were, in fact, in the wrong carriage.
As they began searching for somewhere to sit, the mother approached the woman and demanded she make space for the family before declaring she “should not be sitting there”.
The woman continued: “To be honest, I would have made room for them anyways, but I only smiled at them and got up without another word, but Mom was not done yet. Telling me off how rude I am and that I should look out for people who actually need those spots lol.”
Not all disabilities are visible but the father did notice the woman’s limp and suggested she’s “probably disabled”, but the mother glared at her with “sour grapes, just very much [an] insincere apology.”
However, the woman had the last laugh. She revealed: “I was staying quiet towards them, moving a couple seats over and watching with somewhat malicious delight as they realised they were in the wrong part of the train and missed the last station to switch over.”
In her post’s title, she clarified the “entitled” mother “missed her flight” after “demanding” her disabled seat. Fellow Reddit users commented with their thoughts and opinions.
One person simply stated: “Karma.” Another concurred: “Not only that; OP [original poster] allowed Karma to run its course. Much like the train. And their flight.”
A third user quipped: “A first-class ticket to poetic justice, courtesy of the universe’s timetable.”
