I witnessed a very interesting interaction on my commute home yesterday. It was a crowded subway during the evening rush hour, and one seat opened up. A younger guy offered this older woman the seat, and she declined it, so he sat down. A few minutes later, the train was moving painfully slow, so she looked over to him and said, "you know what? I changed my mind, and I'd like the seat now." He laughed at the comment politely thinking it a bad joke in the course of subway small talk. The woman wasn't kidding. She now wanted to sit down.
An interesting dilemma to be raised. As she would bring up, he did offer her the seat, wasn't it still hers to be claimed? He said something about how his back hurts, so he didn't want to stand once he was sitting already and apologized. Now, yes, I felt bad for this woman who had to stand with the rest of us during the slowest ride ever, but is there really a precedent for a subway seat takeback? If I offer you a bite of my pizza, and you refuse, then I finish it and you change your mind, I'm not about to regurgitate you a section to enjoy. I can't ask the cashier at the drug store for my $5 back because you decided later on that you actually did want to buy a copy of the new US Weekly.
Can someone request that a kind gesture be upheld minutes after the fact? I'm going to have to vote no. I'm also going to have to vote that the guy should have done the classic, "pretend you're sleeping so that you don't feel guilty seeing people who are older, more injured or more pregnant than you wishing they had your seat" move. You snooze you lose, old timer.
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