'No, the old man can’t sit there; I need that seat for my bag'

"A recent incident on a Melbourne train made me think, What has the world come to?!"

Sometimes children are exposed to elements of humanity that aren’t very pretty, and as a parent, you wish you could protect them from it. Unfortunately, you can’t always.

To mark the start of the school holidays, I decided to take my kids on an adventure to Melbourne.

We live in country Victoria and I thought it would be fun to take the train to the big city for a day of exploring.

But after what happened on that train ride, I almost wish we’d never bothered.

Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this. 

Image: Supplied

RELATED: My toddler calls my ex’s new wife ‘mama’ – the man allows it

What has the world come to?

I was chatting to my three children, aged nine, five and two, when an old man came down the train aisle. It’s hard to guess how old he was, but his hair was completely grey and he looked like he was in his early 80s. 

He stopped just before our row of seats at a quad, where there was a woman sitting with her two teenagers.

On the fourth seat was her bag.

The old man looked down and smiled.

“Excuse me, I think this is my seat,” he said.

The woman looked up at him and said something like, “no, you must be mistaken, I booked it for my husband.”

The old man repeated, “I’m pretty sure it’s my seat,” and rummaged around in his pocket for his ticket, then squinted down trying to verify his seat number. Sure enough, it was his allocated seat.

“But I booked this for my husband,” she repeated, and pulled out her ticket.

The conductor was going past and asked what all the commotion was about.

Introducing our new podcast: Mum Club! Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

RELATED: My sister stole the mic at my wedding to humiliate me

"Is your husband here?"

The woman explained the situation and after checking both tickets, the conductor looked uncomfortable. “Yes, the seat seems to have been double booked. I’m sorry about that.”

Now, any reasonable human being would have picked up their bag and let the old man sit down, but not this woman.

She just sat there looking unamused.

Finally, the old man raised a pointed question. “May I ask, is your husband here?”

Wait for it. Wait for it.

“No, he’s not,” she replied.

That’s right, friends. The husband hadn’t ducked off to the toilet or to get a coffee. Her husband wasn’t even on the train!!!

The woman didn’t want to give up the extra seat for the old man because she desperately needed it… for her BAG!

Finally, the conductor said the old man would have to sit there, and the woman removed her bag begrudgingly, looking sulky the rest of the journey.

I could hear the old man apologising to her, and my heart absolutely broke for him.

My three young children had been watching the entire debacle unfold, and as I looked down at their innocent little faces with eyes like saucers, I thought, “what has the world come to?”

What are we teaching our kids? When did a handbag become more important than a human being? Where is the basic humanity?

If that were me, I would never have made that old man feel so unwelcome. In fact, even if my husband was with us, I would have told one of my teenagers to stand up for the rest of the journey and given the old chap a chair.

My faith in humanity was slightly restored

You may be wondering why I didn’t offer my seat straight away. I was already jammed like a sardine into the corner of two seats, with my two-year-old and five-year-old sitting on top of me.

When we arrived in Melbourne and were sitting calmly on a tram in the CBD, I explained to my children why that woman’s behaviour was so wrong.

“You should always show respect for those around you, especially the elderly,” I said.

“Do you understand?” I asked, and all three nodded, even the two-year-old.

When we got off the tram, a young woman did volunteer to help me with my pram and suitcase, and my faith in humanity was partially restored.

I do hope that at some point, that woman from the train thought about her actions, and maybe felt a little bit ashamed of her behaviour. Hopefully next time, she sets a better example for her own kids.

Originally published as 'No, the old man can’t sit there; I need that seat for my bag'