Travel etiquette

[king_pellinor]

Quick quiz:

You arrive in Waterloo on a Wednesay morning. You wait until most people are out of the carriage before standing up, as you have a bag and hat on the parcel shelf and don't want to delay everyone else by getting them. You notice that the seat behind yours is occupied by two people all curled up around each other (terribly sweetly!), apparently fast asleep. Carriage is now empty but for the three of you.

What do you do?

Comments

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Something noisy, such as dropping the bag (assuming it doesn't contain the laptop, three over-ripe bananas, half a dozen eggs and the piece of ancestral porcelain you were taking to Sotheby's).

- Creatrix.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Wake them gently. Concern for the possibility of them missing a connection or an appointment outweighs the usual taboo against physical contact. Of course it's very important to choose the right part of the body to touch. I would suggest the upper arm of the person nearest to you.

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd say wake them. I'd suggest a soft "Excuse me?" before proceeding to physical contact if necessary. If everyone else got off there, it does suggest that the chances are high that they wanted to get off there too. (If the station had been Nowheresville, I'd probably have assumed they knew what they were doing and let them sleep. If Waterloo is the end of the line, then DEFINITELY wake them!) - Neuromancer

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

Cough loudly or tap the window next to them with a loud "end of the line!", then disappear as they start to wake.

(Happened to me a lot in America, living at the end of a Metro line; normally but not always I was the one doing the waking-up. When I was the one who fell asleep, I always appreciated being woken!)

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

I'd cough loudly and say "We're at Waterloo" after that it's their lookout but the train guard or cleaner should come through soon after anyway.

[evilmissbecky.livejournal.com]

I'd make a noise, something to wake them up. And if that didn't work, I would alert an employee, someone on the train or in the station, that there were people still asleep (or possibly dead *g*) in one of the seats.

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe I don't understand the dilemma. If it's the end of the line, why would you NOT wake them?? - Neuromancer

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

I think the same, broadly: they'll need to be woken, so it's better done by m now than by someone else at some vague time in the future (or even not at all, with a risk that they'll end up being taken back to Weymouth).

So for me it wasn't really a dilemma, but the twinge of awkwardness I felt when going to wake them prompted me to ask.

From the responses above, it seems like most people would be very reticent. It's interesting that the general trend seems to be to try noise rather than contact.

By the way, I shook him by the shoulder (he was in the aisle seat, she by the window) until he woke, then left while they were still dazed.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Maybe the cautious ones are afraid that the sleeping passengers are secret ninjas who will leap up and slay them if prodded unexpectedly while fast asleep...?

[chainmailmaiden]

What do you do?

Draw something amusing on their faces and scamper off chuckling in an evil way :-D

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

The sleeping pair were probably Kate Fox and a fellow anthropologist, doing research for Watching the English 2

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Hmm, it's a high-risk strategy, and would lead to some aching bodies from nights spent in train seats - unless they have an alarm clock with them, of course.