“We will have one more seat and a lot more peace if you throw her out!” shouted one passenger on top of his lungs. He had enough of the lady who was making everyone’s journey unbearable. And it wasn't just him - the rest of the passengers were furious all well!
Needless to say, every single person who was inside the subway that day, was on the verge of losing it! How could they get rid of that lady? It turned out they didn't have to, and it would be karma who would teach her a painful lesson.
Train etiquettes
Jessica had always depended on the local train for her day-to-day needs. It was cheap, quite fast and without the hassles of traffic. And, quite serene, to say the least! Only Jessica didn't know, her notion was soon to be tarnished!
When this lady decided to throw that rule book out of the window and disregard all the train etiquettes, her co-passengers decided to teach her a valuable lesson. A lesson, that she'd never forget for years to come ...
Peak hour
After a pretty chaotic day at work, Jessica Huit was making her way towards home. It was rush hour and she hopped on to the next train. Through all the years that she had lived in New York City, she had seen it all.
But that day was going to be filled with surprises for her. All Jessica wanted was a peaceful ride back home in the subway but what she got was exactly the opposite of that – utter chaos caused by a single woman!
‘Not-so-pleasurable’ experiences
Commuting by train or any other means of public transport for that matter can be full of different experiences. Particularly during rush hour, being a passenger on a crowded train can sometimes be a little overwhelming.
Everyone is tired and frustrated, and you don’t even get a seat to sit on sometimes! In these instances, it requires just common sense to realize that you cannot take two seats for yourself if you are alone.
Hunting for the seat
Jessica had a rough day at work that day and all she wanted was to find a seat inside the train and somehow complete her one-and-a-half-hour ride back home. That being rush hour, she expected the train to be filled to the brim with passengers but she was hopeful that she would find a seat, somewhere!
And she actually did, after pacing through the carriages in vain. But that seat wasn’t a normal one that she could just sit on!
An empty seat
As she reached the carriage, hunting for the seat, she ultimately found one! There was a vacant seat next to a young woman. She took a good look around and wondered why there wasn't anyone sitting on the seat even though it was vacant.
As it turned out, there was a bag neatly placed on the seat. No one around the seat who was standing could have just sat there but they didn’t.
Ill-mannered lady
Individuals who are trapped in a small space with a lot of people can be seen engaging in anti-social behaviour. This is the reason why we witness people arguing or even engaging in violence in public transport. In most instances, being inside a crowded train when you are already frustrated because of something, can bring out the worst in people!
It seems like this was the case with the lady who shamelessly acquired two seats.
Rules, what are they?
Jessica first stood there to grasp the whole situation and to make sense of what was happening there. She stood there for a few seconds and then decided to ask the lady for the vacant seat. The lady seemed to have no care in the world as she constantly gazed down at her phone.
Jessica then asked the woman respectfully if she could sit there while pointing to the vacant seat. Jessica was in for a surprise.
Ignorant
When Jessica asked the lady to remove her bag, she thought that she would do it instantly! But the woman completely ignored Jessica with her gaze locked on her cell. She also had earphones in her ear as she pretended that she wasn’t aware of Jessica’s presence.
Jessica was baffled at what just happened but by that time, the train had stopped and security had entered the carriage.
Other passengers
Jessica could notice that everyone was looking at the lady in a very stern manner. It was pretty obvious because it was a weekday, everyone was tired and wanted to go home.
Every passenger aboard the train wants to sit but the fact that the ‘entitled’ lady was reserving two seats for herself even though the train was full, pissed off everyone. The lady had no idea that trouble was on its way.
Officer enters
When the train took a brief halt, a police officer entered the train. Everyone who was present there looked at him like he was a knight in gilded armour. Even though everyone wanted the police officers to teach that lady a lesson that she would remember for her life, no one uttered a single word.
It seems like they just wanted a peaceful journey back home and didn’t want any more chaos.
Officer notices
Police officers have strong instincts because their job entails them to study a situation with a microscopic lens. The officer who boarded the train was no different. He could sense the vibe that something was wrong. Everyone looking at him triggered his senses even further.
And then he noticed the lady! She was sitting all alone and had kept her Louis Vuitton bag on the seat beside her. He could also see that the train was crowded with commuters.
Approaches the lady
The officer then decided to approach the lady and ask her to remove her bag from the seat. He went towards her in a gentle manner so as to not intimidate her. He just wanted her to remove the bag and not be scared.
“Hi, good lady. Could you please remove your bag so that one of the people who are standing, could sit?” He asked her gently.
More seats available
To his utter surprise, the lady didn’t pay any heed to what he had to say. She kept gazing at her phone and ignored the officer as well! But when the officer said it loudly, she removed her earphones and looked at him sternly.
Then she said something that would shock everybody! “There are more seats available in this train. Why should I remove my bag?”
Delaying everyone
One of the passengers had enough of her tantrums so he shouted at her. “The train is already running late and you are delaying it even further.
Can you please drop this stupid attitude? Everyone here just wants to go home early!” He yelled at her. All of them had enough of that lady’s attitude.
Huge uproar
Her ‘entitled’ attitude was causing a huge uproar in the public because obviously, it was public transport and not her own personal car that she could do whatever she wanted to!
Everyone started yelling at her for not removing the bag that she had so neatly placed on the seat. There was a huge uproar in the crowd and the officer could sense it.
Officer was losing his patience
Seeing the public getting more and more frustrated, the officer knew he had to do something before things turned ugly. He approached the lady once again and said in a more authoritative tone that she needed to move her bag.
To his surprise, the lady didn’t listen to him this time either! She blatantly ignored the police officer. The officer then lost his patience!
Stern officer
He knew that she wasn’t going to listen to him if he didn’t become more stern with her. And that is exactly what he became! “Lady, I am warning you again that you HAVE to remove your bag, otherwise we will have to throw you out of the train.
Do it now!” The officer yelled at her and everyone went silent. The lady too, was shocked that how could someone talk to her like that!
Not disabled or pregnant
If a police officer shouted at you in public, you would get up and leave, right? The lady didn’t. The lady decided to give the officer a tough fight and guess what? She yelled back at him! “There aren’t any disabled or pregnant people around!
Why should I give my seat to these stupid people who can very well stand and travel?” This was a shocker for everyone. But she had some more venom to spew from her mouth.
Bed bugs and bad odour
It was pretty evident by now that she was a privileged lady who belonged to the rich spectrum of the society. She was looking down on everyone who was there.
She kept on saying ugly things to them. “You people smell very bad. You people smell like stinking pigs and you probably have bed bugs stuck on you.” She said loudly.
Her personal space
This wasn’t all. Everyone was stunned at that lady’s rash behaviour and all the ugly things she had to say about her co-passengers. She then went on to justify her actions by claiming that her seat was her personal space and she had every right to preserve her personal space.
One of the passengers gave her a reality check right after that it wasn’t her personal space and that it was stupid of her to occupy two seats for herself.
Officer shouts at her
The officer’s patience level was dropping like anything! He had enough of her and again shouted at her. This time around, he was FURIOUS! The lady too, could sense his fury and of all those people too, who were staring down at her.
You would expect that she would leave after this or at least take her handbag in her lap but she had other plans.
Declined to cooperate
The lady didn’t want to budge from her stand, not even a little. She refused to cooperate even when the police officer shouted at her like a mad dog.
She kept on arguing with the officer and saying ugly things to everyone who was present there. The officer knew that it was time to put this to end, once and for all.
Officer started making his move
It had already been 25 minutes since the train was halted because of her. By then, some more officers had entered the carriage and they knew what was happening.
They came to remove her from the train. They started moving towards the lady. What happened later, was a sight to behold for everyone.
Walked off
The lady knew that she would get into some serious trouble if she didn’t leave because around 2-3 officers were approaching her.
She got up from her seat, took her bag with her and walked out of the train. But not before she had a couple of more slurs left for the passengers and the officers.
Sigh of relief
The moment she stepped off the train, it started moving. Everyone took a sigh of relief after the troublemaker had finally left the scene.
Some passengers who were more frustrated because of her irrational behaviour even thanked the officers.
Viral footage
In this day and age of smartphones and internet connectivity, it doesn’t take long for something to go viral on the internet.
Someone who was present at the scenario and watching it all unfold, was quick enough to record everything and upload it on the internet. Needless to say, it went viral!
How did the people react?
People who saw the footage online had similar reactions to the people who were actually present there – they were MAD at the lady for her irrational behaviour and her arrogance.
Some people also laid out the importance of humility and common etiquettes. Other people also pointed out that some people have invisible disabilities that outsiders cannot immediately identify.
Not acceptable at all
Even if we imagine ourselves in that situation, the lady’s actions were not acceptable at all.
Not only did she take up two seats entirely for herself, she also spewed venom from her mouth for the co-passengers who were trying to make her understand calmly.
New Jersey Transit
Since the video footage of the whole incident went viral, the New Jersey Transit had to step in. A spokeswoman from the New Jersey Transit gave a statement that urged passengers to make sure that their bags or luggage do not take up extra seats.
She also had to announce in her statement that to put their luggage, overhead luggage racks should be used
Jessica got her seat
Once the woman stepped out of the train, another commuter motioned Jessica to take that seat up. The train’s journey commenced again after this whole fiasco and once the train started moving, Jessica thanked the fellow commuter who offered her to sit.
It was quite an eventful day for her but she was glad that it was finally coming to an end in a peaceful manner.
Journey back home
Everyone inside the train was relieved since they got rid of one serious troublemaker. Jessica took out her earphones, plugged them inside her ears and looked out of the window.
Her head was finally in peace and she couldn’t wait to get home.
Living in metro cities
Although Jessica had been living in New York City, she witnessed something like that for the first time.
She has had many different experiences before as well but this was something else entirely! Living in big cities always comes with their own set of challenges.
Everyone becomes aggressive
If you take a look at it closely, you would realize that commuting by public transport has become a dog eat dog world.
Everyone wants to have a peaceful journey back home but when there is scarcity of seats or enough space, our hunter-gatherer instincts kick in. This makes everyone go aggressive while riding public transportation instead of acting rationally.
Traveling etiquettes
Like we mentioned before as well, there are certain rules and etiquettes one should know and follow by heart while traveling in a public transport.
The lady in consideration here didn’t have any and hence, she had to pay for it by stepping out of the train. We are sure now that the video footage of that incident has gone viral, she must have learned her lesson the hard way!