So I thought I’d share a slightly annoying, but in the end sort of interesting, story that just happened to me about half an hour ago.
So like always I reserve myself a window seat on the Shinkansen, with an empty seat between me and the aisle seat. Let’s me take in the view, and hopefully use the empty seat for my bag. When the train comes and I make my way to the seat there’s a middle aged business man sitting there with a laptop a plugged in, jacket hanged up, and earphones on.
Okay, so the ordinary seat thief. Someone who bought a cheaper non-reserved seat and sneaks into a reserved cart.
It’s not the first I’ve encountered them. Usually if you mention it’s your seat they apologize profusely and move to another empty seat, at least until that seat’s owner shows up and kicks them to another. But this time the man simply refused to move. I showed him my ticket and told him that the window seat was mine. Instead of moving he just motioned down to the centre seat next to his and said I could sit there. He needed the outlet to work and he didn’t mind me sitting next to him.
Um, excuse me? Dude, you having to sit next to my foreign ass is not the problem here. I look down to the young man who had the aisle seat and he had a, “Oh shit,” look on his face and wanted nothing to do with this, so I wasn’t gonna rope him into any drama.
I tell the salaryman again, that’s my seat, and instead of even saying anything this time he just gestures back to the centre seat and continue clacking away on his laptop. I say for a third time that he needs to move and now he shouts back for me to just sit somewhere else. As if now I annoyed him to the point that I was no longer allowed to privilege of the centre seat.
Instead of bothering to give myself any more mental stress I just walked a cabin down, found the ticket checking man and told him the situation. We go back together and the officer asked for the man’s ticket. Of course he only had the cheaper ticket for the non-reserved cart, but even then he tried to plea his case that I could still just sit in the centre beside him.
Wow, thanks. I’m allowed to sit in the centre again!
He kept on about the non-reserved cart was full and there’s nowhere to do his work. That the other window seats in the reserved carts were already occupied (as if he had the right to sit at them even if they were empty).
After nearly five minutes of huffing and puffing, the officer and he began their trip down the train towards the non-reserved seats. I’m still not sure what his end game was. That looking busy and being gruff would just scare someone away from the seat they paid for? Surely even a Japanese person would’ve called for an officer to kick him out of the seat.
I’m about half an hour out from Tokyo now so not sure if I’ll spot the man again, but just thought I’d share the experience while I’m enjoying the view.
Moral of the story – screw seat thieves.
by MyManD
28 comments
The japanese person wouldn’t even have spoken to him. Just had the staff kick him out.
Man, you’re more patient than most. It’s not uncommon for Japanese people to not even ask in the first place, they’ll just straight up talk to the conductor and have them handle the situation. I usually ask once and it’s never not worked, and it sucks that you just had to run into the one douchebag. Hope the rest of your day goes well!
You met a seat thief AND a bully. Well done for standing your ground.
Good job handling the situation. Always get the ticket master or staff to handle the situation
I wonder if he’s having a shit day (forgot to charge laptop, write emails ect) and you got stuck in the middle of it. Or just an entitled man who has done this before.
Either way good job for dealing with the situation but don’t get caught up over it. I’d think usually a person would just move?
I once went to my reserved shinkansen seat to find a woman passed out, stretched out over all three seats! I guess she must have had a wild Sunday afternoon. Luckily, there were other open seats for me. The worker checking tickets just shrugged. I guess he witnesses this scene all the time.
Well, as you should really know, he’s such an important person that his boss has to tell him how to dress for work. That by itself qualifies him for free seat upgrades.
I bet his job title has 長 in it too! デスク長, say.
Surely if he were that important, his place of work would pay him enough to afford to pay for seat upgrades, but that’s none of my business.
Spoilers: he was on his way back into the city to get micromanaged and overworked at a thankless job with a cheapskate CEO and owner making millions.
That window seat was his Helm’s Deep.
When I first lived in Japan in the 80s, they used to check every passenger to make sure you had a ticket for the seat you were in-just the officer walking up and down each car, asking for proof of seat, bowing as they entered and exited.
I have ridden a few the last couple years and rarely see anyone-they even discontinued most of the food cart services apparently. They don’t seem to check tickets unless someone complains.
My friend I once had a Japanese couple sitting in our seats, and they kept trying to argue with us that we just couldn’t read Japanese and couldn’t understand our ticket. An elderly Japanese man came over and checked our tickets, and it was indeed our seats. The other people were in the wrong car. Due to him speaking old man Japanese, I couldn’t understand everything he said to the couple, but it looked and sounded like he chastised them quite a bit. They sheepishly moved. There haven’t been many times in Japan where another Japanese person stepped in to help, but this is one nice memory that I have.
A salary man of the “laptop everywhere” subspecies. Some can even use it while standing in the subway. Truly a feat of nature. Obviously, mostly self-focused creatures.
