Train Etiquette Questions

[En Passant]

Train Etiquette Questions


I take the train to work everyday. It is about a 30-35 minute commute. I’ve noticed some situations that happen regularly where I am unsure of the proper solution.

1. You are sitting next to someone who sneezes. Do you say, "Bless you?"

2. There is an open seat next to someone. Do you ask them if you can sit there, or do you just plop right down?

3. Let’s say you are forced to sit next to someone because there are no empty seats remaining on the train. If the person across the isle leaves hit seat, thus making an empty seat across from you, is it proper to stay where you are currently sitting, or do you head to the empty seat right away?

Anyone else have any situations on the train where you are unsure of what to do?

[gumpzilla]

1) Sure, why not?
2) Just sit there.
3) I don't think there's a universal answer to this one. It depends on a lot of things - are the seats just going to fill right back up anyway, am I sitting next to an attractive woman, etc.

[mosdef]

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1. You are sitting next to someone who sneezes. Do you say, "Bless you?"

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No code of conduct here.

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2. There is an open seat next to someone. Do you ask them if you can sit there, or do you just plop right down?

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On a commuter train I think you just plop down.

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3. Let’s say you are forced to sit next to someone because there are no empty seats remaining on the train. If the person across the isle leaves hit seat, thus making an empty seat across from you, is it proper to stay where you are currently sitting, or do you head to the empty seat right away?

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Just stay where you are. On a densely populated commuter train having everyone shifting around constantly is more of disruption than having someone sit beside you.

[kerowo]

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Just stay where you are. On a densely populated commuter train having everyone shifting around constantly is more of disruption than having someone sit beside you.

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How is moving across the isle disruptive? It's not a library.

[TheBlueMonster]

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1. You are sitting next to someone who sneezes. Do you say, "Bless you?"

2. There is an open seat next to someone. Do you ask them if you can sit there, or do you just plop right down?

3. Let’s say you are forced to sit next to someone because there are no empty seats remaining on the train. If the person across the isle leaves hit seat, thus making an empty seat across from you, is it proper to stay where you are currently sitting, or do you head to the empty seat right away?

Anyone else have any situations on the train where you are unsure of what to do?

[/ QUOTE ]
as a DC Metro commuter here are my answers:

1. Usually a polite thing to do in any situation.
2. If there's an open seat, take it.
3. No one gets offended when you do this.

On a similar vein, one douchey move on DC Metro trains is the person sitting in the aisle seat with their bag on the seat next to the window. Most people would rather sit alone, but purposely sitting like this is just obnoxious.

[BigPoppa]

If someone moved across the aisle from me like that, I'd assume it was in an effort to get far away from me.

Of course, I spent some time as the only Gaijin in commuter trains full of Japanese. In my case, they were trying to get far away from me.

[KotOD]

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Train Etiquette Questions


I take the train to work everyday. It is about a 30-35 minute commute. I’ve noticed some situations that happen regularly where I am unsure of the proper solution.

1. You are sitting next to someone who sneezes. Do you say, "Bless you?"

[/ QUOTE ]

WTF? Your ability to be polite is compromised because you are on a train?

[En Passant]

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1. You are sitting next to someone who sneezes. Do you say, "Bless you?"

2. There is an open seat next to someone. Do you ask them if you can sit there, or do you just plop right down?

3. Let’s say you are forced to sit next to someone because there are no empty seats remaining on the train. If the person across the isle leaves hit seat, thus making an empty seat across from you, is it proper to stay where you are currently sitting, or do you head to the empty seat right away?

Anyone else have any situations on the train where you are unsure of what to do?

[/ QUOTE ]
as a DC Metro commuter here are my answers:

1. Usually a polite thing to do in any situation.
2. If there's an open seat, take it.
3. No one gets offended when you do this.

On a similar vein, one douchey move on DC Metro trains is the person sitting in the aisle seat with their bag on the seat next to the window. Most people would rather sit alone, but purposely sitting like this is just obnoxious.

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I definitely agree with this. However, I have noticed that most of the people sitting by them self on the isle seat do so because they are getting off at the next stop.

In hypothetical #3, let’s say that that someone is sitting next to you and the next stop has 50% of the people on the train getting off. Hence, there will be a lot of empty seats. I actually get pretty annoyed when the person sitting next to me immediately grabs an empty seat - thinking, is it that unbearable to sit next to someone where you have to immediately run to the empty seat. I would imagine most of you think this is being way to nitty.

[En Passant]

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Train Etiquette Questions


I take the train to work everyday. It is about a 30-35 minute commute. I’ve noticed some situations that happen regularly where I am unsure of the proper solution.

1. You are sitting next to someone who sneezes. Do you say, "Bless you?"

[/ QUOTE ]

WTF? Your ability to be polite is compromised because you are on a train?

[/ QUOTE ]

Many people think saying god bless you is annoying, rather than polite. I DO say bless you, but I have noticed that around 80% of the people I see sitting next to sneezers do not.

[szw]

Haha, I don't mind if my neighbor leaves to find another seat however I always feel weird leaving leaving my seat to get one with more space.