To have not backed down on this shit of a man on the train?

I had a tall man on the tube gently rest their broadsheet on my head (I’m short, we were both standing). It did not rest there for long!

It’s more usually on buses, but me too, and I never understand why so many people are apparently reluctant to ask people to move their bags - or to move up, if they’re sitting in an aisle seat with the window one vacant.
I get the odd eye roll, but nobody’s ever refused, or been abusive.

Around here, I’m afraid to say it’s almost always young women who plonk themselves in the first available, I.e. the elderly/disabled seats. And no, before anyone says it, I don’t believe they can possibly all have hidden disabilities.

Not at all. I do the exact same thing to all manspreaders (or people wearing their backpacks on their backs when it is standing room only, or people playing music full blast) on public transport.

I have done this hundreds of times over the years. 95% of the time, they do what I ask them to do - with a sigh sometimes.

Otherwise, I have been called various names (absolutely fine), had the odd altercation (adrenaline pumping but I hold my own and tell them exactly how rude they are being) and no real progress, and once had a man play elbow wars with me. That was the worst.

I speak up not only to solve the issue itself but because I hope if enough of us do it, offenders will gradually feel too embarrassed to do it in the future or other people will feel they can speak up themselves having seen this generally cheery redheaded woman (me) do it with some success and where nothing too bad happens to her.

i remember the days of commuting with people reading broadsheets, now that was annoying!

@AtlasPine @NeelyOHara please share how you think he was sitting, it’s bugging me. Maybe with one foot over the knee?

You see this hogging of seats with bags a lot commuting to London. I just say “please move your bag” and don’t smile or engage. I’ve never had anyone refuse and they know they’re being unreasonable.

If I say it to a woman, they’re always sheepishly apologetic - I do think women use it as a way to repel weirdos with personal space issues.

This, it’s not the OP who is coming over as odd. I had no trouble understanding what she described.

It’s not that hard to picture how he would have been sitting. OP has a right to feel a bit exasperated by this line of detailed questioning with the subtext that she is somehow making it up.

I am SO going to tell the next feet on seat wankbadger to move his filthy trotters. A perfect foot insult.

Exactly. People wanted clarification and she was unnecessarily aggressive and rude, and gave none.

I suspect the reality of the incident is significantly different to what we've been told.

If I'm not on a crowded train i put my bag on the seat next to me to stop creepy /smelly /man spreading males sitting next to me, but i will always move it for a woman or child without being asked, of course - men are such a hazard to lone women on public transport unfortunately.

Wow you’re rude. They are not questioning the story just how he was sitting with his feet up if next to you. Was he crossed legged? Did he have his back to the window and feet spread out…. Maybe it’s you who is a bit “doh”… (horribly rude term) I had sympathy for you until I read that. Maybe you’re someone who just likes a fight and could get in a fight in an empty room.

If he didn’t want it out of his sight he should have stood with it!

Or taken the aisle seat with the bag in the aisle if it wasn’t too full.

I do too - I will put it down as I sit down.

I have also stuck hard objects in between the seats as a demarcation when there’s no arm rest (as in I’ll be sitting in one seat and knowing the train is going to fill up, put something in between the two seats to make it clear).

Putting shoes on seats is gross. And people who keep bags on seats when train is busy give me rage; they always do announcements telling people not to do it but people really shouldn't have to be told not to be inconsiderate aresholes.

Welcome to the world of older man twatdom and bullying. They unfortunately get worse with age.
Sad gets.

Good for you for standing up tor yourself.
👍

Good for telling him I would of too. Can't stand seeing feet on seats.

This - recently on a train it was 2 women taking 2 seats when l asked one of them to move her bag so that l can sit l got daggers.

Sadly I’ve come to realise that there’s a lot of people like this in the world. The same people who use parent and child spaces, drop litter in the street, drive recklessly and are just generally rude and selfish.
They seem to enjoy pissing the rest of us off.
Hope you have a lovely weekend and karma gets him x

It's a pity hat pins are out of vogue.

Wouldn't she have just said he was doing that?

I thought she meant he moved to sit opposite and put his feet up.

The fact she hasn't clarified with two extra posts, and just repeated herself, is a little bit odd.

Clearly, he twisted sideways whilst op was gone..it's very easy to do. Wrong, and ill mannered, but easy.

I was on a longish journey on a packed train a few years ago. Friend and I got a drink from the on board shop and walked through a couple of carriages- told friend to grab a seat I spotted as I had seen one further down. Guy had his big suitcase wedged onto the seat next to him, headphones in, using his laptop. I politely asked him to move the case so I could sit down and he said " I can't I don't want it out of my sight". I said "so you're not going to move it?". He completely ignored me.

I walked back to the shop to ask the lovely guy working there how to find the guard as someone was refusing to move his bag. Lovely (very tall/imposing!) guy said "I can help with that". Stalked ahead of me to cunty bollocks "have you got a ticket for that case sir? No? Move it now so this lady can sit down".

Pathetic bloke bleating that he would have moved it had I asked. Me - " No you wouldn't have. Stop lying". My friend laughing and I proceed to sit down and text her what a twat he is.

Absolute prick

No YANBU. I absolutely detest rude obnoxious people like this, putting his filthy trotters up on a seat and having the audacity to swear at you. What a pr*ck.

Well done on the bags front
However I was already quite disabled by my twenties but it would not have been obvious to a causal observer - I would have looked fit and healthy to the untrained eye. The priority seats are for disabled and the elderly