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Life

06th Nov 2020

You’d give up your seat for a pregnant woman on the bus, wouldn’t you?

Melissa Carton

Umm?

It’s generally assumed that if you see a pregnant woman standing on public transport, you offer her your seat.

It’s the polite thing to do and it costs nothing to be nice. It can also be dangerous for a pregnant woman to be left standing for too long, especially on a moving bus.

When my mother was pregnant on me she was left standing on a bus and fainted with another standing passenger luckily catching her before she hit her head. To avoid situations like this, or to just make someone else feel a little more comfortable, you offer your seat – that’s it.

One man, however, doesn’t think it’s fair that pregnant women automatically get a seat on public transport. He recently took to Reddit to explain why and, unsurprisingly, his explanation hasn’t gone down too well.

The man posted the following to Reddit asking if what he did was so wrong:

“So last night I’m on the bus, and a very heavily pregnant lady gets on. She looks around for a seat, only to find there are no available ones left. I’m the closest to her, so she starts giving me the imploring eyes,” he wrote.

“I wasn’t rude or anything, I just told her no, I’ve had a long day and my feet are sore. I don’t want to give up my seat.

“She started crying about how she’s a pregnant single mom, and I told her I’m sorry, but that was her personal choice and she can’t expect other people to accommodate her life choices.”

While I think it’s common courtesy to give up your seat, if someone doesn’t want to, whatever. He could have just said no, and if I’m giving him anything (and it isn’t much) the woman could have always asked someone else.

However, it’s his unnecessary remarks about how he isn’t going to accommodate her life choices that really pushes this guy from being slightly rude to a really awful human being.

There was absolutely no need for it and many Reddit users were quick to tell him the same:

“Yeah, whats next, blaming an old person for being old? Blaming deformed people for being born? You see someone who needs a seat, you give it to them.”

Manners cost nothing.