“If you remove her, we’ll have one more seat,” one person shouted. But the woman didn't want to move. “This is my personal space!” she screamed.
“No, it’s not,” another passenger yelled from the back. People were quickly losing their patience with the entitled woman.
Unspoken Rules
When you're driving a car, you only have to worry about the other drivers on the road and the people in your car. Public transport, however, is a different story. There are certain unspoken rules you have to follow when taking public transportation.
When one passenger decided to break these rules, she was given a valuable lesson in train etiquette.
Jessica Huit
Jessica Huit was rushing to catch a train home after a long, busy day at work. She thought she had witnessed about everything on these New York busses and trains. But she was wrong.
What she was about to see on that train home would shock her to the core.
Common Courtesy
Riding on a packed train can be very uncomfortable, especially during rush hour. Sometimes you can't even find a free seat.
One of the unspoken rules about using public transport is that one passenger should only occupy one seat, leaving the others open for other people. But as it turns out, not everyone cares about these rules.
On The Train
Jessica was exhausted when she finally boarded her train. She couldn't wait to get home and take a long hot shower.
Jessica hoped she would find a seat to nap for her long journey home. She walked past other passengers on the train until she finally saw a free seat. "Thank god," she thought to herself as she prepared to sit down. Little did she know what awaited her.
Free Seat
Jessica spotted a free seat beside a woman in her 20s. She looked around at all the other passengers and wondered why no one wanted to sit next to her. There was nothing wrong with the seat, or so she thought.
Could this be because of the woman's bag resting on the seat?
Rude Woman
Jessica approached the woman and asked her if she could sit beside her. “May I sit here?” she asked her politely.
The young woman had put her huge Louis Vuitton bag on the seat beside her, preventing other people from sitting. She ignored Jessica with her eyes and hands fixed on her iPhone.
Not The First One
Suddenly, the train stopped, and security entered the carriage. Jessica felt the tension on the train surrounding them. Other passengers were just as annoyed with the young woman as she was.
It turns out that she wasn't the first person to ask for this seat and to be ignored. She had rejected every person that asked to sit next to her. But what was the security doing there?
Having A Chat
The officers were here to have a chat with the inconsiderate woman. One of the officers walked over to her and asked her to put her bag in the overhead compartment.
“No…. don’t touch my stuff,” she shouted. “Maam, put it up there, or I’m gonna get you off the train right now," the officer repeated.
Not Giving In
The officer then reached out his hand to move her bag himself. “Don’t put your hands on my stuff!" the woman shouted as she removed her earphones and gave him a dirty look.
The officer moved away and asked her politely, “Can we have somebody sitting there?” "No," she said. “I don’t want anyone sitting next to me. There’s more seats available!”
Impatient
One man next to the woman was growing increasingly impatient with her. “It’s already a late train, you’re delaying everybody,” he shouted.
The woman refused to budge. That's when the other passengers on the train decided to teach her a lesson.
The Crowd
By that point, pretty much everyone on the train was annoyed with her. “There isn’t space!”, “No, there isn’t space!”, “There’s standing room only,” they declared.
Jessica figured this woman must have been denying everyone this seat. There were many passengers standing close to her. But the officer wasn't going to just give up.
Consequences
“Ma’am, take off that bag, or I’ll take you off the train right now,” he demanded. Jessica could feel how angry everyone on the train was.
“If you remove her, we’ll have one more seat,” somebody yelled from the back. What the woman did next would leave everyone on the train speechless.
You're Disgusting
The young woman then looked up at a person standing near her: “You’re not disabled, you’re not pregnant. I don’t want your bed bugs. I don’t want your smell. You’re disgusting.”
Jessica couldn't believe what she was hearing. Who did this woman think she was?!
Personal Space
“This is my personal space!” the woman screamed. “No, it’s not,” one of the passengers replied.
“I don’t care if I’m 90 pounds, 50 pounds, or 300 pounds, this is my personal space!” she continued. The officers were losing their patience. They had enough.
Taking Action
“I want her off the train. Get her off the train,” he demanded as he waved at the other officers to remove her from the train. The entitled woman was in disbelief.
“You want your personal space? You’ll have it outside,” he shouted.
In Shock
The woman stared at the officers with confusion. She was shocked that someone had called her out on her rude behavior. She thought she could get away with this.
But she still wasn't giving up. No one was allowed to tell her what to do.
Delay
She had already delayed the train by almost half an hour but still refused to comply with the officer's request.
Little did she know what awaited her. The officers started to stride toward her. She rolled her eyes and finally rose from her seat.
The Reaction
The woman left the train with the officers, and she didn't look happy. A few passengers had recorded her and posted the video online. People were outraged by the way she treated people.
“Perfect example of someone who feels “entitled… just plain selfish,” one user wrote.
Same Thoughts
Another commented: “When a whole bunch of strangers asks you to leave, you should know something is wrong.”
“I’m glad someone recorded it. Her bad behavior will haunt her for a long time because of this video. It’s not hard to be kind,” one YouTube user wrote.
More Comments
“Girl…. buy yourself a car or a helicopter where you can decide who gets in or not, lol,” another person wrote.
“‘You’re not disabled’… plenty of people have non-visible disabilities! What a vile woman," wrote another Youtube user.
NJ Transit Made A Statement
“We encourage customers to make every seat available by placing bags on their laps or on overhead luggage racks and complying with the direction of train crews," a spokeswoman for NJ Transit wrote.
The woman who posted the video assured that people weren't mad at NJ Transit for delaying the train but rather at the woman who had caused a scene.
Touched
After the young woman was escorted from the train, Jessica was gestured to take the seat by another passenger standing next to her.
She couldn't help but feel extremely touched by the kind stranger. It seemed like he restored her faith in humanity again after this terrible incident.
The Price You Pay
Fortunately, she never encountered such rude behavior in public transport again.
“It’s the price you pay for living in a city like New York. There are both good and bad displays of behavior all around us. That’s what makes us human, right? Seeing something bad and making it right," she wrote.