Stranger teaches teenager a lesson after he refuses to move his legs to the side in the metro
The teenager was taking up three seats while it was busy in the metro
Some people take public transit because they don’t have a car, others take it because it makes it easier to get from point A to point B, and others take it because it’s better for the environment. Whatever your reason may be to take the bus, train or metro, you certainly know that public transportation has its pros and cons.
Public transit
Public transit is perfect for getting from point A to point B. Especially if you’re going to a city, taking a train, bus or metro is often the easiest and cheapest way to get around. You don’t have to deal with traffic, finding parking or paying steep prices for parking. On the other hand, public transit can be unpredictable. There are often delays and you have to be lucky enough to even get a seat. The latter can get a bit tricky when passengers require a bit more space. Take this teenager for example, who isn’t taking up one, but three seats in the metro. When a man wanted to sit in one of the seats, the boy refused to move his legs. That’s when the man decided to teach him a lesson.
Want to know what the man did? Read on now.
Crowded
Everyone who uses public transit, like the bus or metro, knows that it can be really crowded sometimes. You have to fight to even get a seat. At least, not literally, thankfully. In most cases at least. What is annoying though, is when people take up more than one seat. For example, by putting their bag on the seat next to them or putting a suitcase in the legroom.
What’s even worse is when people sit with their legs wide open. Nice and relaxed on the chair(s) next to them while others have to stand in the aisle. But what do you do if you see this happen? Do you confront the person? Do you let it go? Or do you just go ahead and sit? All these questions rushed through this man’s head when saw a boy laying down across multiple seats in the metro.
Curious to hear what the man decided to do? Read on now.
Irritable
We don’t know what it is, but every time we take public transit, we’re a little more irritable. It’s too slow, there’s always delays, it’s too crowded, people don’t take others into account, passengers take up too much space or are too loud, the list goes on.
If you take public transit on the regular, you surely know what we mean. While there are numerous occasions where something has made us feel uncomfortable, we usually keep our mouths shut. Public transit is there for everyone – and not everyone will behave in the same way as you.
However, it’s pretty annoying to have to stand when you see a teenager taking up multiple seats…
Respectless
“Make yourself at home…” Some passengers take this a little too literally. We’ve even seen people take off their shoes on public transit. And people that have loud phone calls with their friends in the silent section? Or people that refuse to use headphones to listen to music but instead bring speakers so everyone can “enjoy” their music too?
Taking up extra seats while it’s extremely crowded in the metro or train is more than annoying, if you ask us. It could of course be that you didn’t realize other people were having to stand while you laid across three seats. That’s why this man gave a teenager doing this the benefit of the doubt. The man asked the teenager to move his legs so he could sit down. When the teenager said no, he decided to teach him a lesson.
Curious to know what happened next? Read on now.
Stay calm
It can be really hard to stay calm in certain situations. Especially when you get the feeling that something isn’t fair. Some people are better at handling this than others and manage to keep their cool. Others lash out much more quickly and face the consequences.
Even if you stay calm and don’t pick a fight, you never know how the other person is going to react. For example, some people get angry over the smallest things even though you’re trying to keep the peace. ‘Pick your battles’ are good words of wisdom. Ask yourself the question: is fighting over a seat on public transit really worth it?
Did the man go the peaceful route, or did he decide to take a more hands-on approach? Read more on the next page.
Viral tweet
We know by now that it can be extremely irritating to have someone take up seats in public transit when it’s crowded. When Isabel Kim, a young woman, saw that the teenager was laid out flat across the metro seats while others had to stand, she decided to get it on camera. What she didn’t know, was that a man was on his way to come teach the teenager a lesson.
Isabel managed to take several photos of the metro incident and later posted them on Twitter. In no time at all, the tweet went viral with more than 130,000 likes and nearly 50,000 retweets. On top of that, thousands of people commented on her post. Amazing how social media works!
Faith in humanity restored
Less than 24 hours after Isabel Kim posted the tweet, it had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. In the blink of an eye, comments started coming in left and right. “This made my day”, one Twitter user says. Another wrote “My faith in humanity is restored.”
Other users say the man in the video is a hero and they applaud him. “This is the only way the youth will learn”, one person wrote on Twitter. That makes us wonder: what did the man do to the boy in the metro after he took up multiple seats? Why did the story go viral so quickly?
Just a normal day
What makes this story so special is that it’s so relatable. It happens on any old normal day. Isabel Kim, the young woman who caught it all on camera and put it on Twitter, was taking the metro to work. It was pretty crowded in the metro and some people had to stand. Even though there would have been open seats if it weren’t for a teenager laying down with his legs on them.
