My daughter and I had two middle berths. On the aisle berth there was a girl in her early twenties maybe, sitting by the window. Another man in the opposite window.
She stepped down, and when she came back, there was a man on her seat, and he told her to adjust in the middle between him and the other man. She protested and he gave her the logic that the aisle seat was for RAC and three needed to adjust.
She protested saying that the corner seat was hers, and that she was not comfortable pushed to the middle. The man tried to shout her down.
Clear bullying.
The other travellers, men, were indifferent to her plight.
I asked her then if her seat was reserved, and she showed me her ticket. It was a reserved ticket. Then I raised my voice and told the man that he and the other RAC Holder needed to share a set, and that the girl was entitled to hers. He tried bluster, saying she can move up. It needed some more raising of voice before he returned the seat to the girl. Once calling the police was mentioned he slunk away.
A bully and a coward. They both usually go together.
As for the other silent male spectators, I will not list the adjectives that cone to mind.
A simple incident. One that us repeated in every turning on this land. It does not even qualify as sexual harassment. And yet it all starts here ...
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