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She had every right to do this.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Apr 10, 2022
A 30-year-old pregnant woman who is eight months along got into a bit of a confrontation with a man on the bus after he refused to give up his seat.
Not the seat that he’s sitting on, but the seat that he decided he would rest his hand on and nothing more.
Now, the pregnant woman wonders if she was wrong for sitting on his hand when he refused to move it.
The woman went to Reddit to try and figure out if internet strangers would take her husband’s side in the argument they had about what happened on the bus.
She posted to the subreddit, “r/AmItheA--hole” (AITA for short), and gave the backstory about what happened, her thoughts, and the reactions of those on the bus.
All she asks for in return are the reactions from the Redditors who clicked on her post who will also give her their two cents on the situation and apply a rating to her actions.
The rating typically consists of “You’re The A--hole” (YTA) or “Not The A--hole” (NTA) with a few more complicated ones that almost never get used.
“I take the bus to work every day and oftentimes it's packed, but I get lucky enough when decent folks volunteer their seats for me,” she writes.
“Now I should mention that I [don’t] use my pregnancy as an excuse to get what I want but people just offer me their places by themselves which is kind and sweet.”
Giving your seat up for a pregnant woman or elderly person is one of those unspoken rules that are known by everyone to be a common courtesy on public transportation.
If you don’t give your seat up, you’re selfish, and that’s simply the truth. Direct all your angry disagreements to my Twitter DMs.
However, if you’re this guy that she ran into, you’re much worse than just an “a--hole.”
“Wednesday, I get on the bus like usual but this time there's one empty 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?)” she continues.
“I say excuse me and ask him to remove his hand so I could sit, but he tells me the seat was ‘taken.’”
She admits that at first she found it funny but quickly remembered she wasn’t feeling well as he continued to refuse to move 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,” she revealed. “He freaks out and tries to remove it quickly while shouting at me.”
At this point, everyone on the bus is looking at them and her, even after he gets off the bus, and she admits to feeling some shame at this point.
Her husband took the man’s side and said that she “f--ked up” and that what she did was “totally inappropriate,” but Reddit entirely disagreed and called him out on it.
“I hope you farted,” said one Redditor. “I can't believe you stole the seat from his only lover!” said another, all giving her the “NTA” rating.
For the husband, people had things to say as well.
“I really don't understand the husband's reaction,” said one user, while another said “Don't know about you, but when my wife was 8m pregnant she could give two f--ks what was appropriate. I backed her all the way and I back you up as well.”
She cleared up that he typically does back her up but thinks that sometimes she reacts too irrationally and gets worked up easily, so that’s probably why he disagreed with her here.
Next time this woman is refused an empty seat on the bus, I’m sure she won’t think twice about sitting on whoever’s hand is in the way.
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Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.