CB, need to rant before my blood pressure spike until go hospital.
So today off-peak hour, around 2:30pm, I board the EW line at Bugis. The train is damn empty, like literally maybe 5 or 6 people in the whole carriage. Plenty of empty seats, can lie down like a bed if I want. So I just walk in, sit down at a random normal seat (not even the reserved seat ah, normal middle seat), take out my phone, and put in my AirPods.
Next station, City Hall. One random Uncle around 60+ years old boards. He looks left, looks right, whole carriage open like North Korea airspace. Out of ALL the seats available, this uncle decides to walk straight towards me.
I thought he just wanted to sit next to me. Fine lor, Singaporeans like to crowd even when got space, standard behavior. But NO. He stands DIRECTLY in front of me, stare at me like I stole his CPF.
I take off one side of my AirPod and go, “Yes, uncle?”
He point down at my seat with his umbrella and say, “Eh youngster, this one my seat.”
I literally looked around the empty carriage, then look back at him. I say, “Uncle, train empty what, got so many seats?”
He immediately trigger. Start shouting in Hokkien/Singlish mix: “I always sit this exact seat everyday at this timing! You sit somewhere else! No respect for elders!”
EH HELLO??? Your name written on the seat is it?! You pay LTA special monthly subscription for Seat 4B in Carriage 3 is it?!
I was so stunned by the sheer delusion that I didn’t even know how to react. I just sat there staring at him. He keep tutting, shaking his head, and mumbled “jiak liao bee generation” under his breath before walking literally TWO METERS away to sit on another completely identical seat, still glaring at me the whole way to Outram.
Honestly, what is wrong with some of these MRT uncles ah? The main character syndrome is off the charts. Next time I bring masking tape and tape off the seat for him, ask him pay rent.
TL;DR: Uncle claimed “ownership” of a random unreserved MRT seat in a 90% empty train because he “always sits there”, called me disrespectful for existing.