Last night I was trying to get on a bus but it was too crowdy so I decided to wait for another one so i can sit down. I was waiting for 15 mins and here it comes! I was so happy jumping on the bus and grap a comfortable seat.
Then there comes tons of old people.
I was trying to pretend that i didn’t see them cuz i was REALLY tired from school. And so did other people on the bus. No one wanted to give away their lovely seat. It’s like a competition you know, :saywhat: the one who plays the dirtiest wins.
Ok i give up. Cuz the old lady in front of me was so old and “fragile” (she might break any time) that i must give her my seat.
So i was standing all the way home. I was like,i should have catch the first bus cuz i won’t be able to sit down anyway… :fatchance:
The truth is, I always give away my seat to old people and i’ve been doing it for 14 years! I am tired… Yes I know it’s my choice that i stand up while no one gives a shit. But why always me? How the hell the same scrip happens over and over again? Am I an angel? NO! But I just can’t pretend I do not see those old people coming.
Is that what those seats are for.
I always thought those seats were just for fat people carrying a stick. That’s whats the picture shows. Just kidding
There are no transit cops on buses anywhere in Taiwan, I am surprised anybody follows the rules.
I too always give up my seat to the old or preganant even if it is not in the front of the bus.
You could develop a case of extremely acute narcolepsy, triggered by the sight of people who are pregnant, old, physically handicapped, or burdened which miraculously cures itself once everyone finds a place on the bus or MRT.
You could give the seat up sweetly to the person in need and then stand over the seat-grubbing assholes like a vulture with the evil eye until they give theirs up for you.
You could imagine that when everyone stands before the pearly gates of Heaven, the only sin that was really taken seriously was in not giving up your priority seat for those who needed it more.
You could just be satisfied in knowing that you are an empathetic human being which is more than one can say for the heartless bastards who all still have their seats. Jerks.
I recently broke my elbow and foot. Typing is hard, so please read slowly.
I always give up my seat. Always.
People have been giving me their seat for the last two weeks. I could not appreciate any kinder gesture more. Xie Xie to all the kind locals who’ve lent a broken Toe a respite from the pain and weariness mere walking brings these days.
Respect for your elders. My Grandmother taught me that. That and Cribbage.
15-2 15-4
Give up your seat
'Afore I toss ya out da door.
And 3 is 7
ImaniOU’s right
It’s the path to heaven
And one for the Jack is eight
No matter where be your own
Pearly Gate.
Yes, way back in the olden days when I still used public transportation (and could afford to pay my bills on time ) I was quick to give up my seat for anyone who looked like they needed it more than I even if I was sitting in the back of the bus. Once I actually had someone give her seat up for me. I was carrying all sorts of bags and my allergies made it impossible to open one eye without some major discomfort. A young Filipina girl stood up and motioned for me to take her seat. It was a very nice gesture and I still haven’t forgotten it.
That’s why I always sit in the back (Very back) of the bus so I don’t have to give up my seat to old people. They rarely come to the back since they can never make it or it’s too far for them. But I would always give up my seat for them, hoping that one day they or their kids (grand-kids) would do the same for my parent, relatives, and grandma!!
If you have a pot-belly like I do, then you get priority. There’s a picture next to the seat that shows that. Otherwise you have to carry an umbrella or be receiving a lap-dance.
But seriously, I’m amused by the concept of “priority seating” for the elderly, etc. Back home EVERY seat would be a “priority seat,” and they wouldn’t have to spell it out either.
I don’t mind giving up my seat to old people. But when they make a show of expecting it, or being snatchy, that irritates me.
One day I was at the front of a queue waiting for a train, and this old couple comes up to wait. The woman is a good girl and stands behind me, but the husband plants himself next to her right in the space with the yellow arrow for alighting passengers. The wife chastises him and pulls him back so that he’s standing in the queue behind me.
Then the train pulls up. Now, I’m one of those people who understand the laws of physics, so I always stand by patiently whilst alighting passengers, well, alight. The train barely made a full stop before the old woman and her old man pushed up against me. Failing to have forced me onto the train, they just hustled around me and squeezed their way in, the old woman squawking, “Hurry, let’s get seats.”
What I wanted to say to them was, “What are you in such a rush for? You two look so old, no one would make the mistake of thinking you could stand.”
I hate people who sit in priority seats then pretend to sleep (IGNORE) and not see elderly people, pregnat people etc. :fume:
There are far more many public seats then designated priority seats anyway.
And what gives with having designated ‘priority seats’ anyway??
I thought that it was a universal that one gave up one’s chair for the elderly or pregnant. (Imagine having a pregnant or elderly person tossed around in a bus, especially given the way many bus drivers drive in Taipei)
I always do it because as a younger, unpregnant person, my body is stronger even when I am tired.
There is a word…oh yeah, courtesy!! (a lubricant to having a functional, pleasant society in my opinion.)
[quote=“Big Fluffy Matthew”]So what are old women like me supposed to do ?
I presume these people don’t have to go to work, so what are they doing taking a bus at the same time as me ? :fume:[/quote]
sorry if i make you feel that i don’t respect the elders. I do. I always always give my seat to old people (even though it’s not a priority seat)and i just get tired sometimes. It’s just frustrating that i saw people pretend that they don’t see the elders coming (or just simply close their eyes pretending sleeping…). I need to travle a lot everyday and sometimes i wish i can sit down,too
Please don’t get me wrong here okay? I’ve never say that i don’t care about old people. I give away my seat even though it’s not a priority seat. I just wish that maybe people can “take turn” giving away the seats so i can sit down sometimes
I’m a real sucker. I give up my seat for old people, pregnant people, moms with babes, people carrying a lot of stuff, chatty people who want to sit together, and just about anybody who looks more tired than me.
Whatever. It’s a thirty minute commute and there are usually enough seats to go around.
And what goes around, comes around.
Good on you, Jacana!
The reason most younger Taiwanese do not give up their seats to old people is because they think the older people are lower class, uneducated, dirty peasants, and so don’t deserve to sit down.
I am extrapolating this from an experience I had in China: the first time I took a bus in Sichuan. It was an hour-long trip over what was then the worst road I had ever seen. (If you think the bus drivers In Taipei are maniacs, you have never experienced the gut-churning thrill of a bus ride in the foothills of the Himalayas.) I was the only foreigner in this area, by the way. I had a seat. The bus was packed. An old woman, looking about 80, got on with her daughter, about 50. The older one was holding a baby. Nobody gave them a seat. I figured that either the great-grandmother or the baby would be dead by the end of the trip if they weren’t able to sit down, so I gave up my seat.
This is no big deal, right? Wrong - my actions, which in a western country would be considered perfectly normal, were the talk of the town for weeks afterward. People I had never even met would come up to me on the street to exclaim that I had given up my seat to a peasant woman.
[quote=“bababa”]The reason most younger Taiwanese do not give up their seats to old people is because they think the older people are lower class, uneducated, dirty peasants, and so don’t deserve to sit down.
[/quote]
) I was quick to give up my seat for anyone who looked like they needed it more than I even if I was sitting in the back of the bus. Once I actually had someone give her seat up for me. I was carrying all sorts of bags and my allergies made it impossible to open one eye without some major discomfort. A young Filipina girl stood up and motioned for me to take her seat. It was a very nice gesture and I still haven’t forgotten it.