Desperation on Public Transport

An area to discuss sightings and other observations. No sexual references please, there is the Stronger Interests section for that.
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Brian
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Desperation on Public Transport

Post by Brian »

We've probably all occasionally seen a guy on a bus, train, tram or the like obviously desperate to pee. And maybe we've been that guy ourselves on occasion. Does anyone want to write up any of their sightings and experiences in this area?

Here's just one of mine for now. As a bus driver in my working life (I'm not the only bus driver or former bus driver in this community of course!) I'm obviously on buses a lot, though being the driver does mean i'm less likely to witness what the passengers are up to. But this was my lucky day.

It was a Saturday afternoon, maybe 7 or 8 years ago, and I was driving a line which runs into the main city centre. It was quite busy. At a stop by a sports centre a young guy, probably early 20s, got in. He was wearing ordinary street wear, blue jeans. Now, I don't exactly remember why, but I do know that he had been waiting at that stop a long time. Either I was running late, or the previous bus on the line had not run, one of the two.

The journey time from where I picked him up to the end point in the city centre would be about half an hour.

The guy got a seat in a group of four near the front amongst strangers. Nearly all seats in the bus were occupied.

During the rest of the journey I was obviously concentrating on my task at hand so I wasn't watching him or anything (had no particular reason to either). But there was one incident with him during that half hour. At one point I noticed that the stop light kept going on, so I was having to stop at all the stops, but no-one was getting out of the bus. Usually this means that the passenger by the window in the group of four seats near the front is touching the stop button with his or her knee, not realising that they're doing it, because in that bus model the button has been rather unfortunately placed there. At the third stop where the light had gone on but no-one got out, I turned and looked behind, and sure enough, the guy who had got in at the sports centre was sitting with his blue jeans-clad legs open and one leg pressed against the side where the button was.

I got out of my seat, walked back, and addressed the young guy politely, pointing out the button. He removed his leg obediently but said nothing in reply to me, and I thought he looked rather unhappy, maybe angry. Perhaps he did not appreciate being addressed like that in front of all the other passengers, I thought.

I went back to my place and we carried on. In the city there is one penultimate stop, very busy in the main central square, where nearly everyone gets out. Then the final stop is a bus station a few minutes further on. At the central square stop, as usual, practically everyone left the bus. In my mirror I could see that the young guy in the blue jeans was the only passenger still left in the bus. I shut the doors and set off towards the final bus station.

At that point, in my interior mirror, I could see the young guy get up from his seat and come towards me. I thought: "Oh dear, now he's coming to get his revenge for being spoken to like that in front of everyone else!"

But instead, he said: "Do you know where the nearest toilet is?"

I told him that there was one at the bus station where we were heading. I added: "Well, it's just an outdoor urinal. Is that any use?"

He said "Yes, I need to pee urgently."

And in the next two minutes I was treated to an incredible display of him pacing up and down in the front half of the otherwise empty bus, breathing heavily and panting, obviously in the very last stages of desperation. As we entered the bus station he was right next to be, by the front doors, walking on the spot and making incredible wheezing noises under his breath. I was honestly doing my best for him, but it's a tight bus station and you need to manoeuvre to get round the pillars, and it just takes time. He was obviously barely holding on while I made the tortuous way to the finishing stop.

Well, I got the door opened for him, pointing him in the direction of the green iron urinal which was about 25 metres ahead of us, and watched as he jumped out, waddled initially with his hands between his legs, and then broke into a run for the relief station which fortunately for him was unoccupied.

So as far as I know, he didn't wet himself. But it didn't seem to me that he could have waited a moment longer.
Connor
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Re: Desperation on Public Transport

Post by Connor »

Of course you cannot mention public transport without making some mention of the incident on c2c trains earlier this year where it was apparently so overcrowded that two men wet themselves because the toilets were inaccessible, as reported here (along with many other news sites):

http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/29/trains-we ... s-5651484/

I was once on a train which had no working toilets, and encountered a young guy who was experiencing desperation, that was a fun experience (not for him I don't think!!)
Brian
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Re: Desperation on Public Transport

Post by Brian »

Great news story, Connor. I guess a lot of us will remember discussing that on the old board. And didn't you write a story about it??

