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You can't sit here

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work-traveller

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I find in such a situation that being exceptionally polite, smiley and enthusiastic means that the response from a seat-hog is either:

a) instantly cave in and acquiesce to your perfectly reasonable request; or
b) show themselves to be confrontational, awkward and out-of-line.

If they elect for a 'b' response, you just carry on with your smiley, enthusiastic manner, but now inject an exagerated note of suprise and (almost) shock when you politely enquire why the seat isn't available. This generally does the trick with the die-hards.

Either way, you'll get your seat and they will (with very few exceptions) feel compelled to take it on the chin - elsewise they know they'll look like the @rse they clearly are.
 
transportphoto

transportphoto

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Do we know how the OP got on?
Very interested to know.

TP
Sent from my phone using the free version of Tapatalk - Convo.
 
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IanXC

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NLC1072 said:
I'd probably answer back; "don't see any reservations on these seats?" followed by the answering of any other questions/statements from them with "And?"
Click to expand...

Don't be giving them ideas! I wonder if anyone else would notice if they added their own reservations?!
 
DaveNewcastle

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I have to agree with Gwenllian2001 and bb21 that many of the replies on this thread appear to be either simply having fun with speculating, and/or immature responses; but this post is very much in line with my own concilliatory approach to such a situation (and I do deal with confrontation and opposition professionally):-
work-traveller said:
I find in such a situation that being exceptionally polite, smiley and enthusiastic means that the response from a seat-hog is either:

a) instantly cave in and acquiesce to your perfectly reasonable request; or
b) show themselves to be confrontational, awkward and out-of-line.

If they elect for a 'b' response, you just carry on with your smiley, enthusiastic manner, but now inject an exagerated note of suprise and (almost) shock when you politely enquire why the seat isn't available. This generally does the trick with the die-hards.

Either way, you'll get your seat and they will (with very few exceptions) feel compelled to take it on the chin - elsewise they know they'll look like the @rse they clearly are.
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I might not have used exactly the same words but I think my approach in such situations is much the same. In this particular scenario I would smile politely and say "Good Morning" and if faced with any further challenge I'd offer to provide access to assistance for whatever difficulty my fellow passengers were experiencing.

As it happens I experienced a challenge over seating on a peak FCC service just last week and immediately offered to give my seat to the complainant with a huge smile,a generous helping of humanity at its best, and an extravagant welcoming gesture. The complainant, who was twice my size, just turned away and didn't even make eye contact for the remaining hour or so.

I kept my seat.

Smiling works wonders!
 
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dlj83

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transportphoto said:
Do we know how the OP got on?
Very interested to know.

TP
Sent from my phone using the free version of Tapatalk - Convo.
Click to expand...

Two days this week have not travelled and one day took the high speed line so nothing else really to add so far, however my course of action will be just to continue sitting down and ignore any comments.

What I would ask is what course of action do you take when someone refuses to move a bag and you want to sit down. Usually people sit on the aisle seat blocking the window seat then look gobsmacked when you ask them for the seat.
 
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Squaddie

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dlj83 said:
What I would ask is what course of action do you take when someone refuses to move a bag and you want to sit down. Usually people sit on the aisle seat blocking the window seat then look gobsmacked when you ask them for the seat.
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In my experience, no-one absolutely refuses to remove a bag from a seat if you ask to sit there, although they may roll their eyes and huff and puff a bit. They know they haven't got a leg to stand on, so you simply stand your ground and politely insist that you would like to sit in that seat. (Unless, of course, there are plenty of other available seats - there's no point making a scene for the sake of it).
 
Greenback

Greenback

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Squaddie said:
In my experience, no-one absolutely refuses to remove a bag from a seat if you ask to sit there, although they may roll their eyes and huff and puff a bit. They know they haven't got a leg to stand on, so you simply stand your ground and politely insist that you would like to sit in that seat. (Unless, of course, there are plenty of other available seats - there's no point making a scene for the sake of it).
Click to expand...

That is also my experience. I have never had anyone refuse to move a bag or coat, but if I did I would politely ask again, and then offer to put it on a rack myself if they are unable to move it themselves.
 
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Captain Chaos

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Greenback said:
That is also my experience. I have never had anyone refuse to move a bag or coat, but if I did I would politely ask again, and then offer to put it on a rack myself if they are unable to move it themselves.
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Generally speaking I will find this too.

Although once I did get called a Nazi for threatening to charge someone's bag a ticket after repeatedly refusing to move it and let people sit down. Only ever happened the once though.

