Bloody men on trains- manspreading!!!

[Plankingplanks]

I have twice been given the rage today by men on the train manspreading!! Get on train first thing, got an urgent piece of work to do. Take one of the only seats on the train at a table. Guy opposite me is on his laptop taking up 3/4 of the width of the table. I get my laptop out, put it on the edge of the table about 50% on and can't bloody we'll use it because his is taking up most of the room and the lid of it is tipped back across half the rest of the table. I ask him to move it back a bit. He looks at me and moves his maybe an inch, so I'm forced to work at a strange angle whilst surreptitiously using my lid to push his back while he is on his bloody phone, not even using the goddamned laptop!!

Then I get on the train home. Men and women everywhere with their bags nicely seated on the seat next to them whilst people are having to stand!!

Spot an empty seat. Make my way to it to find a man seated diagonally across two seats with his leg (only one) across the footwell of the empty seat. He looks at me as I go to sit down, and doesn't move his legs at all!! I sit down, and say excuse me, and he moved his foot back slightly! He is still taking up nearly half my foot space.
So I move my feet and ask him to move again. He moves slightly again and now my leg is touching his leg pushing him back into his space. Still he doesn't ducking get in his own chair!!

Eventually, I turned to him and said "do you have a disability that required you to sit taking up two spaces? Because this is the third time I've asked you to move your legs out of my space and they are still there!" His response was to move his leg to the exact edge of his seat and then spend the rest of the journey, pushing his leg into mine!

Wtf is it with these men? Do they get turned on by it?

Also why are people giving their bloody bags seats and making people stand? The fuck I'd stand and let someone have their bag on the bloody seat, but more fool them for standing!!

YANBU. I've travelled across Europe over the few weeks and I have encountered exactly this.

YANBU

Yanbu. Was sat next to a man on his nintendo switch this morning. He had he's elbows and arms out into my seat space. Had to say excuse me twice. He was also pulling classic manspreading manoeuvre of legs akimbo so i was not only half off the chair but got half the feet space. What. A. Dick.

We should start womanspreading. Can you imagine it if we sat with our legs stuck out and refused to move?!

Many years ago in the Tokyo subway I was squashed between two manspreading men. I took a deep breath and push my legs and elbows apart to force some space for myself. They turned and looked at me in astonishment but didn't protest. I don't know if I'd do that in the UK, where the men are more aggressive and bigger (I was taller than most Japanese men, so usually felt - probably wrongly - that they weren't really a physical threat).

I have no problem asking people to move their bags, if they don't I either go to sit on them and they usually move before my arse makes contact or if they ignore me I pick it up and dump it on their lap.

First thing I do is put the bloody arm rest down to force their bodies back into their seats, but the bloody legs.... Its like an open invitation to kick them in the balls

I had this on a plane. Sat next to window seat, big bloke next to me. Arms on both rests, elbows out almost leaning against me & squashing my arm against me. So every time I shifted slightly it meant his arm had to move.

He decided to call the air hostess & complain I was hitting his arm. I just eye rolled at him, hostess saw the situation & stuck him somewhere else.

Manspreading last month on an overnight bus from Glasgow to London.
I actually woke him up to tell him to move over at 4am.

I've not had to sit on a bag yet, but my levels of rage go up each time I'm forced to ask some dim fucker to move their fucking bag!!

Although thinking about it my absolute biggest rage is people who sit their fucking dogs on the seats!! I'm actually pretty allergic to dogs and while I can stand having them in the carriage sitting next to one does me in. A few years ago some entitled dog owner sat their dog in a seat next to me whilst I was eating!!! I gave them short shrift

All the time.

one memorable (for the wrong reasons) was just before last Christmas maybe 3 weeks before. Long journey with reserved seats out of London mid morning.

I had booked aeroplane style seating, window. Bad mistake. This bloke had booked the adjacent seat. He got on after me, flipped the table down, got his laptop out, spread his stinky breakfast all over the remainder, ate it, left the open stinking packets there. He absolutely reeked of booze and had clearly been on a heavy night out the night before. He then fell asleep with his head in my direction breathing foul stale alcohol and breakfast breath all over me, head lolling in my direction, leg pushing into my thigh, and as if that wasn’t bad enough after about 30 mins he started snoring.

