Woman applauded for calling out 'creepy' stranger who sat next to her on empty bus

A woman has been commended after standing up for herself against a "creepy" stranger who attempted to sit next to her and strike up a conversation on an empty bus.

Footage taken by another passenger shows the woman standing her ground against the stranger, who could be seen clutching a large bottle in his hand as he stood in the aisle, arguing back. It's clear from the video that the bus is sparsely populated, and there would have been plenty of other places for him to sit.

The man in question could be heard quizzing the woman about what exactly was so wrong with him sitting next to her, to which she replied, "it's weird".

The woman stood her ground (@ceowally/TikTok)

She called him out, but he continued to argue with her (@ceowally/TikTok)

At this point, the stranger appeared to become infuriated, telling her; "Shut up, what does it matter if I don't know you?"

Standing firm, she continued: "I don't come on the bus to start dating someone. I'm on the bus to get from A to B."

He pressed her further, and when she reiterated that his behaviour was unacceptable, he told her once again to "shut up", telling her, "you're coming at me with some rudeness. You think you are better than anybody else?"

To this, she quipped: "I'm really going to fall in love now. Really selling yourself."

There were plenty of empty seats to choose from (stock photo) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The person filming the altercation then decided to step in, asking: "What's the problem? Why are you being rude to a woman? Why are you being disrespectful?"

Taking issue with this, the man with the bottle hit back: "You've got nothing to do with this, you can shut up as well."

The argument continued, and the driver eventually stopped the bus, asking all passengers to exit the vehicle.

Another passenger stepped in to challenge the man on his behaviour (stock photo) (Getty Images)

The clip has since clocked up more than eight million views and counting on TikTok, and many applauded the woman for sticking up for herself in what was an uncomfortable situation.

One person commented: "Ya'll don't understand as a woman how uncomfortable and scary this was for her so I'm so glad she stood up for herself and put him on blast."

Another wrote: "You respect people's personal space, the only time it's acceptable is it's a full bus. No manners, glad she didn't take him seriously."

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