“I promise I won’t bother her”
Our personal space has become more important than ever since the beginning of the pandemic.
But isn’t it something that should be respected all the time, not just during the past year and a half?
We all deserve our own space, especially women who often feel uncomfortable and unsafe in public.
A recent survey found that 81% of women will experience sexual assault in their lifetime so surely giving them space and respect is the least people could do, right?
One man recently admitted that he refused to move from a bench even though the woman sitting on it told him she was uncomfortable.
The 24-year-old said he was exhausted after a long shift at work and there was only one bench to sit on at the station.
He explained to Reddit the woman, who looked to be in her thirties, was sitting on one side of the bench.
It was after 11 pm so it was late and dark outside.
The man sits on the opposite edge of the bench, but then the woman asked him to move.
“She keeps looking at me until she asks if I mind. I ask her what she means. The lady tells me if I mind going somewhere else and I ask why.”
The woman told him she was uncomfortable with him being so close to her, especially because they were the only two people at the station.
“I look around again even though I know there are no other places to sit and I tell her sorry I won’t bother her I just really need to sit cause I’m tired from work.”
“Then she says would it really kill me if I moved somewhere else since the train gonna be there in 15 mins and I could sit then.”
The woman started to get frustrated when he refused to move.
“This lady not letting it go, I promise I won’t bother her.”
He said he apologised to her and said he just wanted to sit down after being on his feet all day.
“After saying that I put my headphones back on and looked at my phone. But saw this lady after a few mins get up and walk all the way to the other side of the platform and just stands there.”
He added that she called him a “f***ing jackass” when she walked by.
He stressed that there he was social distancing and had a mask on too.
“I get why ladies would be uncomfortable that late at night at a train station with some random guy, but I wasn’t even paying attention to her at all. And didn’t wanna move cause again I was super tired.”
It’s completely understandable that the woman felt unsafe, especially when it was so late at night. The young man was obviously no harm to her, but she didn’t know that and was only trying to protect herself by asking him to move.
However, isn’t he entitled to sit down after a tiring day at work too?
Numerous Reddit users sided with the young man and said if he wasn’t bothering or talking to the woman then she simply should have ignored him.
If they were socially distanced and wearing masks then it would have been safe in terms of Covid, but we can see both sides to this story.
What do you think?
