A young woman has been praised on Reddit after she stood up for her right to remain seated on a bus despite a pregnant lady allegedly demanding she give up her seat.
Taking to the site's Am I The A**hole subreddit, the 18-year-old prefaced the story by explaining to her fellow Redditors that she had been in an accident some months back.
She says she was hit by a speeding car while she was crossing the road, and as a result, she broke a bone in her leg and "basically fractured" her knee cap.
It's been months since the accident and her leg is now "fine" as long as she does not walk on it for too long. However, she admits that she still feels pain around her knee and has to walk with a cane.
The day of the incident with the pregnant lady, the teen explains that she got on the bus on her way home from school, adding that she was still very much experiencing pain in her knee.
She explained: "A couple of stops later a pregnant woman entered and she looked around to see if there was a spot for her to sit (which there wasn’t). I was one of the younger people (probably not the youngest though) on the bus and therefore she decided that I was the perfect candidate to give up my seat.
"So she walked over and basically told me that I had to get up so she could sit down. She didn’t ask me, she told me. So i tried to explain in a soft voice (to not attract too much attention, since I have social anxiety) that I have a knee injury and that it is hard for me to keep my balance in the bus while standing and that it was hurting a lot."
According to the Reddit user, the pregnant lady expressed no sympathy for the girl's injury and proceeded to yell at her and accuse her of making excuses.
So, in order to bring an end to the hostile exchange, she lifted up her dress and exposed her scarred knee.
The Redditor then recalled the woman's reaction, saying that she "didn’t know what to say and she just kept on sulking and went to someone else to get them to give up their seat."
Then despite the encounter seemingly having come to an end, another passenger decided to add their two cents.
She explained: "A person sitting behind me found it necessary to weigh in on the situation by saying that I was way out of line by showing her my scars and that I embarrassed the woman and that I could have easily stood up and just suck it up for the remainder of my route."
In any case, this person got her thinking about who exactly was in the wrong in this particular situation.
Well, as it turns out, the people of Reddit are firmly on the 18-year-old's side.
One woman in a similar situation assured the Redditor she was right to stay seated, writing: "As another young cane user due to a broken bone, NTA [Not The A**hole].
"A lot of people seem dumbfounded with how to respond when I point out my scar because it just... doesn't dawn on them that there's a material reason I use a cane. I've learned to just say "I'm physically disabled, I cannot stand right now." If that doesn't work, I just ignore them and let them embarrass themselves."
Another agreed: "Exactly. The pregnant lady was an entitled, rude, dismissive AH. OP [Original Poster] politely explained their situation and shouldn't have had to show her scars in the first place.
"The AH in the seat behind OP obviously didn't care that the pregnant AH tried to shame OP and basically forced her to show her injury to be left alone.... Being pregnant doesn't give you a pass to mistreat others or put others in danger because you feel you need/want to rest more."
A third said: "NTA. The pregnant woman reeks of entitlement, first of all. Ew. And the second person to weigh in? Ableist. I wouldn’t really take what either of those people said to heart, OP."
