It never fails
Robert Ballantyne, Staff
You walk onto a public transit bus and there they are: the Seat People. The Seat People are a strange breed of transit riders who insist on sitting in the aisle seat even when there are few people on the bus.
As you likely already know, the seats on the bus are primarily arranged in twos, with one closest to the window and the other by the aisle. The window seat, in my opinion, is the best one. You have space to stare out the window and you don’t have to be brushed by people walking down the aisle to their seat.
I think the main motivation for Seat People to eschew the window seat for the worst seat is to dissuade others from sitting next to them. However, this is to the detriment of the rider sitting behind them in the window seat.
You see, the Seat People aren’t content with just blocking the window seat from other riders; they have to look out the window from the aisle seat. Unfortunately, to look out the window from the aisle seat means they have to turn their line of vision into the space of the regular transit rider behind them.
This is an uncomfortable and infuriating situation for those sitting in the window seat behind a Seat Person. The regular transit rider ends up being intermittently stared at throughout their trip by a Seat Person, whose flittering attention wavers from aisle to window.
Transit riders shouldn’t have to put up with Seat People. Firstly, blocking a seat from others is rude. And secondly, regular transit riders have the right to look out their window without being stared at by some creep in front of them.
So, in the interest of journalism, I recently confronted one of these Seat People whose stares were ruining my pleasant morning voyage to work.
“Excuse me,” I said, “Is there a reason why you’re staring at me?”
The Seat Person’s body posture immediately tensed up and he turned to make direct eye contact, instead of his annoyingly sideways glances.
“I’m not staring at you,” the Seat Person said, “I’m looking out the window.”
“Then why don’t you sit by the window?”
“I can sit where I want, this is a free country.”
“Yes, it is. Then I can stare at you throughout your trip, how would you like that?”
The Seat Person didn’t respond and turned around. The Seat Person nervously tried to look out the window a few times afterward, but I stared him down every time. And now I do this to every Seat Person who tries to invade my window space. In fact, I’ll go out of my way to sit behind one of these riders — you see, the Seat People are trying to train those who sit in the window seat to avoid them, which, in the end, gives them even more space to be anti-social jerks.
I have a few suggestions on how to take on Seat People.
When you see a Seat Person, sit behind them. If they constantly turn their heads to stare out the window and, by default, they stare at you, don’t just sit there and take it. Say this to them: “Are you one of those Seat People?” If they ask you what you mean, tell them this: “A Seat Person is someone who sits in the aisle and pretends to look out the window just to stare at people behind them.”
If they don’t move to the window seat, then defend your space. The Seat People know what they are doing is wrong. They will yield.
While the actions of Seat People may seem minor in the short term, it is part of a bigger picture. It starts with seats and stares, but it’s a slippery slope from there. Frankly, I wouldn’t blame regular riders if they eventually abandoned the bus for their own cars, leaving public transit to the anti-social folks. (And don’t worry drivers, Seat People aren’t likely to start flooding the roadways if their behaviour is curbed, they’ll just learn how to behave on a bus.)
But really, riders shouldn’t have to put up with those who deny others seats and who are entertained by staring at those behind them. If Winnipeg Transit won’t take a stand to promote proper bus behaviour, then the riders must.
It’s time to take back the bus. It starts today.
Robert Ballantyne is Managing Editor of the Manitoban.
