A college student has been praised on Reddit after asking whether she was in the wrong for refusing to give up her bus seat for an elderly woman.
In a popular Reddit thread called 'Am I The A**hole', the 22-year-old woman wrote a lengthy post to ask whether she was indeed the a**hole of a situation by refusing to let a woman in her late 70s take her seat on the bus.
In her post, the woman wrote that she hates traveling by bus, especially because she gets "really nauseous and physically sick," but that she has no choice but to take the mode of transport as it is the only way she's able to get from college to her house.
However, to help alleviate some of the symptoms she experiences when traveling, the poster said she's found "certain ways" to help her cope. "For example, I always take a pill to prevent me from throwing up 30 minutes prior [to] departure, I always wear a mask, I always keep a plastic bag close in case I have to use it and I always reserve a window seat close to the door," she wrote.
Although, in this particular instance the woman's six-hour journey didn't go as smoothly as she was hoping. "When I get to my seat I noticed it's occupied by a woman probably [in] her late 70's. I am socially awkward so I [was] nice as I could be I explained to her that that was my seat, I had reserved the window and she had the aisle. She said sorry, she thought it was hers and moved. Everything was fine after that, or so I thought," the post continued.
The college student then explained that, once she'd gotten off at her stop, a woman presumably traveling with the elderly lady said that she should have just given up her seat in the first place. The woman also added that the elderly lady apparently loved the window seat and it wouldn't have been such an issue for someone to give it up. "I told the woman I needed that seat as much as she did and if she wanted a window seat she should have reserved one like I did," the student explained.
"Apparently this was viewed as rude and she went on and on about how young people are disrespectful towards the elderly and stuff like that. I ignored it and proceeded to continue the trip on my seat. I don't think I'm the wrong here because it was my seat but I don't believe I was disrespectful," the post concluded.
Practically all of the users commenting under the post were in agreement that the college student was NTA (Not The A**hole), with one person writing: "I just love how millennials are depicted as the entitled generation when Boomers throw more public tantrums than most toddlers. You're entitled because you want to sit in the seat you purchased and planned accordingly for. Absolutely priceless."
"The sense of entitlement that compels old people to say s**t like this is galling. You aren't a young, able-bodied person depriving a frail senior citizen of the one accessible seat on a full bus. You asked someone else to vacate a window seat you paid for to avoid tossing your cookies all over a moving vehicle. That lady's traveling companion can go to hell," a slightly more direct person added.
What do you think of the situation? Is the college student in the wrong? Or is the elderly woman at fault? Let us know in the comments!
