@Kevin *******
I have had the same. I have had to use the MRT a lot recently and I see many Thais moving their seats when I sit next to them.
Two weeks ago there were 2 empty seats next to me and 4 schoolkids got on,2 girls and 2 boys about 14 or 15. One boy pointed to the seats and said to the girls 'sit down; and one airhead girl said 'farang na glua' (scared of farang or farang scary).
WTF? I didn't bother saying anything because you can't can't fight total ignorance with logical reasoning here. So I spread myself out! :-D