'Gross acts like this are the reason I hate public transport'

"It was peak hour and people were avoiding him. Then I looked a little closer..."

Peak hour on public transport in Sydney is no one's favourite time. 

Most of the time you're crammed into a tight space and praying to find a seat to make the journey a little less uncomfortable. 

And then along comes someone who thinks the carriage is entirely theirs. Yes, we're talking about the loud talkers, people who refuse to wear headphones, eat smelly food, put their bags on vacant seats, or those who have no personal space awareness. 

One of those people happened to be on a Sydney train ride this morning. 

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Man's gross act on Sydney train 

Having to catch public transport twice a week to work, there's not much that surprises Sydneysider Emma. But she was left gobsmacked after she set eyes on a man in the same carriage as her. 

"It was just a regular morning and I was travelling to work. As I was looking for a seat, I could see the people before me passing by a row of empty seats," the woman tells Kidspot. 

"I thought it was odd but as I approached a little closer I could see why. A man was sitting there taking up six whole seats but that wasn't the worst part. He also had his shoes and socks off with his foot spread out laying on the seat in front of him." 

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No shoes wasn't even the worst part

Emma could see she wasn't the only one horrified by the man's entitled act in the shared space. People hopping on board were double-taking as they walked down the carriage trying to find a seat. While he had vacant seats around him, they still opted to stand instead.

"Usually in peak hour people would sit shoulder to shoulder but people were avoiding the area," she says.

"People were looking at him funny and kept walking. It was so selfish."

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The man had his bare foot on the seat for the entire ride. Image: Kidspot

But the bare foot wasn't the worst part about her Tuesday morning commute. As the woman looked a little closer, she noticed something that completely grossed her out. 

"The foot he was sitting on had skin peeling off! It made me feel a little ill but also wondered if that's the reason why he chose to take his shoes off," Emma adds. 

While she was grossed out by the crusty feet beside her, Emma was less concerned about hygiene and more upset about the selfish behaviour and not caring about other passengers wanting to sit. 

"I was actually less annoyed that he had his shoes off and more annoyed that his grubby feet made people not want to sit where there were empty seats," she says. 

"I mean, he just looked like a normal dude. Not homeless, he had shoes with him, a pair of slides, which he put on when he got off the train. 

"He was also the type of guy who was playing sound from his phone, which is another trick people do to avoid others sitting next to them."

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You can't do that on public transport, dude!

Emma's encounter had many of us thinking about what should and shouldn't be tolerated on public transport. 

Surprisingly, not everyone was that grossed out by it. 

One mum insists entitled acts like this are "the reason I don't catch public transport" while others said they would be a little surprised to see someone do it but wouldn't have the courage to call them out for it. 

"I would be grossed out but I wouldn't say anything. I would probably just have a little huff and move elsewhere," another mum shared.

And then came the people who almost defended the man. 

"Because I’m very much a shoes off in the house person, my first thought was, at least he took his shoes off," one woman told Kidspot after watching the video. 

And another public transport regular said she was also not surprised and wouldn't make a huge deal about it.

"Honestly, like yeah it's not the best and it would give me the ick, but at the end of the day, I'm not the transport police, I don't really care and I kind of just assume that all train seats are grubby and have sh*t on them so this doesn't surprise me." 

What would you do? 

Originally published as 'Gross acts like this are the reason I hate public transport'