A Reddit writer shared a stressful and upsetting situation involving commuter travel and her young daughter.
A woman who described herself as a 32-year-old woman wrote on the platform that she and her five-year-old daughter boarded a bus “at a busy stop”.
The woman, who did not share her location, added that once she was on the bus, she saw that “there were no empty seats, except for one [seat] near a person using a wheelchair” — a person he described as a 40-year-old man.
The mother continued, “I asked the person if [he] could move [his] wheelchair to another place so that my daughter and I could sit together, but the person refused.”
The man in the wheelchair, he continued, said he needed the space for his “mobility device.”
The mother wrote: “I was taken back and disappointed by this response.”
She told the man that her daughter “was very young and had to sit next to me for safety reasons” – however the person “refused to move”.
The woman shared that she “ended up having to stand up for the entire ride with my daughter, which was uncomfortable and tiring for both of us.”
The mother wrote that when she told a friend about the incident, the friend told her she was “insensitive and capable.”
The woman’s friend, the original Reddit poster continued, told her “that the person in the wheelchair had a right to the space” she needed — and “that it was unfair of me” to ask the man in the wheelchair to move a bit in to accommodate her.
The mother continued, “Now, I wonder whether or not I was wrong to ask the person to move.”
She asked the Reddit community about it — and their thoughts on whether she was wrong “to ask a disabled person to move seats on the bus for my child.”
To date, the woman’s post has received 2,500 comments.
It has also been upvoted nearly 4,000 times. (It has since been locked for further comment, according to Reddit.)
Fox News Digital reached out to a New York-based psychologist for thoughts on the personal drama.
Wrote one commenter on a Reddit post that many others “upvoted,” “Imagine being so entitled that you honestly think it’s so awful and tiring to stand on your own two feet, to work, to ask someone who is physically unable to stand to get out of your way.”
Wrote another person in the same vein, “5-year-old could barely stand.”
The same commenter added, “Seriously, when did 5-year-olds become so fragile that they can’t handle a bus ride.”
The person added: “Parents like this are hurting children. They teach them that they are pathetic.”
In response to this comment, another person wrote: “It’s a safety issue. Children can easily fall into the buses because they cannot reach the places where they should be held, as these are made for adults.”
Another Reddit commenter wrote on Saturday morning: “I used to take the bus a lot. Mothers with children are the most entitled bus users [that] exists.”
Wrote another commenter who was apparently fed up with the mother who posted the original story, “One can only hope [that the original poster] she realizes how lucky she is to even be able to stand and walk without any problems, and that the next time there are no seats on the bus, she’s going to suck it up for a few minutes of the ride.”
Said another person, “Your child can sit on your lap or you can ask someone else to move.”
Said another person: “Having a child doesn’t automatically give you priority over others. If the bus is too crowded, take a taxi. Otherwise, you’ll have to deal with the downside of public transportation.”
Added this person, “You’re frustrated with the response because you’re so used to getting your way. I also have a child of the same age. Plan better,” this person added without spin.
But a New York father of four and grandfather of two had a very different take.
He told Fox News Digital his take on the post related to travel etiquette: “The man in the wheelchair already had a seat. Why couldn’t he move a little to help a woman and her young child?’
He added: “That doesn’t make sense to me.”
