Pretty much every person who has ever taken public transportation—and even the people who haven't—are aware of the fact that as a common courtesy you should give up your seat to a pregnant person if there aren't any free ones. Most busses, in fact, even have designated seating areas for that reason.
Sure, it's not an actual rule, but it's a well-known accepted fact. One man recently, however, had an incident on a bus where he refused to give up his seat because "I'm tired, too, we're all tired in this pandemic," and he needed some advice from Reddit's "Am I The A**hole?" community.
Giving A Little Context First
Before giving the story of what happened, the poster gives a bit of context to his own state of mind while on the bus.
The user writes that he's on his feet all day at work, working 10-hour shifts. Because of this, by the end of his day, his feet are sore. That seems fair enough; that's understandable. He even writes that he cherishes the time sitting on the bus at the end of the day since he knows a 15–20 minute walk from the bus stop to his house will be coming up, "which means more time on my feet."
A Pregnant Passenger Enters The Bus
We've all been in an awkward situation where we didn't want to deal with something and tried to avoid it by keeping our eyes on anything but that person.
In the case of this incident though, that strategy didn't work for him. The "heavily pregnant" woman, seeing there were no seats available, eventually asked the man if he would give up his seat.
His Response Could Have Been Much Nicer
"I wasn't rude or anything"—it sounds to us like he was a little rude. He could have left it at just telling her no, and then she probably would have moved on to ask another passenger.
However, he chose to also tack on the fact that it was her choice to get pregnant, so he didn't owe her anything. Not only that, but he also wrote in the post that "it's not my fault she decided to have a baby when she can't afford a car."
He Wasn't Going To Budge
After going back and forth with the woman, an older gentleman on the bus apparently shouted that he was a "worthless punk" and proceeded to offer his own seat to the woman.
Funny, considering older people are another one of those groups that most people would offer their seat to on the bus, and not expect them to give up theirs for someone else.
Someone Could Have Been Seriously Hurt
In the post he continues on, writing that while the older gentleman was shifting to let the woman into his seat, the driver had to slam on the brakes, causing both the older man and the pregnant woman to fall.
The Reddit user writes that "they started yelling at me, calling me all sorts of nasty names, but I just looked the other way and ignored it."
He's Still Going To Stand His Ground
The young man claimed that he shouldn't have to accommodate the woman's choices for "breeding", as he put it. He also said that he was tired, too, and felt he deserved the seat just as much as she did.
Now it's time to see what the rest of the public had to say about this little interaction.
It Wasn't About The Seat—It's About His Response
Most of the people who voted that this man was in the wrong were in agreement that had he handled the situation more appropriately, they might have been able to see his side of it.
Others were firmly in the camp of "if you're an able-bodied person, you should give up your seat to a pregnant woman."
One User Pointed Out The Safety Risk
We're going to assume that both the older man and the pregnant woman were able to recover from the fall when the driver had to brake, but it could have been much worse.
One commenter brought up this fact, and many other users agreed with the point that it doesn't need to be about who's feet hurt more; it's about who is at a greater risk of complications or more likely to get hurt if they fall.
Others Sided With The Man
Coming from an interesting perspective, one woman who herself was pregnant at the time she read the story chose to side with the man rather than the expectant mother.
It seems a bit dramatic to say a pregnant woman asking for a seat on the bus is "expecting the world to bend to her will," but they're entitled to that interpretation...
What Would You Do?
The public opinion (or at least the opinion of people on Reddit) is split on this one, so what would you do?
Would you give up your seat to a "heavily pregnant" woman on the bus if she asked, even if you'd had a long day yourself, or did she bring it upon herself by choosing to be pregnant even though she doesn't own a car?