But you will pretty much always find people will move it if asked to do so politely. They know there's not much of an argument.
 
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lyesbkz

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work-traveller said:
I find in such a situation that being exceptionally polite, smiley and enthusiastic means that the response from a seat-hog is either:

a) instantly cave in and acquiesce to your perfectly reasonable request; or
b) show themselves to be confrontational, awkward and out-of-line.

If they elect for a 'b' response, you just carry on with your smiley, enthusiastic manner, but now inject an exagerated note of suprise and (almost) shock when you politely enquire why the seat isn't available. This generally does the trick with the die-hards.

Either way, you'll get your seat and they will (with very few exceptions) feel compelled to take it on the chin - elsewise they know they'll look like the @rse they clearly are.
Click to expand...

This is my usual approach too. Sadly one time on a Voyager, I found quite an obnoxious lady sitting in my window table seat (which I had reserved so that I could plug my laptop in and work during the journey!).

The woman insisted I was mixing up the seat numbers of the window seat and the aisle seat.

Unfortunately when I persisted, the person sitting next to her offered (well, insisted) to move instead and went away, which didn't help at all because it just armed the lady in my actual seat with further ammunition of “well just sit there, then!”. And my insistence to have my actual seat got me some very strange looks from the people opposite who probably felt I'd done enough damage by causing somebody else to move (which I had no control over!) :(
 
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snail

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Squaddie said:
In my experience, no-one absolutely refuses to remove a bag from a seat if you ask to sit there, although they may roll their eyes and huff and puff a bit. They know they haven't got a leg to stand on, so you simply stand your ground and politely insist that you would like to sit in that seat. (Unless, of course, there are plenty of other available seats - there's no point making a scene for the sake of it).
Click to expand...
Oh I don't know. If I'm feeling grumpy I'll politely ask if the seat with bag is free, wait for them to start moving it then say something like "oh, there's a seat over there...". :D

All this advice to the OP is a combination of fine and funny, but I'm not sure in the circumstances I would want to sit next to people like that anyway!
 
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adc82140

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I have had a refusal to move a bag once. I started off with a polite "excuse me, can I sit there please" which was greeted with a "no I'd rather you didn't". I then said "Ok, I'll rephrase that, as this is the last seat on this train, I'm choosing to sit there. Of course I can get the guard and see if he wants to charge your baggage a child fare, but it would be simpler if you put in in the overhead rack."

The briefcase was promptly moved, and I even got a "good on you" from someone sitting opposite.
 
Greenback

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The frown that you often get when you ask someone if the seat is free when there is a bag on it, is largely because they are annoyed that anyone has the temerity to ask.

They hope that everyone will be too timid to ask for the removal of any belongings, and in many cases, people are.
 
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sprite

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BestWestern said:
The same applies of course to music and so on. You have a tongue, do feel free to use it :roll:
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Which resulted in me being assaulted aboard a southbound ECML service on approach to York.
Kicked out of the door onto the platform (I was kicked in the groin, stumbled and to keep balance and not fall I had to stumble onto the platform) in full view of a dispatcher who looked puzzled and when I explained what happened he said "I can call the BTP but today they need to come from Leeds and the train will be held up" very reluctantly. Instead I informed the guard (far end of the train) whilst making my way to my connecting service.

Not always the best/safest option.
 
tsr

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sprite said:
Which resulted in me being assaulted aboard a southbound ECML service on approach to York.
Kicked out of the door onto the platform (I was kicked in the groin, stumbled and to keep balance and not fall I had to stumble onto the platform) in full view of a dispatcher who looked puzzled and when I explained what happened he said "I can call the BTP but today they need to come from Leeds and the train will be held up" very reluctantly. Instead I informed the guard (far end of the train) whilst making my way to my connecting service.

Not always the best/safest option.
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I'm sorry to hear that!

I have actually had to defuse a situation fairly recently where more than one passenger came extremely close to assaulting a youth who was refusing to stop playing an anarchist video very loudly and obnoxiously to a completely packed carriage (I have mentioned this incident a number of weeks ago on a different thread), and of course the facetious youth was both the cause of the problem and also in breach of Byelaw 7. Violence can happen both ways.
 
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jon0844

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Squaddie said:
In my experience, no-one absolutely refuses to remove a bag from a seat if you ask to sit there, although they may roll their eyes and huff and puff a bit.
Click to expand...

