Svenskaflicka
Fountain
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2002
- Posts
- 16,142
Going home from work, taking the bus, I got it confirmed that equality is still far, far away from today's reality.
I took a seat, but had to move as the lady sitting behind me reeked of cigarette smoke - which makes my throat behave in an unpleasant way. The thing is that Swedes are very terrotorial. We hate sitting next to other people. In the bus, the seats are placed 2-by-2, which to a Swede means "one for me and one for my bag".
I looked around, and there were people sitting everywhere, with or without their bags next to them. At the back of the bus, however, I found an empty place, and so I sat there.
Everything was peachy keen, until we were almost at our destination, when the bus stewardess came to clean up, and caught me sitting there.
She informed me - 3 times, to be sure that I'd hear it - that I mustn't sit there, because that was the business class section. I had to pay an extra SEK 80:- to be allowed to sit there. I remarked that we were
a) 5 minutes from our destination, and
b) I couldn't sit in the regular section, because I was allergic to cigarette smoke.
The woman infromed that next time, I'd have to pay to sit there, and if I had problems with smoke, I could sit in the allergy section downstairs.
Yeah, right... I'm only allergic to smoke, lady, I wear perfume and I have a cat that shreds! Me sitting there = sure death to the others!
She then pointed at the middle-aged men sitting in the section, pointing out that THEY had paid the extra SEK 80:-, and next time I'd have to do the same, if I wanted to sit there.
That made a lot more sense. Ofcourse they had to charge twice the fare for the business class section, so the fat middle-aged men could feel superior because they could afford to pay such an insanely expensive ticket! And ofcourse, it would ruin their sensation of being upper class if a stinking worker just took a seat there!
No, workers and other POOR bastards belong up front, int he regular class, where they can share seats and pinch their bags down in the narrow space between their legs and the seat in front of them.
The wide seats with the extra space for the legs, is reserved for those who have an ass fat from too many business lunches. There they can sit among their peers, drink the free coffee, read the newspapers, or plug in their laptops to do a little extra work during the trip.
Welcome to Sweden 2005, camrades!
I took a seat, but had to move as the lady sitting behind me reeked of cigarette smoke - which makes my throat behave in an unpleasant way. The thing is that Swedes are very terrotorial. We hate sitting next to other people. In the bus, the seats are placed 2-by-2, which to a Swede means "one for me and one for my bag".
I looked around, and there were people sitting everywhere, with or without their bags next to them. At the back of the bus, however, I found an empty place, and so I sat there.
Everything was peachy keen, until we were almost at our destination, when the bus stewardess came to clean up, and caught me sitting there.
She informed me - 3 times, to be sure that I'd hear it - that I mustn't sit there, because that was the business class section. I had to pay an extra SEK 80:- to be allowed to sit there. I remarked that we were
a) 5 minutes from our destination, and
b) I couldn't sit in the regular section, because I was allergic to cigarette smoke.
The woman infromed that next time, I'd have to pay to sit there, and if I had problems with smoke, I could sit in the allergy section downstairs.
Yeah, right... I'm only allergic to smoke, lady, I wear perfume and I have a cat that shreds! Me sitting there = sure death to the others!
She then pointed at the middle-aged men sitting in the section, pointing out that THEY had paid the extra SEK 80:-, and next time I'd have to do the same, if I wanted to sit there.
That made a lot more sense. Ofcourse they had to charge twice the fare for the business class section, so the fat middle-aged men could feel superior because they could afford to pay such an insanely expensive ticket! And ofcourse, it would ruin their sensation of being upper class if a stinking worker just took a seat there!
No, workers and other POOR bastards belong up front, int he regular class, where they can share seats and pinch their bags down in the narrow space between their legs and the seat in front of them.
The wide seats with the extra space for the legs, is reserved for those who have an ass fat from too many business lunches. There they can sit among their peers, drink the free coffee, read the newspapers, or plug in their laptops to do a little extra work during the trip.
Welcome to Sweden 2005, camrades!
