Was I the asshole?

Yes, we were asked at London Zoo by a couple of teachers if we could get out of the way of the ‘London Zoo’ sign so that they could take a picture of it. We had our picnic spread out!! They wanted to put the whole group next to the sign. We did move but I don’t think we would do again on reflection. Talk about entitled!

YANBU I think you might have moved if he'd asked respectfully. I do think that photography has gone mad these days. I am short and often can't see objects of interest because of a sea of arms, iphones and ipads.

It particularly made me sad at Christ Church Oxford recently, I've no clear memory of what we'd seen. It even seems to happens at the theatre lately. It would be nice to be able to contemplate things without feeling under pressure to move.

Yes, it is entirely possible that the hand gesture he made is perfectly acceptable in his culture. Without knowing which culture that is, I have no idea if that's the case.

But why wouldn't you step aside so he could take a picture? It is such a minor inconvenience that I hesitate to call it an inconvenience at all. Although I am a dyed-in-the-wool feminist, I genuinely don't view this interaction as being an example of sexism. The fact that he didn't ask the man to move means nothing. Maybe he thought there was no point in making the request again, after your response.

Although I am a dyed-in-the-wool feminist, I genuinely don't view this interaction as being an example of sexism. The fact that he didn't ask the man to move means nothing.

If he had been polite, I’d have moved. But not when I’m shooed like a stray cat.
YANBU.

Yes, you were the arsehole. Moving away for a few seconds so he could take a picture would have done you no harm, you just wanted to be an arsehole for the sake of it.

If you're going to quote me, you may wish to quote the post in its entirety.

Op, you are wasting an awful lot of mental energy on something totally irrelevant. Should you have moved for the photo? Yes. That is all. Don’t over think it. Not everything in life is something to get riled up about. You are literally shortening your own life span.

He was an asshole but you could have moved!!

I don't think it makes much difference!

I land here after thinking about it. He was rudely shooing a woman away from a popular tourist site that she was enjoying/studying. He notably didn't try to shoo the male tourist who appeared to do the same thing.

Sometimes we don't get to take the pictures we want to take it busy, public spaces. It really is that simple.

If you don't think so, fair play to you. I disagree but I respect your opinion. However, I did specifically indicate why I thought the man's actions can't automatically be ascribed to sexism, and you cut that part out of the quoted post.

Also, photos are taken in fractions of a second. You were being unreasonable.

Oh, my gosh, did it take them an hour to take a photo? Well, then, stand your ground! Less than 30 seconds? You were being unreasonable.

If only they took a fraction of a second!

People and their need to take photos of absolutely everything with no one in shot is getting absolutely exhausting!

See the queues on top of Yr Wyddfa/ Snowdon for example. Preventing actual climbers from getting to just touch the trig (summit).

I might have accommodated him but I agree that his manner of asking would have put me off- and really this whole thing is getting too much!

I think the issue was, they’d have had to pack up their whole picnic to move!

Cameras out during the bows! Just ridiculous.

Remember what you saw in your head!

I don’t mind people taking photos of their view before the play starts review sites as those are helpful, but I feel like the bows are part of the show and like to see them.

ESH. He should have asked politely. You should have moved.

You should have pushed him in!

I had a similar experience with a man trying to pose two women on a bridge and take pictures yelling at people to move on the (crowded) bridge.

It was a major transit route at Alton Towers, the mind boggles at the entitlement.

Don’t be daft: he shooed her! Beyond rude and he deserved to be ignored.

Common decency has been all but obliterated. Would it really be that hard to move away for a matter of seconds? Then again, he could’ve had the decency to ask politely. In either case, common decency & politeness towards others is becoming a thing of the past

All the references to this being a cultural thing are BS, in my opinion. This took place in Europe. To shoo someone away would pretty much be considered universally rude anywhere in Europe.

The OP has later confirmed he looked East Asian, so yeah, probably a cultural thing. But he's not in his own country so he should adapt. Same way that I wouldn't snog my boyfriend in public in Saudi Arabia and I'd wear something conservative if visiting the Vatican. Civilised people adjust their behaviour to the local expectations.

He was rude, OP and I wouldn't have budged, In fact, I'd have settled in for the long haul.

I think it depends on the amount of time you took there. I usually wait a couple of minutes for people to move if I want to take a photo of something. If a person wants to spend a lengthy time in front of a sculpture (which is fine of course) I think it’s nice to step aside for a short time to allow others to take a photo.

YABU - why is it such a big deal to move for 10 seconds? How was your enjoyment affected by moving aside? Loads of people want photos free of people.