Sponging off!

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That's a person who never makes any effort to contribute or help. Rather, that are there looking for someone else to give them a free hand out all the time.

For example, last week, I took a ride share service because my bus was running really late. When the vehicle came, a man, who otherwise rides the bus and ignores me, asked me if he could get a ride with me to the train station. I looked at him and said "No" firmly and got into the vehicle.

What is the significance of the fact that he normally ignores you? Is it customary, where you are, for most bus passengers to get into conversations with all or most other bus passengers?

(That's definitely not customary here in NYC. Here, it's customary for bus passengers to ignore each other unless someone asks for help with directions.)


Did you say "No" before he even had a chance to offer to pay his share?

If so, then it wasn't necessarily "sponging." I certainly would not conclude that he would have been unwilling to pay his share based simply on the fact that he normally ignored you. My response to him would likely have been, "Sure, if you're willing to pay $____."

The fact that she would be riding in the back seat with a strange man might also be a factor. A girl has to be careful. I wonder if he even offered to pay half of the fare.

However, the situation reminds me of when I bought my first car. Neighbors and fellow students who never acknowledged me before suddenly started showing up at my door to ask me to give them rides. Not one of them ever offered to pay for gas. It did not take long to realized why I was suddenly so popular.

They just wanted to sponge off of me for free transportation.

Wasn’t there sometime ago that you had decided that going to pubs for social life. Wasn’t good for you ?
Although finding social life can be difficult in some places.

50 years ago. Today, not so much.