Isabel Kim realized that the boy was laying down with his feet on the bench while other passengers in the metro had to stand. Someone could have easily sat down where his legs were – maybe even two people. But nope, the boy remained slouched down and taking up space on the bench. As if he was the only person in the world and no one else mattered…
Curious to know what happened next? Read on now.
In a different world
You might be asking yourself: was the boy all alone? No, this wasn’t the case. The boy was riding with his mother who was seated next to him with headphones on listening to music. The teenager was laying up against her with feet out on the bench. Even though other people wanted to sit.
The boy was so consumed by his phone that he didn’t even realize it was crowded in the metro and that other passengers were looking for a place to sit. Even his mother was too caught up in her music that she didn’t notice how busy it was. Or were they both aware but just didn’t care that much?
Asocial
In most cases on public transit it’s every man for himself and most passengers keep to themselves. With people reading, playing games on their phones, or listening to music, there’s not usually time for a quick chat. This makes it seem as if we’re a bit less social than we used to be. The fact that this boy was focused solely on his phone is, however, not the problem in this scenario.
Everyone with a little common sense knows that you should give up your seat on public transportation to the elderly, pregnant women and people with a visible disability. Whenever we see someone with a hard time staying standing, we often jump up to offer our spots to the person. That’s what everyone should do, right?
This is unfortunately not the case, clearly seen in this story.
Failed upbringing
It wasn’t just the fact that the boy hadn’t noticed that people were having to stand in the metro while he had his legs up on the bench. And it wasn’t just the fact that he was so focused on his phone. No, multiple passengers asked the boy to move his legs so others could sit down. Instead of politely moving his legs off the bench, he stayed laying against his mother with his legs out.
What makes the situation even worse is that the mother didn’t say anything about her son’s behavior. In fact, the mother even said “no” multiple times when passengers asked if they could sit down. A perfect example of a chip off the old block. Just like her son, she was hypnotized by her phone.
The other passengers in the metro slowly started to lose their patience…
Patience is lost
At this point, several passengers had seen what was going on. Some gave the boy who was laid out across the bench nasty looks. At a certain point the boy felt the tension in the air and decided to move his legs just barely enough for one person to sit down.
The boy’s effort didn’t help much. The space he freed up was still a tight squeeze, but his legs were still taking up at least another whole seat. The other passengers were completely fed up with the boy but decided to just leave it. Until one man came along with an act of valor.
Want to know what the man did? Read more on the next page now.
Elton John
Although several people had now asked him to move his legs, he refused to cooperate. He stayed sitting with his legs across the bench, thus taking up multiple seats. A mysterious man saw this happening and decided to teach the boy a lesson. The man was wearing all black, had sunglasses on and hair that resembled that of Elton John. In fact, several people thought it was Elton John. Spoiler: the man was not Elton John. But that doesn’t make this man any less of a hero
The man was one of the many passengers who was extremely fed up with the asocial boy’s behavior. He was already annoyed with the boy for having his feet on the bench, but what really got his blood boiling was when the boy refused to move his legs. At a certain point, the mysterious man and Elton John lookalike was so fed up with the boy that he decided to take matters into his own hands.
The boy will never forget what the man did next.
Act of valor
After asking the boy multiple times if he could move his legs, the man was fed up. He had given the teenager numerous chances to move but he refused over and over. It’s not surprising that the man lost his patience and decided to teach the boy a lesson.
The mysterious man was so fed up with the boy’s asocial behavior that he claimed his seat by simply sitting on the boy’s legs. Yep, right on top of them! It’s not that wild if you think about it, the man had every right to sit there. The other passengers were happy that the boy finally got what he deserved.
But the story didn’t end there…
Shocked
Thankfully, Isabel Kim was able to capture the mystery man’s selfless act. She took several photos of the incident which she then shared on Twitter. In doing so, internet users across the world could watch and enjoy the metro incident and see the man’s awesome action. How did the boy react to the man doing this?
It may not surprise you, but the boy couldn’t believe his eyes. While he had believed himself to be more important than everyone else and didn’t think he had to move his legs for anyone, he was quickly put in his place by the unknown man. He was shocked when the man sat on his legs, which you can clearly see by the way his jaw dropped. Some people say that this is the first time he didn’t get away with his asocial behavior.
The teen’s mother was however not too thrilled with the mysterious man’s actions.