You People

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Originally Posted by mousepod

Nice post. Here's a suggestion, though. Why don't you just take the aisle seat on the bus? Then when a stranger wants the window seat you can just stand up and let him or her pass. You could stand up again when he or she wants to get off. They will never be exposed to your crotch and you get to make the choice whether you're interested in a close encounter with their privates or not. It's a win-win, plus you get all that good standing and sitting exercise that you miss when you skip church (for Sunday brunch).

I'll probably start taking aisle seats more often. Though I sometimes assume people who take the aisle seat are seat hogs, like they're doing it so you'll be less inclined to ask to sit next to them. Usually, if someone is in an aisle seat, you have to actually say, "Do you mind if I sit there?" I don't want people to feel inconvenienced. And when I see someone seated in an aisle seat, and I want to sit next to them, my first thought is usually, "Why couldn't they just take the window seat?! That way I could just plop down beside them and not have to bother them."

Also, I'm on the bus almost 1.5 hours every day, and sometimes the window seat offers you the option of sprawling out until someone needs to sit next to you, or there's the corner created between the wall and the seat that sometimes offers more comfort than the right angled seat. So, it's not just out of an intended politeness that I take the window seat. It is often the more comfortable option for longer rides.

Mostly I just don't see why it has to be an issue. The more polite thing to do is to stand up to let someone in or to let someone out. It also bothers me when the bus is super crowded and you try to make an exit out the backdoor but it's wall to wall people. And instead of these people simply stepping outside of the bus to let you off, they often expect you to sardine crawl through them and push your way out, like a nightmare birth.

Are they afraid the bus will zoom off and leave them behind? What fraidy cats!