You're in my seat! The confrontation went viral after a woman brazenly sat in an reserved seat. Photo / TikTok; Mr Boris Becker
“Excuse me, you’re in my seat!”
Rail travellers have been driven loco by a video of this familiar impasse.
A passenger has documented a tense train standoff between himself and a shameless passenger, who was found occupying his reserved seat.
“Sorry, I pay for my place” reads the passive aggressive caption on the Tiktok belonging to @mr_boris_becker.
The confrontation which appears to take place in a French rail carriage belonging to SNCF has been viewed almost 9 million times.
“My place is 103″ is his opening gambit.
Sat in the passenger’s reserved seat, the woman lets out an awkward laugh.
“There’s another place available,” the passenger brazenly responds, after shooting a glance at her friend sat next to her.
“My place is 103,” he repeats “I need my place”
“Desolee, si désagréable,” the TikToker apologies, in self-effacing French, but continues to film the encounter.
At this point another passenger, across the cabin, comes to the defence of the woman.
“Can’t you see she’s sat next to her friend?”
“But it’s my place!” he says, exasperated.
Taking her luggage, labouring the gesture, eventually the woman moves from the seat.
“I give you your place,” she says.
Although the 30 second clip showed a polite disagreement between passengers, genially resolved, it struck a chord with viewers online.
The tiny carriage drama was seething with passive aggressivity and social cues that enraged the TikTok comments section.
“The audacity of the other woman interrupting even tho he’s right wow,” wrote one dumbfounded viewer.
“Asking him to find another seat while she’s sitting in the seat that he paid for!” chimed in another.
“Why are people backing her up?” read one comment, in disbelief that anyone could side with the seated interloper.
Unfortunately for the woman in 103, TikToker @mr_boris_becker revells in awkward situations. His TikTok account is full of videos observing the social conventions of the French transport system.
Another video shows the TikToker making a “fake phone call” in the quiet compartment of a Parisian train. The amusement of watching passengers, trying to hush the TikToker, while not raising their voice, has earned the video millions of views.
Clearly the woman had picked the wrong reserved seat to poach. Other Ticktock
This video is the latest that continues a saga on the etiquette of seat swapping.
Earlier this year a woman took to TikTok to share rage about a passenger trying to cajole a woman who spoke little English into swapping seats.
Leaping to the defence of the woman she pretended they were travelling together.
“Why don’t you go back to row 26, where you belong? Because if you wanted to sit next to your friend, you should have booked a ticket next to her!” she said. “Not 20 rows behind.”
Make your travel plans more exciting with these experiences.