Pregnant woman given dirty looks and called ‘lazy’ for refusing to swap seats on bus

A pregnant woman has been praised after sharing an incident she was involved in on a bus, when she refused to give up her seat for an older passenger who wanted to sit there

When it comes to public transport, it can be a struggle to know when to give up your seat and when you’re right to keep it.

One woman has learned this the hard way after getting involved in an awkward incident on a bus with an older woman who wanted to sit by herself and demanded the younger woman move to the upper deck of the bus so she could take her place.

The younger woman, who was pregnant at the time, claims she was getting the bus after a busy day at work and she gets on at the first stop and rides the full length of the route. When she got on the bus was busy, with just one double seat available on the bottom deck.

As she had several heavy bags and didn’t feel safe going up the stairs with them in her condition, so she decided to sit downstairs.

However, several stops later, she encountered the issue with a stranger.

Taking to Reddit, she explained: “The bus emptied fairly quickly after a few stops and filled up again about halfway through the journey. This is where the problem started, an older lady with a stick got on the bus and well she asked me to move. She wasn’t even polite when she asked and honestly I thought she meant move over so she could sit next to me.

“So I moved my bags and started to scoot over, when she ‘No, No I meant can you find another seat, this seat is reserved for disabled people. You are clearly not disabled. There are plenty of seats upstairs’.

“These seats were not priority seats for disabled people the ones in front of me were (which had an empty seat) but these ones were not.”

The woman goes on to say that she offered the older lady the seat beside her and explained she couldn’t go upstairs.

However, this wasn’t enough for the stranger, who said she didn’t want to sit near anyone, adding harshly “move your lazy fat behind and give the seat to someone who needs it”.

The post continues: “I hate confrontation and I absolutely hate people who use their pregnancy as an excuse, which means I hate what I said next. ‘Lady I am pregnant, I am not going up those stairs with these bags and risking a fall. If you really want a seat to yourself ask someone else to move’.

“Before any more could be said a man across from me said to the lady ‘Here Love, have my seat’. He got up let her sit down and went upstairs, but not before giving me a dirty look. The lady spent the next 10-15 minutes talking with the other oldies on the bus about how the kids these days have no respect for their elders or people with disabilities, or how they would have never have spoken to someone like in their day.”

She added: “This happened a couple of days ago, while my boyfriend and my dad said I was in the right, but I can’t help but feel like I acted like an entitled brat.”

More than 500 people have since responded to the woman’s post, with many agreeing that she was not in the wrong for standing her ground.

One person said: “All seats on the bus were double seats so she would have had to have sit next to someone, which she said she didn’t want to do. So basically she wanted a double seat to herself.”

While someone else commented: “You are 18 weeks pregnant and you were making the right decision to keep you and baby safe.”

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.