Note: we are republishing this story which originally made the news in November 2018.
A pre-teen boy on the New York City subway learned a valuable lesson about manners when he refused to give up two seats and had to be taught a lesson by a stranger. The incident occurred in November when the boy, who was leaning against his mother, decided to stretch out and place his feet on the seat in front of him. Even when three adults wanted to sit, the boy refused to move.
One man, who had clearly had enough, decided to take matters into his own hands and sat directly on the boy’s feet. Last fall, a woman named Isabel Kim captured the incident in a flipbook of pictures and shared them on Twitter.
The boy’s behavior was not only rude but also a violation of subway etiquette. Seats on the subway are not individually sectioned, but it’s generally understood that three people should fit on each bench. The entitled little boy, however, was taking up two seats and seemed unconcerned by his surroundings.
When the man sat down on the boy’s feet, he scrambled quickly to move his legs, but one still ended up under the man’s body. In the last picture, the boy is shooting the man a dirty look, clearly under the impression that he was right and the man was out of line for sitting on him.
Isabel also shared a video of what happened next, and in the clip, the boy’s mother is yelling at him. However, she seems to be blaming the boy, Joe, for making her miss her stop, not for his rude behavior.
The man has received applause from hundreds of people, with over 136,000 likes on the post. “Not all heroes wear capes,” wrote one person, while another tweeted: “He has 0 s***s left to give, and he is my blood brother.” “Subway etiquette is best taught nonverbally with force,” added another. “The subway is the great equalizer,” said yet another.
To sum up, it’s clear that some kids don’t learn good manners from their parents and may have to learn them the hard way from strangers, as demonstrated in this incident. The man who sat on the boy’s feet may not have worn a cape, but he was a hero in the eyes of many subway passengers who were tired of the boy’s entitled behavior. The incident is a reminder that we should all be mindful of our actions in public spaces and be considerate of those around us.
Sources: New York Post
