A woman, 35, has recently sent a letter to our editorial, asking us to judge if she was right or wrong in a scandalous situation she had. Her letter was very emotional, and it’s clear that the conflict made an impact on her. The incident happened in a bus, and the woman described a situation that probably everyone can encounter, so she hopes for our readers’ opinion on the whole situation and asks us all about what we’d do.
A woman started her story, saying that a pity encounter has happened to her about 3 months ago. She mentioned that she still can’t get over it, as it produced a huge impression on her and, to some extent, hurt her.
She opened her letter with some backstory, in order to give us a correct understanding of her state. She wrote that about 10 months ago, she was diagnosed with a stage 2 cancer of the nasal cavity. There’s a tumor that’s quite big, but luckily, it hasn’t spread into other tissue.
She continues her story, saying that probably even people who don’t have cancer, could understand that she had a poor mental state because of constant worrying and also her physical state left much to be desired at that moment. She revealed that in order to get her tumor removed, she initially had to undergo a very aggressive chemotherapy to make this tumor smaller.
The woman continues her letter, saying that not only her health, but also her looks changed a lot. After the chemo, she had a severe alopecia. This condition made most of her hair fall out. Even her eyebrows and eyelashes were actually gone.
She revealed that at some point she had to shave her head bald, removing the hair that was still left after the major hair loss, and that didn’t look good. She decided to wear a wig, because she didn’t want to look like a skinhead. She revealed that she’s naturally tall and muscular, so she was afraid people would compare her to a representative of some subculture.
In order to get to her chemo sessions, the woman needed to take a bus, and this was the place where a conflict actually happened.
The woman goes on with her story, saying that once she was returning home after an exhausting and long chemo session. She explained further that there’s just one bus that went from the hospital to her home, so she took that one and found out it was absolutely packed.
She revealed that she felt just horrible after the chemo, so she asked some middle-aged man to let her sit. The man was very understanding and stood up, offering her his spot, without any complaining. One stop later, a woman entered the bus. She was accompanied by a teenage kid.
The woman continues, writing, “It took her nearly 5 seconds to see that the bus was fully packed and start looking for a free seat. She quickly spotted me and then started marching to me.”
The woman admitted that she had this gut feeling that something was going to happen, as she was looking at how deliberately the other woman was approaching her, and also after seeing her facial expression. She wrote, “When I saw that woman, I instantly knew I was screwed. She then stood next to me and started talking to me. The conversation that followed, was pretty aggressive.”
The woman wrote that the mom with a teenage son said, “Hey, my son needs to sit down.” The woman explained to the mom that she was on her way from the hospital and was feeling really bad, so she needed a seat, too. The other woman then cut her off, saying that her kid just broke his leg, and they were coming straight from the ER. The woman mentioned that, in the meantime, her son was standing next to her, and it was clear that he could do it without any support.
She then mentioned it to the mom, saying that he was looking completely fine, but received an angry reply from the mom. She called her “a boy” and said that her kid deserves to sit down. When the woman tried to reassure her, that she was after the chemo, and even moved away her wig a bit to let her see her bald head, the mom started literally yelling in her face.
She called her a “skinhead” and kept insisting that she should leave her seat immediately. The woman wrote that she felt completely broken and appalled by such behavior, and ashamed of the whole incident happening.
While the woman was left speechless after the outburst of aggression from the mom, both women had the attention of the whole bus. The woman wrote that the mom tried to grab her and yank her from her seat. But she was holding on tight and thankfully didn’t fall.
Then the elderly man, who initially gave the seat to the woman, took her side. He said to the mom that she should stop assaulting other people. The mom started shouting at him, too, and her kid was looking at his mom, and it was clearly seen that he was ashamed of her behavior.
After the woman didn’t stop her aggressive behavior, the elderly man delivered a speech that was like a karma to the lady. He revealed that she’s just assaulted a passenger and him, an officer. He then pulled out his badge and asked her to stay where she was. Then the man called someone and informed the woman that she was being arrested.
The woman finishes her story, saying, “Our bus had just arrived to a stop, so she decided she’d run away, but other people just blocked her way and 2 stops later a police car was waiting for her. Her kid told me he was sorry for his mom’s behavior, and I felt really sorry for the poor kid.”
We are very grateful to the woman for writing to us and for sharing her story with us. We wish her to get cancer-free soon and to never face such conflicts again.
We honestly believe that people should treat each other with respect and remember about other people’s dignity.
The woman, who was aggressive towards the passenger with cancer, deserved to be arrested for such behavior. Her kid was watching the whole drama and also was having a stress because of this, so the whole situation did a lot of harm to many people.
And here’s a story of a woman who refused to give her airplane seat to a kid, and she doesn’t regret it, here’s why.
If you require a priority seat, and it's full, and the occupant says they need it, the correct behaviour is for them or you to turn to the closest seated person and say "I need a priority seat, but as you can see, this person also needs to sit, would you be able to offer them your seat?" Under no circumstances are you allowed to pull someone out of their seat.
