November 2, 1999
Vertigogirl, bus vigilante*
Of all the things that drive me crazy about riding the bus (and since BC Transit, er TransLink, is my main source of transport there are a lot), one stands out as the most annoying. I get on to a full bus and there is someone sitting in the aisle seat with an empty seat next to her. The passengers nearby don't want to have to climb over her, so that seat sits empty (unless filled with her packages), mocking me standing too far away in the crowd to easily push through to sit. As the bus empties a little (or more likely the crowd just gets packed backwards some more) I get close enough to make an attempt for that empty seat. She refuses to move enough that I can conveniently move past her so as I climb over, I do the only right thing to do in this situation, I "accidentally" stomp on her foot as I clamber by.
Yes, that is correct. I believe that a bit of physical nastiness is appropriate in this situation. If the person in question was more considerate - for example, sitting in the inside seat, standing up to let me past, or in the very least swinging his legs to the side so that I could move past gracefully - this small act of violence wouldn't be necessary. But if he believes his heap of groceries or arrogance warrants him two seats, he has another thing coming.
The individual in question may believe that she has all kinds of good reasons for taking the empty aisle seat, but those reasons are not good enough to excuse inconsiderate behavior. If she is getting off soon, she could always stand up to let me get by and say, "I am getting off in 2 stops." There have been so many instances that I have had to climb over the same person on the way in to the seat and out of the seat. Maybe she has a lot of parcels and doesn't want to have to lift them over someone sitting next to her. I'm sorry, but unless you paid a second fare for your parcels, they don't deserve a seat to themselves. She also might be leery of who is going to sit next to her if she moves over into the window seat. That is the most reasonable excuse, because I have had some scary seat buddies in my time, but there is no preventing some nut-job from climbing over her to sit. They might be even crazier than I am.
This particular situation irritates me enough that I will sometimes do the climb-over even if there are plenty of empty seats on the bus. I suppose if I were a better person I would ignore his behavior and treat him as if he weren't a total jerk. Unfortunately for inconsiderate bus folks I am not. So beware, seat hogs, if you are sitting in an aisle seat and see me coming, look out for your feet and shins. And if my purse smacks you up the side of the head as I clamber awkwardly past, I'm really sorry, it was an "accident."
* I offer no disrespect to Karla, the true bus vigilante. May her bad-ass self continue to make the bus a better place for all of us.
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