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Guy’s Booked Train Seat Gets Taken By Arrogant Passenger, He Does The Same With First Class Seat Because The Conductor Couldn’t Help Him About It
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Guy’s Booked Train Seat Gets Taken By Arrogant Passenger, He Does The Same With First Class Seat Because The Conductor Couldn’t Help Him About It

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There is an unwritten rule – if you cannot fight with something, just lead it. The rule works in many cases – from politics and big business to the smallest life situations, such as travel in public transport.

Indeed, if a person is faced with an unpleasant set of circumstances and there is no way to achieve their goal in accordance with the rules, all that remains is to turn the situation to their own advantage – in strict accordance with the same rules. Someone will call it a deflection under the outside world, someone – reasonable resourcefulness.

For example, like the author of the original post in the Reddit PettyRevenge community, which has already collected 51.5K upvotes and almost 1.4K different comments in just a few days. This story took place on the British railroad and the Original Poster really managed to turn a poor situation in their favor.

More info: Reddit

The Original Poster traveled from Edinburgh to London, so they booked a place in advance

Image soure: William Murphy (not the actual photo)

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Image source: Magnus_40

It turned out that the booked place was already taken by another guy who refused to change seats

So the OP was riding from Edinburgh to London by train. It’s a few hours’ ride, so they booked in advance a comfortable seat with a table by the window. However, when the passenger entered the carriage, they were totally surprised to find that their seat was already taken by some guy.

Image source: Magnus_40

Moreover, three of his friends were sitting around the seat hijacker, and he refused to change seats – after all, the carriage was overcrowded and the impudent hijacker also did not want to move away from his friends. The OP thought of asking for assistance from the ticket controller, but this also turned out to be a problem.

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Image source: Magnus_40

The ticket controller told the OP they had no right to force a seat hijacker to change places

The fact is that the hijacker also had a ticket – however, without being tied to a specific place. At the request of the controller to leave the seat, he flatly refused. As it turned out, according to the rules, the controller has no right to force him to change seats – only the police can do this, but they are unlikely to deal with such a minor problem.

Image source: Magnus_40

The OP finally decided to hijack a first class seat instead

A disappointing prospect loomed of standing all the way to London, because the carriage, as we have already noted, was overcrowded. But then the OP was visited by a really great insight. They told the controller that they would go to the first class car!

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Image source: Kecko (not the actual photo)

The controller tried to object that the OP had not booked a seat in first class, but they in turn objected with the same words that they had previously denied. Moreover, the OP now knew that the police would not interfere and the controller had absolutely no right to drop them off.

In general, as the OP summarizes, they made the whole trip to London in a comfortable and cozy first class seat, with a table and a free laptop charger!

People in the comments really admired the OP’s brilliant solution

The people in the comments were absolutely delighted with the OP’s elegant and ingenious solution of this problem. Some persons, however, noted that the seat hijacker was lucky that it was in the UK – after all, in some countries, the controller could simply throw the insolent person out of the carriage.

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In fact, as many commenters admit on the basis of personal experience, in far from all countries do passengers always actually pay – as one of the people in the comments said, in an overcrowded carriage on an Italian train, the controller was once so surprised that they really paid for the ticket that they even went and found them a place near the window.

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By the way, do you know what the main difference between this post and a train car is? There is always space for an interesting comment or even your own story – and let it be an equally exciting tale about human resourcefulness even in the most difficult situation!

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Oleg Tarasenko

Oleg Tarasenko

Author, BoredPanda staff

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After many years of working as sports journalist and trivia game author and host in Ukraine I joined Bored Panda as a content creator. I do love writing stories and I sincerely believe - there's no dull plots at all. Like a great Italian composer Joaquino Rossini once told: "Give me a police protocol - and I'll make an opera out of it!"

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Oleg Tarasenko

Oleg Tarasenko

Author, BoredPanda staff

After many years of working as sports journalist and trivia game author and host in Ukraine I joined Bored Panda as a content creator. I do love writing stories and I sincerely believe - there's no dull plots at all. Like a great Italian composer Joaquino Rossini once told: "Give me a police protocol - and I'll make an opera out of it!"

Saulė Tolstych

Saulė Tolstych

Author, Community member

Read more »

Saulė is a photo editor at Bored Panda with bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design. The thing that relaxes her the best is going into YouTube rabbit hole. In her free time she loves painting, embroidering and taking walks in nature.

Read less »

Saulė Tolstych

Saulė Tolstych

Author, Community member

Saulė is a photo editor at Bored Panda with bachelor's degree in Multimedia and Computer Design. The thing that relaxes her the best is going into YouTube rabbit hole. In her free time she loves painting, embroidering and taking walks in nature.

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Jihana
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never had the problem that a reserved seat was taken by somebody else, but I thought a great deal about what I would do if it ever happens. I am obese, myweapon of choice would be my weight. Meaning I WOULD sit there, no matter if somebody else sits there already or not.

Kusotare
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"I don't care if you're sitting there, I'm going to sit there." What a great threat!

Load More Replies...
Marilyn Russell
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good for him! If only some of us could learn to stand up for ourselves so easily in other situations.

Tams21
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OP did a great job, shame other passenger was such an AH. But I also don't blame the conductor - the fact that they're starting to wear body cams like the police in parts of the UK shows how much they have to put up with.

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Jihana
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never had the problem that a reserved seat was taken by somebody else, but I thought a great deal about what I would do if it ever happens. I am obese, myweapon of choice would be my weight. Meaning I WOULD sit there, no matter if somebody else sits there already or not.

Kusotare
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"I don't care if you're sitting there, I'm going to sit there." What a great threat!

Load More Replies...
Marilyn Russell
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good for him! If only some of us could learn to stand up for ourselves so easily in other situations.

Tams21
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OP did a great job, shame other passenger was such an AH. But I also don't blame the conductor - the fact that they're starting to wear body cams like the police in parts of the UK shows how much they have to put up with.

Load More Comments
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