I for one would be interested to know more details about the guy you saw in the train with no working toilets. For instance, how did you know he was desperate? And how long did the situation carry on?
Connor
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Re: Desperation on Public Transport

Post by Connor »

This was on a train from Glasgow to Edinburgh, which isn't a huge journey by any means although it was a Glasgow Central train which does take a bit longer - maybe 1 hour 15, 1 hour 20 minutes? It was quite late, I'd say around 11pm so there were fewer trains. I'd got on with a friend, and this guy cam and sat in the carriage near us, not straight away, so I think he'd maybe already been looking for the toilet before he sat down.

The first I was aware of his situation was because he actually asked a member of train staff about the toilets and was told they were all out of order - wasn't a huge train so I think there probably would have only been 2 on board.

He then made some kind of comment along the lines of "this is ridiculous" - not directed to anyone particularly, just obviously venting his frustration audibly. My friend then actually spoke to the guy and asked if everything was okay, and he explained that he'd not gone to the toilet at Central because he was worried about missing the train, but was now stuck because the loos weren't working.

We chatted with him a bit about other things, he was sitting right opposite us. It was clear not long into the journey that he was actually struggling to sit still and at one point he did say something like "I'm f****** bursting here." My friend at one point said back to him something along the lines of "if you don't think about it, you'll be fine."

Later in the journey, nearer to home he was actually then standing by the door doing a bit of a pee pee dance, and again was saying something like "i'm blood desperate," something like that. Anyway there were some younger lads, 3 or 4 I think in the same carriage, who in the UK we would call 'chavs' or in Scotland specifically 'neds' and they obviously cottoned on the guy's predicament and were really making fun of him.

Eventually he said something like "F*** i'm gonna pish myself" and at that point I though he was going to loose it but he didn't. He did sit back down though, for a couple of seconds, then went away saying that he was going to look for the train guy again and see if there was anything they could do. If I'd been alone I would have followed him, but being with my friend I couldn't. He didn't return, and as much as I tried to see him when we got off, I didn't glimpse him at all. I always dreamed in my head that maybe he'd stayed on the train because he had had an accident and didn't want people to see, but that's my imagination running wild - I have no idea what his actual fate was :/
Brian
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Re: Desperation on Public Transport

Post by Brian »

Amazing account, Connor!

It's easy to understand how that could have happened - being worried about missing the train, and not realising the possibility that the train's toilets might be out of action. It must have been a pretty exciting journey.

I've not seen anything quite like that before. I once, when I still lived in the UK, witnessed a young guy - early 20s perhaps - get obviously desperate in a train from London to the Midlands in a situation where he had to hold on for a long time, but in this case the train toilets were working. The reason he wasn't using them was because initially he, and a male friend next to him, were busy chatting up two females for ages who were sitting opposite them in the group of seats. And then, when the girls got out at Coventry, a whole load of other males - obviously other friends - immediately crowded into the group of seats with him, blocking him in, to talk in a sexist fashion about the girls. A short time later, on the short stretch in between Coventry and Birmingham (the latter being the lads' destination), the guy obviously decided he couldn't wait any longer and had to fight his way out between his laughing and jeering friends to go to relieve himself.

For my enjoyment, I had been seated in the seats on the other side, it was night-time, and I could easily watch the desperate guy in the reflection of the train windows. While chatting to the girls, he had been wagging his legs frequently and occasionally squeezing his crotch at moments when the girls weren't looking (but I was!). It lasted a long time like that. Clearly he wasn't keen to excuse himself in front of the girls.
Brian
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Re: Desperation on Public Transport

Post by Brian »

I'm not sure if this one counts as "on public transport" because it was actually on a train station, not in a train itself. Like the previous account, it was also when I lived in the UK. It stuck in my mind partly because the guy concerned (and his friend/colleague) were wearing suits.

I was about to board a train at the end of a small branch line (it was in New Brighton, on the Wirral). I knew that this small end-of-line station had no public toilets, though all other stations on that line did have them. The trains had no toilets - they were rickety old things, ancient even for their time (the mid 1980s).

Standing on the platform were two guys, very attractive, in their mid to late twenties wearing neat suits. I guess that they were on their lunch break from office jobs or something. The train was there ready but would not leave for some time. Instead of boarding the train they were both looking up and down the platform for something. I was listening to their conversation and overheard: "Where are they? There must be some here. There must be toilets on a station!"

