Alder's Tone

Before I sat I asked if anyone was sat there, she said no, moved her bags, and that’s when Mr Grumpy kicked off. Thankfully as I sat down my phone rang so I just caught the main bullet points.

Apparently, when this young woman got on there were two people sat next to each other in those two seats already, but she had one of them booked, against the window. So she had said “I have a seat booked here”, and promptly both passengers moved elsewhere. Now if this were me I’d assume they were together and both moved to be next to each other. So did she, and thought nothing of it until I sat down.

Mr Grumpy started a tirade against her, saying she had said that both seats were booked and asked why she moved his friend when she was sat in the aisle seat. At this point the miscommunication became clear, and she wasn’t taking it, so tried to convey her assumption based on the fact they both moved.

Eventually it calmed down. Later, she spoke across to apologise for shouting at Mr Grumpy, who launched into round two. Seconds away…

Anyway, she took a turn, launching back at him in a firm, un-emotive, yet factual manner. Mr Grumpy said he assumed (wrongly) that one of the passengers that moved was with her, ie the one who wasn’t his pal. So she asked: If he was with me why did he move? If he was with me why was he already on-board ahead of me? If he was with me why did I say I had a seat booked rather than we have seats booked? Did you hear me say we? I said I had a seat booked, not we had seats booked.

At that point Mr Grumpy shut up, having lost completely. Both her and I found it hard to contain the laughter, but we managed.

Morales of the story: If you want to sit down on a busy train book a seat. If you want to sit with a pal book two seats. If you get asked to move out of someone’s booked seat, do so with grace. “We” does not equal “I”. And if a matter does not concern you, shut the f^ck up.