Photo by PoPville flickr user Bogotron
“Dear PoP,
I was riding the green line home tonight from Gallery Place to Shaw tonight around 6:40. I walk in, turn to my immediate left, and sit down. As soon as my bum hits the chair cushion, I look up to see a large woman about a stride in front of me looking disgruntled. She was nowhere near sitting in this seat. I settle in to read something on my phone when she hits me with her newspaper. I was puzzled, she said ‘I should have you get up,’ to which I gave a slight smile, thinking she was joking (did she really hit me with her newspaper..). She then backs up VERY close to me. I’m stuck, nowhere to go. I have the metro car wall on my right, and a girl trying to read a book to my left, and lots of people standing next to and in front of the girl to my left.
She backs her ass right into my space with her legs pushing into mine, nearly falling back when the train starts. I push my knee in to the back of her knee to get her to move forward and away from me (telling her to get the hell away from me in the process b/c she was clearly crazy). She responds by attempting to stomp my foot hard/kick my shin about 7 times. I tell her to stop kicking me and she leans way back again and tells me she’s going to sit on me. I call her crazy and psychotic again (with some swears dropped in b/c, what the hell a 400 lb woman is attempting to sit on 115 lb me).
She finally makes good on her threat, after I spent the better part of 2 (late rush hour) stops digging my keys into her leg to keep her away from me and to discourage her from sitting on me, and actually DOES sit on me AND the girl next to me in the process (her ass was wide enough to require more than one seat). Because I was trapped this whole time (there was no way I could stand up to get away from her), I had to push her over HARD as she was sitting on me so I didn’t get crushed, kicking off my shoe in the process and somehow ending up with her holding what had been in my hand (metro card, credit card, and my keys). I had to frantically grab for my belongings to keep her from doing who knows what with them (at which point some woman said, “ladies, please”; clearly unaware of what this woman had done to me and probably thinking I’m pulling this woman’s belongings away from her when it was my stuff). It happened to be my stop after she sat on me, so I got off, called her ‘*&^(&(@$ psychotic one last time for good measure, and went home to a big glass of wine. I was so annoyed by this woman (who seemed professionally dressed and pulled together).
I told her after she sat that how the hell did she know I didn’t need a seat either. I happen to have an ‘invisible’ disability where I feel like SHIT if I have to stand, despite looking like a young, healthy person on the outside to any casual viewer. She couldn’t comprehend anything other than the YOU TOOK MY SEAT fallacy that preceded this mess. Also, an ass was smiling and enjoying the show the whole time in the aisle and no one attempted to get this woman away from me no matter how far this woman went in SITTING ON PEOPLE AND KICKING PEOPLE.”
Wow, this is insane. What do/can you do in a situation like this? Just get off at the next stop?
