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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Short people problems!

284 replies

WibblyWobblyHead · 14/04/2015 10:15

Why oh why do almost every clothes shop put short length jeans on the top shelf/hangers? Where's the sense in that?! Confused

What other short people problems really annoy you?

OP posts:
Aridane · 14/04/2015 15:32

  1. not being able to use a big trolley at the supermarket

  2. standing on ledge in order to reach top shelf at supermarket (don't like to do the I'm so little please help me stuff to random members of the public)

  3. seatbelt on neck

  4. not reaching the overhead hanger things in the tube (well, not without athelticism and stretching) - so, no, I can't really move further down inside unless I can hold on to a fellow passenger

  5. standing on own seat in plane to reach overhead locker (not a problem though as always go for aisle seat)

  6. meetings in plush board rooms where the chairs are too low / the tables too high, designed for 6' executives (end up sitting with my legs tucked under me to give myself a boost)

RandomMess · 14/04/2015 15:40

I once called told off for using the supermarket's kick stool, that I should ask for help. I think I swore and asked if they were going to provide me with a personal shopper each week... I was hugely pregnant at the time which of course makes your arms even shorter.

Packing at the supermarket really hurts my arms by the end as I'm lifting all the stuff up to go into the jute bags and sometimes I can't reach things that don't make it to the end.

Seems to me that even duo boots don't realise that most people with size 3 feet tend to me short and alter the height shape of the knee high leg bit accordingly!

Also knickers - think my quest for comfy knickers is in part because I've got a short torso/just the wrong shape for both ladies and girls' knickers... Life was easier pre-kids when I was a size 6-8 clothes are nightmare now I'm truly apple shaped and a 10-12. Oh that other complaint that gaining a stone in weight = 2 dress sizes Sad

RandomMess · 14/04/2015 15:41

Footstool in current office isn't high enough Blush

VenusRising · 14/04/2015 16:09

The thing I suppose to remember is that the world doesn't fit us and not to take it personally.

I used to get quite wound up at having to take up every pair of trousers and every top/ sleeves, and also the people who try and talk over you and walk too quickly.

I suppose I've become a lot more vocal, but also a lot more laid back about things.... Except fixed showed heads 8' up in the women's showers at the pool.....why fgs, most women aren't that tall, and want a lower shower head to rinse their longer hair and the hair of their children properly.

Actually scrap that about being laid back Blush I am very vocal and quite stroppy about giant, outsize men installing too high kitchens, mirrors, basins, showers and workstations.

I wear platform wedges a lot to give myself a few extra inches, but I feel like I'm on stilts.

I regulary beep the horn getting in and out as have mahoosive norkage too.

Putting the Easter eggs "up" out of the way of the dcs my DH unwittingly put them out of my reach too! Shock They tell me if my roots are showing now.

IssyStark · 14/04/2015 16:11

Random so with you on 7lbs=a dress size.

Bloody annoying when added to the fact that being a shortarse at 4'10 and a half, my daily calorific needs are approx 1500cal which would be a pretty good diet for normal height women, so I put on weight at the drop of a hat given I don't have a bird like appetite.

Twirlwirlywoo · 14/04/2015 16:16

Tall and normal sized people who always always always stand or sit in front of me at the cinema and in shows etc.

Invisable syndrome - tall people not seeing me and barging me out the way (because they have not seen me - not in purpose).

Not being able to reach the kitchen window to open it -I am not tall enough to reach over the width/depth of the kitchen sink and 1 foot up from the window sill to the handle. I have to use a step in the kitchen.

KurriKurri · 14/04/2015 16:24

Was waiting in a queue to board a cross channel ferry once and noticed that my already heavy rucksack seemed to be getting heavier - turned round to find that the large man behind me had decided I was a convenient height (5'1") for him to rest his arms on my rucksack. So I would add tall people using you as an armrest to the list.

WannabeLaraCroft · 14/04/2015 16:28

We have whiteboards in our office, and I had to use a stool to reach the top. Everyone always took the piss, but didn't really bother me. Except when I was pregnant with DS. One time I was writing on the board and everyone was laughing at me. I thought it was just because I was a short arse but no - they were laughing because my belly was rubbing out some of the stuff written underneath Blush

WannabeLaraCroft · 14/04/2015 16:30

Kurri that's so bloody cheeky!! Did you say anything??

YouTheCat · 14/04/2015 16:35

I wish to join the shortarse club. 4ft11.5, size 3 feet and very short arms and legs - look totally out of proportion and buying clothes is a nightmare.

I only wear short straight leg jeans so I can turn up the legs as I am too crap at sewing. Sainsbury's jeans are good for this.

I also hate being used as an arm rest (apart from by dp). I used to get the 'aw she's so cute' shite from people until they heard my sailor's expletives. Grin

VenusRising · 14/04/2015 16:42

Someone rested his pint on my head once....... once mind.

YouTheCat · 14/04/2015 16:43

Someone rest a pint on my cleavage once. Grin

Blarblarblar · 14/04/2015 16:44

Venus this happened tho my friend are you from Edinburgh?

RandomMess · 14/04/2015 16:44

The shower thing, last house got an extra long riser rail. Couldn't find a nice one in this house so just bought 2 kits and have them side by side Grin

I think pet hate was a school friend asking me what it was like to be "so small" erm the same as it was for you a few years ago when you were only this height Hmm

Also hand span size, there are some things that are tricky because of that, or really heavy fire doors that in lighter years I really had to lean on.

HirplesWithHaggis · 14/04/2015 16:45

Another thing about "petite" ranges; they're made for 5'4 and under. I'm 5', so 4" is a lot when buying trousers, skirts and dresses. That which would be just above the knee of someone 5'4" is midshin on me. :(

trevortrevorslatterfry · 14/04/2015 16:55

aw she's so cute

Yep how patronising youthecat! Apparently, it's not appropriate to respond to "Bless..." with a hearty "FUCK OFF" Angry

RedToothBrush · 14/04/2015 17:08

Getting IDed for alcohol until a stupid age because short = young. Even though you look like a battered old hag.

rosedavo · 14/04/2015 17:11

Seatbelt in car slicing into my neck! Also working behind a till at work and saying 'next please' and customers wondering who said it as they cant see me !

Also being ID'd for everything, everytime...including loto even though you only have to be 16 for that and im a 25 yearold whos married and pregnant!!

Getting the piss taken out of you all the time (the most downright rude annoying one being called 'child bride' by my boss)

IdaClair · 14/04/2015 17:11

I am the shortest person in the family aside from dcs. Even the octogenarians are taller than me. I look up at them all and no one wears heels. I think the average height in the immediate family is 6'2 for the men and 5'10 for the women.

I am 5'7 and my dcs will be taller than me. But on this thread Ihave been described as a tall person. I am very surprised. I consider myself on the small side of average.

My oldest Dc is 4'2 and can carry a baby or toddler in a sling no problem. Granted no boobs. But she is also in charge of bed making and we have a king size. She can do it fine. She crawls inside.

TeaInGlasgow · 14/04/2015 17:13
  1. Clothes that don't fit. I'm short but certainly not skinny enough for petite ranges of clothes.
  1. Not being able to use big trollies.
  1. At risk of falling in to the freezers in Iceland/Farmfoods. Once had an ex hold on to me so I could dive in an grab what I needed. I know I could have had him do it but I was young and feeling adventurous.
  1. No top shelves. At my friends' they are both tall and keep their cups on the top shelf. They have a footstool I use but only for the cups at the front, if they're at the back then no chance in hell.
  1. Boob destruction. If i'm not careful then no cup of tea or piece of cake on a counter is safe from being boobed.
  1. Chairs/Sofas. I dislike my legs dangling so will always sit with my legs curled up/crossed.
  1. Going to the bar on a night out. Don't go out much anymore but trying to be seen at a busy bar amongst a sea of tall people isn't easy.
  1. I don't walk fast. I don't know if it's the short legs or if i'm just slow but one of these days i'm either going to attach a retractable lead to my friend so I can pull him back or put on some skates and let him pull me along. He does try to slow down but his speed always creeps back up again.
wheresthebeach · 14/04/2015 17:16

Having 10 year old girls measuring themselves against me in the playground. Amusing once, not daily.

Rolling up trouser legs as I'm fed up with paying to have them hemmed...somehow the petite ones are too short? How..How? I'm only 5ft2

Not being able to reach the top shelves in the kitchen, or having to get step stool to look on the bottom shelf properly (can really only see things in the front row).

People standing beside me and saying 'wow...I really didn't realise you were so short!'.

And breath....

KurriKurri · 14/04/2015 17:19

I gave him a stare Wannabe (which he probably missed because I was so low down Grin) and said 'excuse me' in cross voice and he moved his arms. It was bloody cheeky !

limitedperiodonly · 14/04/2015 17:20

YY to men leaning on you or crushing you whether 'affectionately' or because they claim not to have noticed you.

At 5ft 4ins I realise I am a relative Amazon to some of the people here but some men do this. Sometimes they think it's funny or a come-on but sometimes I think it's a bit more sinister than than that. Whether it bolsters their own Me-Tarzan-You-Jane fantasies or for some other reason.

I don't want to bring the thread down.

I know I just did.

Sorry, but it really pisses me off.

Anyway, yesterday I bought some beautiful old skool Adidas Gazelles in pale turquoise suede.

It's hit-and-miss whether I'd pass one of those 'You have to be this BIG to ride this ride' signs but I don't care.

MrsMook · 14/04/2015 17:23

Teaching teenagers when you're shorter than them. Also everyone assumes that I must be an infants teacher. This is not helped by being generally petite and having youthful looks. People tend to assume that my husband is my father. His grey hair does our age gap no favours for first impressions.

My hands are too small to hold petrol pumps comfortably. I always have to wait in the long queue because I can't cope with lugging the pipe round the back of the car.

Trying to reach up to shut Dh's car boot. An effort even with the dangly handle.

I'd happily kick the shins of the muppet who installed the shower in our bathroom. On its lowest is about right to wash my hair. A body wash requires contortion to keep my hair dry. Reaching to get it down to shower small children requires an extensive stretch.

At 34 wks pregnant (long past the point of arguing that baby wasn't due for many months) having to do a weird back bend to reach the supermarket freezer.

Needing maternity clothes at 8 weeks, and growing out of them in the second trimester. Having to wear thigh length legwarmers because nothing else fitted the lower half; at least I couldn't get behind the steering wheel, or walk by that point to go anywhere.

dontcallmelen · 14/04/2015 17:25

I have found my people 4ft 9 & half the half being very very important, the petite ranges reallly piss me off still have to pay a fortune for alterations, having to buy kids trainers because the size three has now become weirdly so much bigger, the mission its now become to buy elegant high heels, seat belts/trollys/bar stools are a major hazard & the various implements you need around the house just to, close the bloody windows.