I surprised myself at how cross I felt when I changed trains on my way home and saw this guy with his feet plonked on the seat opposite him. “He’s not a kid any more!” I thought to myself. “So why’s he doing that?!”
I suppose it’s partly because it’s actually fairly rare to see this kind of behaviour now, particularly on a busy commuter train when empty seats on which you might have the opportunity to place your Size Nines are few and far between.
But I think it was mainly what it told everyone else about his attitude that really got my goat. It shouted “I don’t care about anyone else except me!” And that kind of selfishness is always ugly. When you see it in a kid it’s kind of understandable. Or at least we can make allowances. But in an adult? Grrrr!
Being a reserved (and cowardly) Brit, obviously I said nothing. So for all he knew, I was as unbovered as him.