Old white dudes on a train

So I am on a train going to my parents for Christmas.

I have massive, incapacitating menstrual cramps at the moment. I’m not proud. Or tired, in the words of the great Arlo Guthrie.

So I took a seat in the row closest to the bathroom, because I literally could not stand to wait for the toilet.

Another younger woman came to wait for the bathroom, and I politely told her that I was waiting.

The man sitting next to me immediately started telling me that if I wanted to use the bathroom, I couldn’t sit down, I had to stand up and wait for it.

(It’s worth noting that he was not only white but very Anglo-white, and based on the phone conversations I overheard, was also straight and kind of a sexist asshole to his teenaged daughter.)

The other woman waiting for the bathroom, on the other hand, got it, without me having to explain myself, and told me as soon as the bathroom was vacated.

The man was still being an asshole on my way in.

Okay, I think, okay, maybe he just doesn’t get it. I explain when I sit down that I’m very swollen and experiencing a lot of inflammation and simply can’t stand up to wait for the bathroom.

So he decided to CONTINUE BITCHING ME OUT and tells me that I have no right to expect people to let me take the bathroom ahead of them.

I told him I didn’t expect them to, but I told the woman ahead. I didn’t demand she let me in ahead, she was very nice to do that, but I really couldn’t stand on line.

He told me that if I couldn’t stand on live, I should wear a sign alerting everyone to my condition.

I told him that was ridiculous and asked him if he expected disabled people to wear signs too.

Cue lecture about how I was an entitled bitch and yes anyone who expects special treatment should wear a sign.

So I sort of told him I was sorry he was suffering from straight white man syndrome.

That was when he called me a hateful feminist.

I am awaiting my prize.

I told him to stop being an asshole and he just started shouting MERRY CHRISTMAS at me repeatedly like it was a swear word.

(Meanwhile, the other poor woman waiting was primarily a French speaker. Guess which one of us was able to communicate almost fluently with her and which one kept demanding she speak English? It's kind of funny because he just got up and she keeps glaring down the car at him.)

Old white dudes on a train

So I am on a train going to my parents for Christmas.

I have massive, incapacitating menstrual cramps at the moment. I’m not proud. Or tired, in the words of the great Arlo Guthrie.

So I took a seat in the row closest to the bathroom, because I literally could not stand to wait for the toilet.

Another younger woman came to wait for the bathroom, and I politely told her that I was waiting.

The man sitting next to me immediately started telling me that if I wanted to use the bathroom, I couldn’t sit down, I had to stand up and wait for it.

(It’s worth noting that he was not only white but very Anglo-white, and based on the phone conversations I overheard, was also straight and kind of a sexist asshole to his teenaged daughter.)

The other woman waiting for the bathroom, on the other hand, got it, without me having to explain myself, and told me as soon as the bathroom was vacated.

The man was still being an asshole on my way in.

Okay, I think, okay, maybe he just doesn’t get it. I explain when I sit down that I’m very swollen and experiencing a lot of inflammation and simply can’t stand up to wait for the bathroom.

So he decided to CONTINUE BITCHING ME OUT and tells me that I have no right to expect people to let me take the bathroom ahead of them.

I told him I didn’t expect them to, but I told the woman ahead. I didn’t demand she let me in ahead, she was very nice to do that, but I really couldn’t stand on line.

He told me that if I couldn’t stand on live, I should wear a sign alerting everyone to my condition.

I told him that was ridiculous and asked him if he expected disabled people to wear signs too.

Cue lecture about how I was an entitled bitch and yes anyone who expects special treatment should wear a sign.

So I sort of told him I was sorry he was suffering from straight white man syndrome.

That was when he called me a hateful feminist.

I am awaiting my prize.

I told him to stop being an asshole and he just started shouting MERRY CHRISTMAS at me repeatedly like it was a swear word.

(Meanwhile, the other poor woman waiting was primarily a French speaker. Guess which one of us was able to communicate almost fluently with her and which one kept demanding she speak English? It's kind of funny because he just got up and she keeps glaring down the car at him.)