Only Man on Train Refuses to Carry Old Lady's 8 Bags despite Realizing She Can Not Do It Alone

A young man commuting on a train refuses to carry a helpless old lady’s hefty baggage despite realizing he’s the only man on board.

Should young people always be obliged to help the elderly during a time of need? Well, that’s the dilemma Reddit user KodeineKid99, a 23-year-old healthcare company employee, struggled with while commuting on a train in an American metropolitan city.

Posting to Reddit’s popular forum where people seek justice for their bad behavior, the guy thought the people online would help him unravel his interesting plight.

The Original Poster (OP) took the train to and from work daily. He didn’t have a car, and commuting by train was overall cheaper.

During these train rides, he’d listen to music as he didn’t like to talk to the people on board, mostly as it would be an early morning commute.

As a software engineer for a healthcare company in the city, OP always made sure he never messed up with his punctuality.

During one instance, the guy had an important meeting with a client in a different time zone for his long-awaited project. His deadline almost neared for this assignment which he couldn’t afford to skip for any reason. OP was hellbent to reach the office on time and hurried to the station.

Just as he boarded the train, an old lady and a young man carrying over eight heavy bags got on the train. After assembling all the hefty bags around the woman who made herself comfortable on the seat, the man got off.

OP plugged in his earphones, and while most of the ride went smoothly, he could hear the old lady talk loudly. Her bellowing tone overlapped the music.

The woman said she needed to go to a bank near a specific station and would require someone to carry her bags to the bank.

The entire train ride wasn’t short of an early morning nightmare for OP.

The people immediately stared at OP since he was the only man on the train. The others were middle-aged women and those beyond that.

The guy knew that the bank the woman mentioned was a 15-minute walk away from the station. He estimated it would take around 30 minutes at the old lady’s speed.

OP wanted to escape those helpless stares at him and politely refused, explaining he had an important meeting and couldn’t afford to be late.

He felt that the people around threw daggers at him through their eyes. The train driver who overheard the conversation said he would only wait for five minutes for someone before he left the station.

OP then realized that if he offered to help the old woman, he’d have to walk her to the bank at her speed, rush to the station, and wait for the next train, which could take a while.

The woman then made a scene saying how people like him have no regard or respect for their elders. OP kept calm while another woman offered to help the old lady.

The station arrived, and even five minutes later, OP saw the two women hadn’t gotten down the ramp when the train departed. The guy thought he would have certainly missed the meeting if he’d volunteered to help the woman.

The entire train ride wasn’t short of an early morning nightmare for OP. His fellow passengers frowned and whispered about him. Since most of the people on board looked familiar as he’d see them every day while commuting, he felt awkward about the situation.

After his conversation with his mom about the encounter on the train backfired, he turned to the internet for some guidance and asked if he was “wrong for not carrying an old lady’s bag on the train.”

A majority of Redditors thought OP wasn’t wrong for prioritizing his job over the helplessness of his fellow passenger. User Smudgikins voiced a strong opinion in OP’s favor, saying:

“Glare right back. You’re not a packhorse. This is wrong on so many levels. As an old lady myself, this makes me furious.”

The person then stated that the old lady on the train should’ve made an alternate arrangement to commute with her baggage.

As the discussion heated up, more people flocked to the comments section to vote in OP’s favor while a few others vented their frustrations too.

“They expected him to get off at a stop that wasn’t his stop, take an at least 15-minute walk carrying a ton of bags, then take a whole new train,” Redditor Double-Dutcher said, adding:

“Even if he had nowhere to go, that is ridiculous and senseless… Asking someone to do this is way more than just a courtesy.”

Meanwhile, some stressed that OP had an important work commitment and took the right stand by refusing to help the woman.

Eventually, the guy had a minor update on his meeting. “And for those who care about the meeting... it went very well,” OP concluded.

Questions to Ponder:

Do you think people on the train were being unfair expecting OP to help just because he was the only man aboard?

OP claimed everyone stared at him when the old woman said she would need someone to carry her baggage for her as he was the only man on the train. However, the people who responded to his narrative with supportive comments argued that the women on the train could have offered help if they were so concerned. Do you think it was unfair to expect OP to help just because he was a man?

Did OP’s refusal to help the old lady seem disrespectful?

Many people who turned supporters for OP said that helping others just because they demand it isn’t respect. Instead, it’s treating them with dignity and modestly refusing to help as OP did. Some even said that OP didn’t do anything wrong for not helping the woman who, in their opinion, felt entitled considering her age. Do you think OP's refusal was a sign of disrespect?

If you liked this story, here’s how a bus driver kicks an old lady into the cold and freezes after finding her framed photo in his fiancée’s house.

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