Then the two of them approached me. Did I know where the toilets were?

I said I didn't know (even though I knew there weren't any!).

One of the guys, wearing a light grey suit, then said to his friend: "I'm bursting!" (It was Merseyside, so he pronounced it "baaaaairsting".) By his tone of voice he was clearly in trouble.

I should have stuck around with them to see what happened. I don't know why I didn't. I've often wondered since then whether they ended up getting in the train with the guy in the grey suit nearly wetting himself, or quite what they did. There really wasn't anywhere for him to "go" around there. Presumably they were due back at their office for the afternoon - I wonder if he may have had to return to work in wet suit trousers.
Connor
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Re: Desperation on Public Transport

Post by Connor »

Some great sightings there Brian! The one I described was probably one of the best sightings I have ever had, especially as I actually talked to the guy. As much as I did enjoy it, I couldn't help feeling sorry for the poor lad, as he was obviously very distressed.
Fred
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Re: Desperation on Public Transport

Post by Fred »

Great sightings! This sort of problem happens more to men because, among other reasons, (1) women are more apt to make use of available toilets when traveling; (2) men are more flexible about where they pee; (3) and men are more likely to drink larger quantities. Due to the vandalism and neglect we see at most public facilities, finding a working toilet when using public transport is chancy at best. A young man's ability to plan ahead isn't fully developed until nearly age 25, so he may well ignore the need to pee until it gets urgent.
Brian
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Re: Desperation on Public Transport

Post by Brian »

@Connor Yes, what you described was an incredible situation. I've been thinking about it quite a bit since you wrote that up for us. ;)

@Fred All very true. It certainly seems to me that desperation on public transport affects young men more than any other group.

Since the board's quiet at the moment I'll write another sighting of my own up (but I'm hoping to read more of other people's in due course!). This is one which I did already post on the old board immediately after I saw it, but it's worth repeating.

A few years ago I was travelling back home from Amsterdam after a day out in the city. It was in the depths of winter, and there was fresh snow on the ground. I intended to go by train, but on arrival at the main station it was clear that no trains were running, I think because of problems caused by the bad weather.

So I made my way through the snow to the bus station to take a (slow) bus. It was very crowded on the bus with people who had taken the same course of action as I had. Furthermore, the bus was having to pick its way through the slippery streets, and the journey took ages.

In all the crowds on the bus I didn't notice anything going on. But when the bus finally - after taking about twice as long as it normally would - arrived at my stop on the edge of the neighbouring city of Haarlem, and I got out of the bus, I was aware of a commotion of some kind amongst a group of young men still in the bus. It was clear from what they were saying that they couldn't understand why one of their group was getting out of the bus when they were supposed to be carrying on into Haarlem. Then I caught one of them saying "Hij moet zeiken!" which means "He's got to piss". I looked back and a guy of around 25-30 years old was getting out of the same doors which I had just used, a tense expression on his face.

The bus doors closed and the bus carried on with the other lads inside but their friend outside with me. He immediately undid his fly and peed for ages against a wall in the snow.

The thing was, it would only have been a few more minutes before the bus would have arrived in Haarlem city centre which was obviously their destination. Clearly the young man had become so desperate on the journey that he had no choice but to get out and let his friends carry on without him.
burstingguys
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Re: Desperation on Public Transport

Post by burstingguys »

@Brian a far more common situation I think than most would imagine. As a commuter with a relatively long journey each day In a city with very few public toilets and rather strict public urination laws, I have enough material for a whole section (will try and add as much as i can to this thread).

What strikes me most is is how the situation only seems to come to the surface at the last possible moment - rarely have i seen gradual desperation building with passengers on trains (guys waiting for the train at 2am are an entirely different story ;) ) and most of the sightings i've had have been men so frantic for a place to go they've turned it into a bit of an unintentional public performance.

I remember one lad around my age (25-ish) on a crowded delayed rush hour train emerging from the back compartments pacing stiffly loudly asking everyone he passed if they knew where the toilets were at the station. His situation was made all the worse by the fact we were parked in the station with the doors still closed. Nobody seemed to know and he was nearly jumping in place by the time we were let onto the platform where I lost him in the rush of delayed commuters off to miss their next train connection.
"I gotta get in there man!"
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