Rudeness!

I was riding the commuter rail home the other night and decided to sit close to the door, I'm neurotic and like to have my exit strategy :) Anyway, the seat set up is like on an old train car, one bench facing the other bench without the benefit of one of those tables. There was a woman sitting on the bench facing me, in the seat by the window so I sat kiddy corner to her, not directly across from her. I went to put my various back packs and bags up on the seat next to me and realized that she was storing her stuff there even though the seat right next to her was open. She definitely saw me sit down and made no move to clear some space for my things. I was seriously tempted to put my things on her bench but didn't want to stoop to her level.

Instead, I put my backpack on the ground (it's been all over the train previously so why not add a new layer of gross to it) but I did put my purse on top of her stuff and adjusted her things slightly to do that. Because of her things and now my purse on that seat, I had to basically sprawl into the aisle becuase her personal belongings were taken up 75% of my seat.

We finally get to her stop, which was unfortunately the one right before mine, and she removes her things. Sort of to make a point, I immediately shuffle over to the inner seat and go to put my things on the bench only to realize that now she was standing in between the seats so I had nowhere to put my legs, and she was resting her stuff where I was sitting a fraction of a second ago. I started putting my things on the seat around her purse and then she finally lifted her bag up, although she still insisted on perching it on top of my things until the train stopped.

Isn't that rude? Who does that? I think all my pet peeves center around people either being oblivious to everyone else, or maybe realizing that other people exist but just feeling their needs are more important. Case in point with this example.