My guess is a stressed out salaryman (probably some manager) who has an inflated sense of the importance of his company’s work or his own position (but guessing the former). Possible stress-related mental health stuff.
That is hilarious dude.
No no no, listen, you can sit next to me, it’s okay
Hahaha
I bet he was an inept middle manager! Someone who has risen above the level they’re best at and has to find other ways in life to feel superior. Ugh. Good on you for not backing down.
I would have just went straight to the clerk after the first time he brushed me off. I don’t have time to argue about things that I am clearly in the right about lol Life is too short to put up with nonsense.
Kinda brazen of him to just not accept that the person who owns the seat might have picked it for a reason.
You did the right thing.
I had it happen to me in Germany exactly the same. Just an asshole behavior, people all around the world display
I was in a situation like this when I visited North Korea many years ago. The return flight, on a Soviet Ilyushin plane, had me in a window seat, and I was looking forward to a final view of Pyongyang from the air. When I got to my seat, a Korean man had taken it, and when I showed him my ticket, he claimed that 15**A** was somehow the aisle seat and that 15C was the window. The attendants didn’t want to get involved, so I decided to just let the man have the seat. Small compensation for having to live one’s entire life in North Korea.
I pity their kohai or their employees if he’s some sort of a manager. Typical POS pretending to be a baby samurai, entitled fuck thinking he’s got some authority just because he opens his mouth. And the problem is this kind of people get their way most of the times because most Japanese don’t want to get involved in any confrontation.
Good that you and the ticket lad put a lesson of humility on him for free.
I know it’s just a certain ‘type’ of person, but it always blows my mind when I read encounters like this, or like people on flights who have taken someone’s assigned seat “to be next to their friend”, or “to sit with their family”, and refuse to move.
This happened to me a couple of years ago in England. Zero chance of finding a conductor (The ticket checking person..) on that train. Be lucky to find a driver..
The seat has a light that shows it’s reserved from that station so there is no doubt you are taking a reserved seat.
The seat thieves (There were two) had the fucking gall to ask to see my tickets! I assume seat thievery is so rife they were worried about other thieves tricking them.
Anyway. As i have what’s politely referred to as “resting murderer’s face” and barely controlled anger issues, my asking him if he **really** wanted to escalate this was enough to see him vacate. Cheeky aunt.
Had a very similar thing happen to me on a flight to the UK from Switzerland, right down to the way he tried to brush you off.
Got on a plane and some Swiss/german dude in a suit that looked like a mfer from big bang theory had put his bags on my seat. I politely asked him to move and he did the hand brush and said “go somewhere else”.
I was about to switch but remembered the optics of how being a big black man shouting at some nerdy white boy would look. I was already hearing the “Sir, please calm down. Can we get security here??” voices in my head.
Luckily, a flight attendant caught it and told him to move his crap. He did it extremely upset lol. It was mad because I was the last on the flight and it was the only seat available.
Old men so used to getting what they want they don’t know what to do when someone stands up to them.
Shinkansen has S WORK cars designed specifically for people like him. His poor planning and time management shouldn’t be an excuse for someone to give up their seat. And I’m sure you would have given it if he was humble or sincere about it. But he was a complete dick about it.
Oh man, the entitlement of some people.
I can’t stand people using laptops on trains. If he has work to do, his company should’ve reserved him a seat, seeing as he is travelling during supposed work hours.
unrelated but recently i took a trip and BOTH times i was on the plane, someone was sitting at my seat. It wasn’t even great because I paid for my window seat, the person sitting at my window were in the same group as the mid and aisle seat. They couldn’t even speak english. So I asked the staff to help. Took them awhile to move. It was so annoying. People should just sit where their ticket is.
Lol. I was attending a Shoot Boxing event a few weekends back. Had my ticket with my seat aisle/number on it, but just to be sure, asked a staff member to confirm it was the correct seat. I was correct.
A few fights in, this old lady comes down with staff members complaining that I was in her seat. I assured them that I wasn’t. When I stood up to get the ticket out of my pocket, the old lady just pushed herself in and sat down in my seat.
The staff saw my ticket and then told her it was, in fact, my seat. She then insisted it was hers and showed them HER ticket.
Turns out, she wrote the seat aisle/number on the ticket herself because that’s the seat she really wanted. They made her get up lol
When I first moved to Japan I spoke a total of four words of Japanese (it was a rushed moved for my company, please don’t judge). But my second Shin ride ever I found someone in my seat. I tried to do the pointing to me, the ticket, and the seat. The Japanese man sitting in my seat spoke sternly and gave me a “go away” jester with his hand. I found the conductor the next car over, who happened to speak English, and so the conductor went to handle it. I watched as they spoke sternly to each other and then the conductor said “follow me”. He took me to the expensive car with the lounge seats and said “sit”. I did. Then we left the station and no one else bothered me again lol. It was the only time in three years in Japan that someone “stole” my seat and it worked out great in my favor lol.