A passenger on a city bus failed to give his seat to a pregnant woman and now wants to know whether he is a jerk. The man turned to Reddit to explain the situation and see if he should have given up his seat for the pregnant lady. He added, “This happened just last night, and my family completely lost their minds at me about it. So here I am.”
The man said, “I take the bus to and from work (car got totaled about a month ago, still waiting on insurance to reimburse me so I can get a new one), and right now on public transit, you have to social distance. This means limited seating. At my job, I’m literally on my feet all day, and I work 10-hour shifts. It sucks, but the pay is good, so I can deal, but after a long day, my feet are sore AF. I genuinely cherish the time I spend sitting on the bus ride home, knowing I have to walk another 15-20 minutes to my house from the bus stop, which means more time on my feet.”
“So last night, I’m on the bus, and a very heavily pregnant lady gets on. She looks around for a seat, only to find there are no available ones left. I’m the closest to her, so she starts giving me the imploring eyes. I had my headphones on and tried to pretend I couldn’t see her, but once she started talking to me, it became inevitable.”
He added, “I wasn’t rude or anything. I just told her no. I’d had a long day, and my feet were sore. I don’t want to give up my seat. She started crying about how she was a pregnant single mom, and I told her I was sorry, but that was her personal choice, and she couldn’t expect other people to accommodate her life choices. We live in a state where birth control and abortions are free, so I don’t know why this should be my problem. It’s not my fault she decided to have a baby when she couldn’t afford a car.”
“After going back and forth for a bit, an old man finally shouted that I’m a “worthless punk” and offered his seat to the lady. He started ranting and raving about the “damn millennials,” and I just looked the other way and pretended I didn’t hear it. As they were trading seats, the bus driver had to slam the brakes for whatever reason, and the pregnant lady and the old man both fell. They started yelling at me, calling me all sorts of nasty names, but I just looked the other way and ignored it.
“When I got home and told my sister, she flipped the fuck out and went crying to our parents, who also chewed my ass out. But I was tired and had a long day, and I don’t know why we need to keep perpetuating the idea that breeding somehow means you’re entitled to people’s seats. I’m tired, too. We’re all tired in this pandemic. AITA, though?”
Do you think he is a jerk?
