The hardest part about having an invisible sickness or disability is how you can be viewed in public.
Read how a heartless woman disrupts one Redditor’s post-chemo bus ride home for his seat — and how the public reacts.
All the details are below!
I do not care if you have cancer, my child DESERVES your seat!
This encounter happened about 7 months ago.
I do not want to insult your intelligence, because you most likely already know what EM and Me stands for, but I should say that EK in this story stands for embarrassed kid and OG stands for old gentleman (60-some year old guy).
The kid was very polite and sorry, so this story isn’t about him. Also, I’m translating this into English, so bear with me.
A little backstory: About a year ago, I was diagnosed with a cancer of the nasal cavity (Stage 2). The tumor was quite large, but thankfully benign.
To get it removed, I first had to undergo aggressive chemotherapy to make it smaller.
Thanks to the chemo, I had severe alopecia (hair loss), which made most of my hair and even eyebrows and eyelashes fall out.
Oh, that’s horrible. Chemotherapy is so taxing on the body, too.
At some point I had to go bald, but I wore a wig, because I didn’t want to look like a historically awful political party member that rhymes with Yahtzee.
I’m 6’4″ and pretty muscular, so I thought people would assume.
So once, after a long chemo session in the hospital, I took the bus home.
There’s only one bus that goes from the hospital to where I live, so I took that one only to see it was absolutely packed.
I felt awful thanks to the chemo, so I asked a middle-aged dude to let me sit.
He was very understanding and gave me his spot without complaining (if you’re reading this, thanks bro).
It’s nice to know there are generous people like that around.
Two stops later, enter EM, a lovely whale with an “I demand a parlay with the CEO” haircut and a 12-some year old kid.
It took her roughly five seconds to see the bus was packed, start looking for a free seat, spot me and start marching (or, in her case, trying to fit in the aisle between the seats while shoving others aside) to me.
When I saw her, I knew I was screwed.
She then stood next to me and decided to talk to me.
This is the conversation that followed:
EM: Hey, could you let my kid sit down?
Me: You mean me?
EM: Who else?
Me: Oh, I’m sorry, but I’m on my way from the hospital and —
EM: (cutting me off) So are we (nonsense, the stop was a few kilometres away from the hospital), my boy just broke his leg and we’re coming straight from the ER (her kid was standing next to her, without any support, clearly embarrassed.)
Me: He’s standing next to you completely fine
EM: Look here, BOY (I am 21 YO), my kid DESERVES to sit down
Does the kid even want to sit down?? He doesn’t seem to care.
Me: Look madam, I’m sorry, but I just got back from a chemo session in the hospital, and I need to sit down and rest. (I then moved my wig a bit to let her see my bald head.)
EM then straight up started yelling in my face.
EM: STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND GET OFF THE ******* SEAT YOU PIECE OF ****!!!
At this point, I was baffled. I didn’t know what to say; the kid was trying to make his mother stop, and we had the attention of the whole bus.
This went from 0-100 so fast.
She then grabbed me and tried to yank me from my seat. I held on tight and thankfully didn’t fall off.
Now, enter OG, my saviour.
OG: WILL YOU SHUT UP?!?
EM: WHO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE TALKING TO?!?
OG: (with ice-cold voice) Stop assaulting other passengers or I will be forced to step in. Also, everybody can see that he has cancer.
She didn’t know?! How can you not tell…
EM: NO, HE’S JUST A ****.
OG: He’s got NO EYEBROWS YOU ****!
Wow, he really had to spell it out for her, didn’t he?
Seems like that REALLY offended EM, because she spun around on the spot and threw a falcon punch in OG’s face.
I was shocked and in disbelief, the whole bus was flabbergasted, and the kid probably wished he’d never been born.
OG then said something unbelievable and a golden, sweet karma moment followed.
OG: Ok, that does it. Harassing passengers on the bus, physical assault against a passenger, and now assaulting an officer. You’re in deep trouble, lady.
OG then pulled out a badge and told her to stay where she was.
Then he pulled out his phone, called someone and told her she was being arrested.
I’m sorry, what are the chances?!
I couldn’t believe it, OG was a bloody cop.
At this point, EM was as white as a wall.
The bus had just come to a stop, so she decided she’d make a run for it, but other passengers blocked her way (she then also got charged with resisting arrest thanks to this).
Three stops later, a police car was waiting for the EM and EK.
EK told me he was sorry for his mother’s behaviour and I felt really sorry for the kid (he wasn’t a bad child, but his mother was a hellspawn).
That’s so sad. This kid shouldn’t have to apologize on his mother’s behalf.
OG then talked to me and asked me if I wanted to press charges (to which I gladly said yes), took a statement, and thankfully was kind enough to let me solve everything on the phone, so I didn’t have to come to the police station for questioning.
In the end, EM got some jail time (I think it was a few months) and some community service.
I, in return, got a good story to tell and the sweet taste of instant karma.
Right now, I’m riding the same bus home, as I just got back home from the hospital after a checkup, which reminded me of this.
It is quite a memorable tale.
A friend, who’s sitting next to me, told me I should post it here. He, as much as myself, also couldn’t believe that such people existed, but it seems I proved it to him.
I should also note that the surgery went well. I was declared cancer-free in November, and my hair is slowly returning.
Also, I don’t need to wear a wig anymore.
Well, that’s a happy ending to an otherwise disturbing tale. B
ut what does Reddit think?
Firstly, congrats are in order.
Next, Redditors noted the kid involved.
Commenters also mentioned how great his storytelling abilities are.
And, of course, many echoed that this woman is the worst kind of person.
This woman was in the wrong for demanding this man’s seat.
Her rude behavior got her the consequences she deserved.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.