I pushed and shoved and made attempts to rouse him but he was bloody comatose. In the end with 45 mins left I shoved him awake because I was getting concerned to leave it till I was right in the station, and I spent the remainder stood by the door breathing fresh air.

I say has your bag paid for a seat??? No??? Then please move it 😏😏

The other week i was sat across from a man at a table seat on a train. i dont normally sit at table seats because I find 4 people fighting for space worse than 2

There was a man sat across from me who every time he wanted to stretch his legs out straight he just shoved them across into my side and kicked me, quite hard. The first time it happened i automatically moved without thinking about it, and ended up sitting at an uncomfortable angle. every other time i stayed where i was and because I had my legs crossed i let my upper foot kick into his leg until he moved it. I wanted to say something but i was hemmed in by his friends, and they were all drinking so i stayed quiet and seethed to myself instead

i dont think he was doing it on purpose I just dont think it's ever occured to him to have any awareness of how what he is doing might impact those around him

The bag thing I'm perfectly happy to ask if the seat is taken by a passenger. I get my seat then.

Manspreading: being over 50, post menopause I've no qualms about telling a man to get medical help if he needs that much space for his bollocks. Man invariably immediately smacks his legs back together.

Don't put up with misogyny. Men do it because they can. They're relying on women to put up and shut up. Don't!

Another man wouldn't.

Oh Jesus, this just gave me a flashback to an awful 3.5 hour ordeal on a Greyhound Bus in the USA. Guy gets on across the aisle from me, clearly drunk, then proceeds to fall asleep half in the aisle, snoring so loudly that the driver pulled over to ask "what the hell is that noise?" 🤣

People were deliberately bashing into him to shut him up, but he'd just move and then resume a different snory tune!!

After a 13 hour journey which included stop overs and 2 children, I was on the very last nerve in my body!! The only thing that got me through was one of the DC recording it and putting the different tuned snores into a bloody music video!! 🤣 🤣 🤣

Why can't you simply say politely "is anyone sitting there?"

Because they shouldn't have their bags on the seat in the first place??? Especially if the train/bus is busy 🤔

Because clearly there isn't... Unless they are invisible, and doing this every journey wears your patience!

But that said, I always say "can you move your bag" which is terrible as it seems I'm asking permission!

That's not polite, it is very passive aggressive / whataboutary/ bloody stupid.

Why can't Brits just say " Please move your bag"?

When I am particular peeved, I just say "don't worry, I'll pop your bag on the luggage rack for you" and then do it instantly.

I was on a plane once next to a man who was next to his girlfriend on the other side of him. He kept trying to spread into my area. I just put my leg there so it was pressed against his and he eventually moved. It’s horrible, though.

This happens to me so frequently OP! It drives me insane, but worse is knowing what to do about it as peoples reactions can sometimes be scary / dangerous!

I was 9 months pregnant on a busy commuter train in London. I grabbed the first available seat which was next to a manspreader who had his legs and arms spread so wide I had to perch sideways. I folded my own arms and just accepted it was going to be an uncomfortable ride. After about 10 minutes he started absolutely screaming at me saying my folded arms had been banging into him, how rude I was, swearing and shouting at me and threatening to hit me and push me off the seat. I said I hadn’t even our arms had touched as I was wearing a thick coat, but he was half into my seat and I was heavily pregnant, so could he move over? He refused saying he was there first and again threatened violence so I just got up and stood for the rest of the journey.

Worst bit was not one other passenger said a thing. I reported it to the transport police but of course no action came from that! Now I always worry about speaking up about that sort of thing.

Yep really winds me up!

Drives me insane and it’s ALWAYS bloody men, thinking they’re entitled to more space.

i usually politely but firmly point out they’re over the line, which usually does get them moving.

One day DH got so fed up with a young man doing it on the Tube that he snapped ‘Move your legs, mate, nobody’s balls are that big’. I held my breath expecting a mouthful, or worse, but the bloke seemed stunned and messily moved over! I’m

This pisses me off at the gym changing tooms. Womenspreading rather than man spreading.

I usually put my stuff on top of their stuff and they get the hint.

I’m a man, and I’ll hold my hands up and say it’s a real issue with our gender.
Only once have I seen a woman do it, and that was some teenage girl endlessly scrolling through the usual dross on TikTok.
How do I know it was TikTok? Because it was at full volume with no headphones 😅

Some people just have no self awareness.