It’s around noon, and I’m on the train. A family is sitting nearby with their bags and luggage. Anyone else on the train could see that they put their things as close to them as possible, trying their best not to take up space. A lady walks in without any provocation, and shouts at the family, saying that they make it impossible to sit down in the seat next to the father, because of his luggage. The father moves his luggage out of the way best he can, but she still shouts at them, calling the situation (or them) “outrageous”.
Encounter with a possibly racist woman on the train berating a family over their luggage taking up space (more info in description)
by u/Yoomzster in singapore
At the next stop, a new passenger boards the train and sits next to the father – in the “impossible to sit down” seat. The voice recording was after this.
As in the picture, the woman had her umbrella on the seat. At the next stop, an elderly man boarded and wanted to sit in the seat next to her. She had to move her bag and umbrella away for him to sit.
I was preparing to leave at the next stop, the family was going to get off at the same stop. I stood up and told the woman – “Look, your umbrella was on the other seat and the other passenger didn’t have to shout at you to make space. Why did you have to shout at them? Have some compassion.” She shouted back at me something like “Speak for yourself!” or something along those lines. Still very confused about that.
I talked to the family when we got off and found out that they are tourists and they’ve already been having a really tough time finding their way since leaving the airport. To add to that, they had to deal with this unpleasant encounter. Up to this point, they have never expressed anger or replied rudely or even raised their voice.
I’m in contact with them, and I told them that if they need any more help or if they want to make a report, to just drop me a text.
I’m still appalled at what happened. I’m hoping they won’t have to deal with more people with bad attitudes while they’re here.
