Taking public transport means sharing an environment with others. But while only a handful of people enjoy sitting close to strangers, it’s something quite else when passengers feel entitled enough to decide who gets to rest their feet next to them on board.

You see, there are many reasons to give up your seat to a pregnant person who just hopped onto mass transit, and being a decent person is one. Unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way, and Reddit user Tiredthriwaway55654 experienced it firsthand. The 30-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant has decided to consult the AITA subreddit after a recent encounter with another rude rider.

When she got on a busy bus, she felt lucky enough to see there was one empty seat. But here comes the twist: a guy in business attire claimed it was taken. You know, by his hand. As you probably can guess, his attitude didn’t go well with the woman. Read on to find out how the story unfolded and share your thoughts about it in the comments!

While taking public transport means sharing an enclosed space with other people, some passengers do not see it that way

Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)

A pregnant woman recently shared how a man refused to offer the only empty seat on the bus because he was “resting” his hand on it

Image credits: ArtisticOperations (not the actual photo)

As if the man’s reaction wasn’t harsh enough, the woman revealed her husband sided with the passenger

Later on, the user added some more information to the story

Tiredthriwaway55654’s story has amassed more than 19K upvotes and 2.5K comments where Redditors unanimously determined that she was not at all wrong to stand up for herself during this troubling encounter. The woman mentioned in the post that her legs were burning and her back was hurting, which is a trademark symptom of having a child growing inside of your body. Yet, the man continued to show zero empathy.

Dealing with entitled passengers who lack respect for other riders can leave anyone irritated. But as the woman later revealed in the comments, she runs into such individuals way more often than she’d prefer. “It’s just upsetting having to go through these situations but I don’t complain so I don’t get called whiney or that kind of stuff. I just [move] on with my day and try to get rid [of] the stress of dealing with people like this,” she wrote.

And it seems she’s not the only one. If you believe it is generally accepted for people to give up their seats to expectant mothers traveling on mass transit, this trend may be changing. A study conducted in the UK revealed that four in ten Britons wouldn’t offer their seat to a pregnant woman.

The survey of 2K regular commuters was commissioned by skincare company Mama Mio as a part of their “I’m Expecting” campaign with the purpose to encourage expectant mothers to speak up when seats on public transport are not forthcoming. It found that the battle for peak-time seats leads to passengers leaving their manners behind or failing to notice pregnant women in the first place.

One in four revealed they failed to give up their seat in case the woman wasn’t actually expecting a child. One in five were afraid that by doing so they might offend a person, so they just do not bother.

Some of the results were quite alarming: three in ten participants believed pregnant women should not be offered a seat until she is “visibly showing”, 18 percent would offer seats during a woman’s third trimester, 11 percent during the second, and only 2 percent during the first three months of pregnancy.

“We were surprised at the findings, as we’d expected everyone would offer up their seat to a pregnant woman,” Natalie Cowley, of Mama Mio, told the Independent. “We were particularly shocked that only two percent said you should offer a seat to a woman in her first trimester, considering how many suffer from severe symptoms during this time, including sickness and fatigue.”

Anna Whitehouse, ambassador for the #ExpectingChange campaign, said that “pregnancy is not a weakness, but it is a vulnerability and I felt this during my first trimester in particular.” She explained that commuting conditions can be incredibly stressful for pregnant people, and being able to sit down can make a difference.

“However, from my own experience, I find that people are either too engrossed in their phones to be aware of their surroundings, or won’t offer their seat unless prompted,” she added. “I’d encourage anyone who needs a seat on public transport to wear a badge and make eye contact. If that fails, don’t suffer in silence — ask for one!”

Here’s what Redditors had to say about the situation

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