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!!

Trouble is seats are too small and we are all bigger. It's really hard travelling and being in such close contact with strangers.

I put my back out once on a flight. There was an obese man sat next to me, he spent half the flight eating an enormous kentucky chicken he'd brought onto the flight. He filled completely his seat and some of mine. I had to sit at such an awkward angle I was in agony by the time we landed.

The dog on the seat is absolutely hilarious. How entitled! The dog goes in the aisle surely?

Chatting with an older acquaintance the other week, she said without batting an eye, her adult DS always puts a bag on the seat next to him to deter people from sitting down because he “has anxiety” (undiagnosed mind you) and prefers to sit alone. Wouldn’t move it for anyone apparently. My jaw dropped at the sheer selfish entitlement.

In the UK, many commuter trains don't have a first class section, so the suggestion to go first class for extra room would be unworkable.

I recently sat on someones bag. A couple in their 20s, spread across 4 seats, with bags on the two free seats. It was one of the last trains out of London on a strike day.

i asked if dd and I could sit down. They agreed. I think I said something to dd to check she was okay, and then sat down myself, fully expecting them to have moved their bag. They hadn’t so I sat on it accidentally.

It's because people are mannerisms pigs now. You should have seen Mo Farah on the BBC red sofa this morning. He was manspreading so wide he was almost doing the splits. I couldn't look.

I've had this at a concert... It started with the legs - which I could cope with as DH was sitting next to me so I could use some of his space. When it started with the arms and, worse, hand crossing 'the divide' and touching me (he sort of had his arms crossed?) I remonstrated as much as I could whilst still trying to keep the noise down...

The dog came off the seat as soon as the train started moving again though, he was only up there so people could see there was a dog at that particular set of seats as they moved down the train looking for somewhere to sit. He didn't travel there!

I got absolutely fed up of people freaking out having not listened to me say 'sure sit here but there is a dog under the seat', then finding there is actually a dog there... and furious beyond belief at people kicking my dog and standing on my dog as a result of not listening and not looking.

What else do you suggest someone does? Or should the dog just tolerate being booted in the face repeatedly by ignorant cunts who can't listen?

Dogs should be under seats/under tables, not in the aisle. In the aisle is a trip hazard and even bigger risk of the dog being kicked or stepped on.

I dunno, do people bother reading posts before replying?

Why the fuck should other people have the dog under their seat!? Put you dog under your own seat. Absolute cheeky fucker.

OMG... are you naturally stupid or are you having to really work at this?

The dog is under MY seat or in front of MY legs under the table.

The space under seats/tables is not divided up into neat sections that are sealed and prevent a dogs tail wagging or a dog shuftying about being felt by the person next to me or opposite. Doesn't matter how well trained a dog is, they will need to move/stretch/breath/wag occasionally.

People ignored me saying 'theres a dog under the table, just so you know...'

They sit down.

They then feel dog move, feel dog breath on ankle (sorry, not possible to stop him breathing), realise there is in fact, suprise surprise, a DOG under the table... and leap up in horror and disgust...

One person kicked my dog in the head as he was trying to turn around to face me. Another person stepped on his tail in her haste to get back out of the seat. Several people screamed in my ear - yes I do mean screamed. A high pitched 'arrrrrgh' sort of noise.

So I got absolutely fucking fed up of this, and stuck him on the seat next to me just whilst people got ON the train so they could see with their own fucking eyeballs that there was a dog at this set of seats. Anyone looking at that set of seats was asked if they wanted to sit there, and told I'd move the dog back under for them.

But you're full of brilliant ideas so what would you have done to ensure people understood there was a dog there, and could make a choice about where to sit, and so the dog remained safe?

What else do you suggest someone does? Or should the dog just tolerate being booted in the face repeatedly by ignorant cunts who can't listen?

The dog shouldn't be on the fucking train in the first place.

Exactly @newtowelsplease

And @WiddlinDiddlin do you have to be that hard of thought not to see you are a cheeky fucker? you are saying 2 things here which are ridiculous... 1) if the dog is under the table in front of your feet, they they are, by definition, in the other person's footspace. 2) the other person is probably telling other people how your dog kept putting it's face into their leg/foot.

Don't disagree about the manspreading - I regularly travel on trains and men genuinely think they're entitled to your space. I actually had a man recently ask me to move over so he could take up part of my seat space and armrest! He had all his cycling gear (and a full pasta bake!!) Which is probably why he was a bit cramped... perhaps he should have used the luggage rack.

But, the absolute worst is not people who put their bags on seats (that's fine, just ask them to move it. It's the people who sit in the aisle seat when the window seat is empty, THEN put their bag on the window seat to try to trick everyone into thinking that bank of seats is full. Cheeky!

You are clearly a twat in real life and online.

Have a good day.

I might get a new job in the city and I dread these train issues. People are just inconsiderate and rude. It’s good you called it out I always think you should call out people for being rude or inconsiderate of others, maybe their mothers didn’t teach them manners so other grown adults have too

My dog used to sit on my lap on trains, and look out of the window. My previous was dog was too big to do that, but used to lie on the floor sort of behind my legs.

Neither of them got in the way, and no-one ever seemed to have a problem with it.

If dogs shouldn't be on trains, could you please explain how I would travel with my essential assistance dog? 🤔

Where in my post did I say that they shouldn't be on trains? Assistance dogs tend to stay on the floor not sat on the seats like the poster I was responding too puts hers!!

I never have any problem asking people with bags on seats while others are having to stand, to move them. I ask politely - of course I get the odd eye-roll but that bothers me not at all.

What amazes me is that so many people just accept this blatant selfishness* and don’t even ask.

*yes, maybe they’re so glued to their phones they haven’t noticed people standing, but I suspect that that’s often a convenient excuse for ‘not having noticed’.

When I was heavily pregnant I got on a train which was standing room only. A couple were sat in two seats and kindly offered me the window seat. All good until I realised their intention was to share the other seat which meant I was not only very squeezed but also had to spend an hour being reminded how affectionate youth can be!

@newtowelsplease said

"The dog shouldn't be on the fucking train in the first place""

You replied

"Exactly @newtowelsplease"

🤔

I once sat opposite two men on the underground who started arguing with each other because they were both trying to manspread. It was ridiculous and hilarious because there were plenty of other empty seats but neither would move. They just continued pushing their legs against each other and accusing each other of being gay.

I know it's not popular, but I am a self confessed dog hater. They stink (yes, ALL of them), slobber and unnerve me and I have zero desire to share a train carriage with a dog. I really hate the way dogs are literally everywhere now, and I find dog owners generally pretty entitled. On a par with manspreaders.

Clearly even I have no issue with assistance dogs on trains, but not on the bloody seats.