“Uncouth” man on MRT refuses to give his seat to an elderly woman, but he keeps standing while blocking others from holding the train bar

SINGAPORE: An MRT passenger took to social media to express his disappointment at a fellow train passenger’s “uncouth” behaviour.

The passenger refused to let an elderly woman have a seat as he leaned against the bar beside the seat while fiddling with his phone and also blocking others from holding the bar.

Weng Hon Chan posted a photo on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE page on Sunday (Oct 20) showing the interior of a train cabin with the said man in a grey shirt, green cargo pants, and a face mask.

In his caption, Mr Weng wrote he had taken the photo at the MRT station at Marymount.

When an elderly woman asked the man to give her the seat he was standing in front of, he told her he wanted to use the seat.

A young woman then offered her seat to the older woman.

The man, however, did not even take the seat and “continued to play with his handphone for more than a stop before sitting down.”

Mr Heng also wrote, “This man is so uncouth. In the first place, he is standing on a bar blocking a seat for the elderly, which he is not sitting on that moment.”

Commenters on his post were quick to call the man out for being selfish, entitled, and even heartless for refusing the elderly woman and for occupying the holding bar with his whole body.

Several others called his behaviour shameful.

A few netizens said the man might just be waiting for the seat to “cool”.

A few others said he might have a health issue requiring him to sit down, but the post author pointed out the man did not even sit right away but took his own sweet time to do so.

Some, however, pointed out this is by no means unusual but happens regularly. Despite reminders in train cabins to “Show you care. Offer this seat,” some people fail to do so.

“We must always do the right thing, especially to the elderly. Giving away a seat to the elderly should be a practice we must readily offer to do,” wrote another commenter. /TISG

Read also: MRT commuter criticised for refusing to give up priority seat for middle-aged woman