Office Invaders.....
 

Anyone else feel like they are intruding in someones office - particularly on the morning trains?

I notice recently more and more people taking up entire tables with laptops and paperwork and the worst bit is they seem to be a bit miffed at 'sharing' their 'desk space'.

Ignore their miffed looks. Use whatever space you are entitled to...even if that means moving pages etc so you can put your own book / newspaper on the table in front of you. Unless they can show you they paid for more than one seat ticket you are as entitled to the space as they are. I have no time for people who think they are entitled to more space then they are

It does get a bit unreasonable at times, but you do need to consider that a lot of people on the longer commutes can't really manage without getting some work done on the train due to the lack of late evening trains.

From the opposite perspective, I use a laptop on a daily commute from Edgeworthstown to Connolly. There is no problem in fitting a standard 15" laptop onto 1/4 of a table on a 22k so there is rarely any grief. If I need paperwork as well which is rarely, I'll generally clear up at Enfield in the morning where the train starts to get busy.

On a 29k the tables are a bit small for even a laptop and I don't think it unreasonable that whoever gets on the train first gets dibs on the table.

There are a lot of other annoyances on the train such as people putting handbags or carrier bags on tables on any train, half consumed cups of coffee on the table that somebody else has to clear up, people playing music, testing ringtones, drinking cans, smoking in the toilets, screaming children, smelly people, wrong temperature - the list goes on. I think people trying to get a bit of work done is fairly far down the list. My normal response if I see something I can't deal with is to sit somewhere else.

If you start getting pissed off with everything and you are spending 3.5 hours a day on the train you aren't going to stay sane for very long.

It's nothing to get stressed about I agree and I was merely observing that it's on the increase - the miffed looks about sharing desk space especially :)

You're right that trying to have a seat for your bag is much more serious when it comes to our packed commuter trains :mad:

Biggest offenders on this I find are the day trippers who obviously havent had to endure the pain of standing all the way to Maynooth or further. I'm not shy about reefing a bag off a seat if i have to. I've done it before and I'll do it again, no doubt about it. :D

I remember having a 'set to' with a woman going to Carlow on a Friday evening (packed) some years ago (one of the older trains). She had shopping on the seat beside her, when I went to sit opposite her 'she claimed that 'a very big' man was sitting there and there would not be room for two people, by the way I'm not large. What a waggon, I don't blame you reefing bags off seats.

There used to be a group of 4 people travelling to Maynooth on the 1805 from Connolly who took turns reserving a group of 4 seats. That was a bit annoying

There's no right to tell someone that a seat is taken, nor to occupy seats with bags, books, etc. (And I assume you're not referring to reserving a seat online, because the online system won't accept a reservation from Connolly to Maynooth.) You're within your rights to sit on any seat that's available.

I agree with James on the lack of room on the 29k, I have a small netbook which I use and I place it on my lap instead of the table because usually there is no room, if you're sitting on the outside it's worse as the so called table gets even smaller!

I am one of those commuters that has to work on the train due to the ridiculous timetable in place from Gorey to Connolly.

I think I know of the group you refer to but lately have only seen 2 of them - maybe they had a falling out over losing seats :D