No, I had two old ladies with carry-on bags on the seats who flatly refused when asked, telling me that they were getting off soon. Only my wife giving me the 'don't get involved' look with her eyes saved the ladies.

Had I been on my own, I'd have moved the bags to the luggage area, the vestibule, the luggage rack or sat on them. I would NEVER have let them get away with a victory for telling us both to sod off because their bags were more important than two people sitting down.
 
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dlj83

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Was on train this morning just had about three people staring ay me whilst I waited on the platform, none of them sat on the row I was on, but blocked up a few seats.

I find it funny really they are so petty. Although I will make sure I have a seat that a bag occupies when there are no others nearby.
 
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philjo

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I was on the St Pancras to Margate train on saturday.
The train was almost full prior to departure but a couple of rows in front of me there were 3 empty seats with 1 lady sat in the 4th seat. A family get on & the mother tells the toddler to sit there while she folds the pushchair. The toddler kicks up a mighty commotion & screaming etc as she refused to share the seats with the other lady already sat there. The parents threatened to take her off the train & go straight home but didn't make much difference. Eventually the lady offered to move (probably as she could see it would be a very noisy journey otherwise!). The toddler was still screaming at times for the rest of the journey so it was still pretty noisy !
 
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user15681

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Talking of people who think they're a cut above the rest. I travel often in north Kent on Southeastern. I've had a fair share of funny moments, but yesterday's was the best.
I was sitting on my own at a table of four, heading to CBE. At FAV, a snooty looking lady, smothered in sun cream, with a wide-brimmed hat and sandals on boarded the train, the typical nature loving type. She had two young sons with her. The three seats at my table were free and I didn't mind them sitting there.
Just as the young son was about to sit down, the mother said, "Oh no, we don't want to sit next to this lower class chav, we'll find first class." I was absolutely shocked, but it made me laugh.
Anyway, we got off at CBE and the boy spat on the pavement. She was horrified, but I was delighted.
I've had lots of incidents like that on SE, I'll be sure to share them more often!
 
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IanXC

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TempleRyan said:
Talking of people who think they're a cut above the rest. I travel often in north Kent on Southeastern. I've had a fair share of funny moments, but yesterday's was the best.
I was sitting on my own at a table of four, heading to CBE. At FAV, a snooty looking lady, smothered in sun cream, with a wide-brimmed hat and sandals on boarded the train, the typical nature loving type. She had two young sons with her. The three seats at my table were free and I didn't mind them sitting there.
Just as the young son was about to sit down, the mother said, "Oh no, we don't want to sit next to this lower class chav, we'll find first class." I was absolutely shocked, but it made me laugh.
Anyway, we got off at CBE and the boy spat on the pavement. She was horrified, but I was delighted.
I've had lots of incidents like that on SE, I'll be sure to share them more often!
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum!

Always nice when things turn out well in the end isn't it!
 
PaxVobiscum

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TempleRyan said:
Just as the young son was about to sit down, the mother said, "Oh no, we don't want to sit next to this lower class chav, we'll find first class." I was absolutely shocked, but it made me laugh.
Click to expand...

What a cheek! If you had been a 'lower class chav' she might have received a much less civilised reaction. Well done for choosing to ignore that one.
 
U

user15681

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Thanks for the welcomes! If she had said that to a real lower class chav, then she would have probably not survived. Maybe my Medway roots were showing that day...
And er, yes, XC are nature loving!
 
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island

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TempleRyan said:
Talking of people who think they're a cut above the rest. I travel often in north Kent on Southeastern. I've had a fair share of funny moments, but yesterday's was the best.
I was sitting on my own at a table of four, heading to CBE. At FAV, a snooty looking lady, smothered in sun cream, with a wide-brimmed hat and sandals on boarded the train, the typical nature loving type. She had two young sons with her. The three seats at my table were free and I didn't mind them sitting there.
Just as the young son was about to sit down, the mother said, "Oh no, we don't want to sit next to this lower class chav, we'll find first class." I was absolutely shocked, but it made me laugh.
Anyway, we got off at CBE and the boy spat on the pavement. She was horrified, but I was delighted.
I've had lots of incidents like that on SE, I'll be sure to share them more often!
Click to expand...
I hope they got PFed for sitting in First!
 
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user15681

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island said:
I hope they got PFed for sitting in First!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. It was a lunch time service to Dover, so there wasn't a guard/ticket man/revenue collector or whatever it's politically correct to call them. I very rarely come into contact with a guard along that stretch.
 
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