Awkward on a Bus

I guess Tova has run out of totally awkward moments, but I have not, so I shall trudge on.

Public transportation turns people into jerks. Even kindergarten teachers are not immune to this phenomenon. People push and shove and hit you with their bags and take up way more than their single allotted seat. Many times, a person will sit on the aisle seat leaving the window seat open. Then you have to ask them if you could sit there, and they have to get up, because you definitely are not going to crawl over them.

This is the situation that I thought I came upon. The bus was packed. People in every seat, people already standing at different intervals in the aisle. I saw this woman sitting on the aisle seat and the window seat appears empty. I ask her very politely if I can sit there, and she reaches over and says "Oh! Of course!" Then she picks up the child that was sitting on the seat.

I immediately try backpedalling. "Oh, I didn't realize that she was sitting there. I am so sorry!"

The woman was so sweet. She said "She can sit on my lap! It's not a problem."

I felt like the biggest jerk who has ever ridden on public transportation. Trying to steal a seat from a child. I squeezed to the back of the bus where I hid out the rest of the ride.