Etiquette lesson goes awry as woman sits on rider’s feet on TTC subway

By News Staff

An etiquette lesson on board a TTC subway train took a turn for the bizarre over the weekend, with a woman sitting on another rider’s feet.

According to rider Juliette Shylo, who filmed the aftermath of the incident, one man was sitting with his feet on another seat.

That’s when a woman asked him to move his feet. When he didn’t, she sat on him.

Shylo’s video begins with a young black man, wearing glasses and appearing to use a phone, telling a white woman to “Get off me.”

She responds, “Sorry, I can’t.”

The woman continues to sit on the man, a stranger, despite repeated requests to move. Their verbal argument then escalates.

“Get your fat self of my [expletive] feet,” the man says. “You’re going to come sit down on other people? The [expletive is wrong with you?””

“Your fat self has got a big mouth,” the woman says.

“I know I have a big mouth and I’m [expletive] using it,” he says.

“And you’re fat too!” she interjects.

“I love my fat self,” he responds. “Thank you bitch.”

“Ok then we’re equal,” she says. At this point, she is still sitting on his feet. He asks why she hasn’t moved.

“I’m trying to explain to you that your feet shouldn’t be on the seat,” she says.

“Why does it matter to you?” he says.

“Do you own the subway? Let me ask you a serious question. Do you own the subway?” he says.

“No! Do you?” she responds.

“No,” he says.

“Then how can you do whatever you want?” she asks.

“Is there a rule on this train that says I can’t put my foot on the seat right now?” he asks.

“There’s lots of social rules,” she responds.

“Ok so I can take myself and just go like that?” he says, leaning forward and pushing the woman’s back with his shoulder. The woman, after sitting on the man for about a minute, then gets up. She walks to another seat and pushes the emergency alarm.

“Thank you,” the man says. “I shouldn’t be having to touch a lady. Get off me. You put yourself on me. I have all right to push you off me. You sat on me. You pushing [the alarm] is just disrupting every body else … You could have left me alone… Shut up! Just shut up!”

The woman is still criticizing the man she sat on.

“Why does it [expletive] matter to you? It doesn’t [expletive] matter,” he says.

“We’re a society! We all have to live together,” she says.

At this point, the man bangs on the glass window of the train.

“I don’t care! Is there an [expletive] rule, right here, that says I can’t put my feet right there?” he says. He adds that there are plenty of empty seats, he’s not stopping anyone from sitting, and that the woman was in another part of the car but moved to come speak to him.

“You started this. I didn’t. You had to come sit your [expletive] fat ass on my leg. So leave me the [expletive] alone. Now that you pressed [the alarm], you stopped the whole [expletive] train. For what?”

“That’s right. I did,” the woman says. “Because you pushed me.”

“You sat on me!” the man responds. “You put your body on me. I can push you off me.”

The woman argues that she was not sitting on him.

The man, visibly angry, then leaves the train, saying he doesn’t want to “spit in your [expletive] face.”

The video then ends.

TTC spokesman Stuart Green said the woman was justified in pressing the emergency alarm.

“Bad etiquette is not appropriate use of the emergency alarm, but in this case it appears someone was pushed, and that is appropriate use of the emergency alarm,” he said.

Meanwhile, witness Juliette Shylo said she thought both people were at fault.

“In my head, I was like, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Just walk away.’ But no,” she said.

“Both parties were wrong in this situation. But again, it’s public transit.”

According to the TTC website, there is a rule against putting your feet on the seat (bylaw 3.19 A). It comes with a $200 fine, though it is rarely enforced, a TTC spokesperson said.

Click here for the full list of TTC fines.

We want to know, what’s the worst behaviour you’ve ever seen on the TTC? How did you deal with it?

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