MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Would you give up a £50 train seat for a pregnant woman?

Patrick20

grumpyscouse wrote: »

3. Last time I gave up my seat, I ended up standing next to a stunning girl who had just done the same. We went out together and .. (no we didn't get married, but had a few very memorable months together.)

That woman must have been HUGE if she took both of your seats.:rotfl:

smk77

Tiger_greeneyes wrote: »

Jebus, I'm really not going to get into a bickering match with you over it :rolleyes:

You better use the sarcasm smiley appropriately..otherwise it suggests that you are going to get into a bickering match

awehla

Not for five hours, I would rather give her a tenner and let her upgrade to 1st class.

paulabear

awehla wrote: »

Not for five hours, I would rather give her a tenner and let her upgrade to 1st class.

Or, give her your seat and you upgrade :T

Sacre1

I would definately give up my seat. As someone said earlier, there are often times when it is necessary to travel at short notice and booking a seat would not be an option. It's also the right thing to do...end of story. I would do this for any person who was elderly, disabled, pregnant. Also, to imply that pregnant women are somehow parasites on the rest of society is appalling. So many pregnant women work and return to work quickly after giving birth because of financial necessity. They pay their taxes. Presumably, all those who gripe about having paid for their seat offer their bus/tube seats willingly to those less able to stand when booking their seats on such transport is not an option?

smk77

reevetard wrote: »

To those of you that think this a harsh response, think again, the woman is making a train journey on a bank holiday weekend for gods sake, she knows that it is going to be packed to the rafters. If she did not pre book and pay for a seat, then she is either stupid or falls into the bracket of person i described above, either way she would not be getting anywhere near my seat and i would actually find it offensive that people around me would feel morally blackmailed into giving up their seat!!

All we know about this woman is that she is on a train and hasn't got a seat. She may have actually booked a ticket in advance but the seats were fully booked. It may have been a journey that she needed to make (as mentioned by a number of people perhaps to see a sick relative?) and decided to take her chances.

To be honest, the scenario is rather poorly thought out, extreme and and unlikely. How many seats on a train are fully booked for a long journey like that! The chances are that the woman could seat hop, or, if you gave up your seat you could find an empty seat at the next station. Someone is likely to get up and, if they've seen what you've done, offer you there seat.

I think that the point here though is how many people would actively go out of their way to help someone else who perhaps isn't able to manage as well for whatever reason. It could be helping an old person off the bus, opening the door for someone or letting someone go ahead of you. There have been a number of times I've queued up at the supermarket with 2 or 3 items behind someone else with a trolley full (when the express checkouts haven't been available) and they've let me go in front of them. That's very decent of them and the type of person I want to share this society with.

aliasojo

Tiger_greeneyes wrote: »

Calm down, I was only asking!

You didn't mention the pregnant woman but you did, in a roundabout way, allude to the fact she was travelling unexpectedly. I just pointed out that wasn't part of the brief On your assumption that she was travelling unexpectedly, you snidely remarked about other people's mothers being proud of them. That's really not very nice imho.

You didn't actually answer my question but never mind, I don't really care one way or another, seeing as it's a hypothetical scenario :rotfl:

:rotfl:Which bit of my last post gave you the idea I wasn't calm? Genuinely confused over that. There were no exclamation marks, no sarky smilies...... nothing to convey that impression at all.

I didn't allude to the fact she was travelling unexpectedly at all. What I was alluding to was the fact that several people seemed to think she should have pre-booked as they did, therefore the fact she didn't have a seat was her own fault. It seemed to me that these posters only considered a set scenario and hadn't accounted for anything else. If their humanity was as great as their self concern then they would have realised life has many variables and perhaps might have been more considerate of this fact and less judgemental. That is not the same thing as me assuming she was travelling unexpectedly.

As for my 'Mothers' remark....perhaps it was snidey, I'll accept that. However it also seems rather apt to me, and if any of my children (2 of whom are grown men mind you) sat on their backsides in this situation, I'd be heartily ashamed of them.

mohthom

aliasojo wrote: »

What I was alluding to was the fact that several people seemed to think she should have pre-booked as they did, therefore the fact she didn't have a seat was her own fault.

What is this pre-booking you speak of? How would I go about post-booking? Is there any other kind of booking? How about during-booking? What's the purpose of putting pre- before a word that implies doing something before the fact anyway?

smk77

Sacre1 wrote: »

I would definately give up my seat. As someone said earlier, there are often times when it is necessary to travel at short notice and booking a seat would not be an option. It's also the right thing to do...end of story. I would do this for any person who was elderly, disabled, pregnant. Also, to imply that pregnant women are somehow parasites on the rest of society is appalling. So many pregnant women work and return to work quickly after giving birth because of financial necessity. They pay their taxes. Presumably, all those who gripe about having paid for their seat offer their bus/tube seats willingly to those less able to stand when booking their seats on such transport is not an option?

good first post! It made me think though. People on here are saying that they'd give up their seat for an old person but not a pregnant women. The reason is that they've paid for it. However, don't forget that the women who is standing has probably paid the same amount but the old person has probably got a discounted rate. On that basis, as they've not paid as much for the seat then why give it up?? Probably manners I guess.

Forsure_2

I simply cannot believe how many people on this forums are showing themselves up to what can only be described as thoughtless, inconsiderate and heartless morons. How could you not give up your seat ? regardless if you had paid £1.00 or £100.00 or whatever it may be - seeing as some people on here keep referring to the money.

I myself am a pregnant woman ( 6 mths ), and although not very heavily pregnant, I agree totally with what alot of people on here have said - I would give up my seat in a heartbeat, even whilst im in this condition. Now I do agree with one point, yes I made the choice to get pregnant and no one forced me to get pregnant nor do I expect anyone to get up for me on a packed train/ bus/ whatever, but it seems that all that is missing here, is common sense and human decency. I ALWAYS give up my seat for someone else who is in more need, even now in my pregnant state, ( mostly for old people might I add, although been a few disabled people too when I have came across them ). That people is called manners, irregardless of the persons situation, whether they chose to pre book or not, it all comes down to whether you as a person have got the common decency to offer a simple thing as a seat to someone more in need than yourself.

I myself ( having given birth before ), suffer from pre eclampsia which if left untreated can be seriously dangerous and can lead to fatality. Now I am well aware of this, and although i try and not travel if I can help it, I sometimes have to, being a mother and having to take my son to school. I also might I add work full time and am certainly no benefit scrounger. I like most people with ' normal lives ' have had to take journeys which are not planned and are sometimes at last notice. The trains I usually go on do NOT have the option to pre book seats and so this whole ' why did she not pre book her seat ' nonsense is just that. I now recently have been diagnosed with Symphis Pubis Disfunction which in pregnancy is a very painful condition, so someone offering their seat on a train service that I use that CANNOT be pre booked, is always thanked and appreciated. Like a previous poster said, yes I chose to get pregnant, but certainly did not choose to be ill along with it, with my son I worked up until the week before he was born, so i am by no means lazy or anything like that.

The people that writwe that they would not give up their seat, should very seriously think about what they have said......and grow up !!:j