Danielle Day 6

Day 6 – Take My Seat

Gave up a seat on a crowded train – 2.27.10

I wasn’t initially going to count this one, but one of my pet peeves is how selfish people can be on public transit. I’m not sure if it’s specific to the Boston area or if people ridiculously rude elsewhere. So I’m including this more to make a point than anything else.

When riding public transit, I usually try to drown out humanity with my iPod and a good book. But that day, while riding the commuter train, I was knitting and people-watching. The closer we got to the city, the more crowded the train became. I’ve taken this train on a Saturday before and don’t recall it being this crowded. I blame it on the Celtics game (at least half the folks on the train were wearing Celtics garb). I watched people have to ask fellow passengers to move bags off empty seats so they could sit. I watched people climb over passengers in aisle seats because they wouldn’t move over. And I noticed that several people were standing in the back of the car.

Event:
A mother and young son came onto the crowded train and walked towards the back of the car looking for a seat. There were none to be had. As the train started moving, the little boy (he looked to be about 3 or 4) announced that he wanted to sit down. At about the same time, both the girl next to me and I offered our seats.

Reactions:
The mom was hesitant at first, but when we both got up and insisted that she take the seats, she and her son thanked us and sat down.

On a side note, the little boy cracked me up – he was showing off his Celtics jersey to all of the passengers and was climbing all over the seat so he could look out the window.

Would I do it again? Of course. I always give up my seat when other people need it more. Besides, I was getting off at the next stop anyway.

Cost: None

Effort: None

Time: Just a few seconds.