JaneC
13-04-10, 14:17
Please do not read this if you are offended by the idea of a woman swearing.
I am not an assertive person and avoid confrontation but last night i did something that was possibly slightly rash but made me feel so much better about myself for standing up for myself and not just walking away feeling sick that I had just taken it all.
My train journey home from work last night (talking about 11.30pm so not many people about) was very unpleasant, stuck in a carriage with three of the most vile-mouthed yobs ever to land on this earth.
It started with some sexual comments about me as I walked past them to sit down and continued throughout a 45-minute journey, constant shouting and swearing, talking down women, more sexual stuff, although not specifically directed at me.
I could have moved but knew that would only attract their attention and felt there was a real possibility they would just follow. No far from where they'd said they were getting off, the three of them moved to the next carriage. The one who said the sexual stuff when I got on the train then came back and said to me, nice as pie, "Excuse me, did you see where those other two guys went?"
So I let rip. "After all that you have the cheek to ask me where your mates went?" blah blah, throwing a wee taste of their own medicine - I may look like Mrs Fat Middle-aged Housewife but I regularly go to football matches and work in an industry where people swear all the time so I sure know how to give as good as I get.
Suddenly he wasn't the big man any more, on his own and confronted by a crazy lady :madness: with a mouth not nearly as dirty as his but not bad and he slunk away quietly muttering "loser".
One of his pals then reappeared but by then we were at their station - I had timed my "attack" very carefully.
Sorry for the long post but wanted to get this off my chest. Of course, I am not recommending anyone acts in a way that could put them in danger but I feel some pride in myself today.
I always finish work around 10-11pm and regularly feel threatened of intimidated on the train (which of course makes me feel panicky) but while there are always cops about the station, once you set off you are on your own. People shouldn't have to put up with this but that's the way it is. However, I feel like I achieved a small victory for decent folk last night :yahoo:
Thanks for reading, maybe nmp isn't even the place for this but it was the only one I could think of where people might understand :flowers:
I am not an assertive person and avoid confrontation but last night i did something that was possibly slightly rash but made me feel so much better about myself for standing up for myself and not just walking away feeling sick that I had just taken it all.
My train journey home from work last night (talking about 11.30pm so not many people about) was very unpleasant, stuck in a carriage with three of the most vile-mouthed yobs ever to land on this earth.
It started with some sexual comments about me as I walked past them to sit down and continued throughout a 45-minute journey, constant shouting and swearing, talking down women, more sexual stuff, although not specifically directed at me.
I could have moved but knew that would only attract their attention and felt there was a real possibility they would just follow. No far from where they'd said they were getting off, the three of them moved to the next carriage. The one who said the sexual stuff when I got on the train then came back and said to me, nice as pie, "Excuse me, did you see where those other two guys went?"
So I let rip. "After all that you have the cheek to ask me where your mates went?" blah blah, throwing a wee taste of their own medicine - I may look like Mrs Fat Middle-aged Housewife but I regularly go to football matches and work in an industry where people swear all the time so I sure know how to give as good as I get.
Suddenly he wasn't the big man any more, on his own and confronted by a crazy lady :madness: with a mouth not nearly as dirty as his but not bad and he slunk away quietly muttering "loser".
One of his pals then reappeared but by then we were at their station - I had timed my "attack" very carefully.
Sorry for the long post but wanted to get this off my chest. Of course, I am not recommending anyone acts in a way that could put them in danger but I feel some pride in myself today.
I always finish work around 10-11pm and regularly feel threatened of intimidated on the train (which of course makes me feel panicky) but while there are always cops about the station, once you set off you are on your own. People shouldn't have to put up with this but that's the way it is. However, I feel like I achieved a small victory for decent folk last night :yahoo:
Thanks for reading, maybe nmp isn't even the place for this but it was the only one I could think of where people might understand :flowers: