Annoyed by random man incidents

[IfYouLikePinaColadaaa]

Yes it’s not much in the scheme of things but I’m becoming increasingly annoyed by men in public (I’m sure women do these things too but 90% of the time it’s men in my experience).

Only today I was paying at the self service in Tesco, had the baby (in pram) and 4 year old with me. 6 checkouts, every other checkout was free. The second I tapped my card this man barged between me and the checkout I had used and started scanning his shopping, leaving me flustered as I gathered up my shopping and tried to pack it away while moving the pram and my other child away. The way it happened he’d clearly been waiting to do it, although why I have no idea.

Second occasion we were stood in another shop, a very big tall man comes round the corner of the aisle and rather than wait the split second for me to pull DD towards me so he could pass (was already doing this) he barged past her and almost knocked her over shouting ‘SORRY, SORRY’.

Gah. Yes it all sounds a bit petty written out but I’ve got PMT and have had a few of these incidences lately and am fed up.

It seemed to be a regular thing when we were kids. I remember during school assemblies being warned girls had been flashed walking to or from school. It wasn’t just once, it happened a lot

I remember being Sat on a practically empty Metro train when I was in my mid 20's, a random man got on and sat next to me in a bank of 4 seats.

I IMMEDIATELY got up and moved to the other end of the carriage, he looked so offended, like why would I not want to be seated next to some random bloke on a nearly empty train!

Arsehole.

I'll ask my 6ft 4 son if he often trips over his little brother (I've never noticed him doing it)

Probably not in the same vein as other comments, but at the cinema the man behind us (we were right at the aisle end) put his feet far in front of him so they were almost touching my daughters seat. She was weirded out and asked me to swap chairs so when I noticed said man's trainers right next to her arm I looked back at the man, swapped chairs with her then plonked myself down hard and put my elbow straight on the armrest which also made contact with his foot ( it was that close) and he promptly moved his feet out of my personal space. Why it was ok to put his feet in my daughters personal space really annoyed me

So what, even though I get there first and it's my "priority" and I'm already on the road and they pull out in front I should, what, reverse to let them go first because they are male? Listen to yourself.

No nearly as much as men are

Havent read the thread have you

Yes another reason why pronouns in email footers are bad news for women.

When I was nineteen I was waiting on a bench at the train station. All the other benches were empty. A man in his thirties sat down on the same bench and actually turned his body to faced me. I was going to ignore him but then he lit his cigarette so I abruptly got up and went to the bench the farthest away. He looked very surprised at first but then he looked at his cigarette. I bet the idiot thought the cigarette was the only reason why I left

I have been known to say: you can't actually walk through me. I'm not a ghost.

I haven't played patriarchy chicken for ages. The toughest call is a line of teen boys coming at you. They cannot believe you won't step into the road so their posse don't break. The confusion on their faces as their little synapses compute that some women claim the right to occupy as much space as them is sweet, really. Their brains are still forming, so it's a good time to learn.

@AmaryllisChorus absolutely. I make sure to model this to my early teen. We may move off-centre of the path if there are people coming towards us but I am not stepping into mud/into the road for a bunch of teenage boys who want to walk five abreast.
Possibly being frumpy, over fifty and having a resting bitch face help.

DD tells me it still happens. She reckons for some, getting caught and thrown off the bus (she tells the driver he/she does the ejecting) is all part of the fetish.

I remember walking on a busy pavement with my 4 year old. I had slowed down and the man behind me yelled "Move". So I stepped sideways and he promptly trod in the pile of vomit I'd slowed to avoid. It splashed up his shoe and trouser leg. I couldn't stop laughing for ages!

A few months ago I was leaving a supermarket car park. The traffic was queued all the way round so I reversed out of my space and then remained stuck right by it for a while.

Suddenly a man who was walking towards the shop rapped on my window, when I rolled it down he indicated the space I’d just vacated and said to me ‘there’s a space right there, don’t hold up the traffic trying to find one that’s easier for you to pull into!’

I replied that I’d just pulled out of it and was leaving and he just shook his head and rolled his eyes as though somehow this was unreasonable! Another interaction which I doubt would have happened if I was a man!

In general I seem to find that I get ‘bullied’ a lot on the roads, I have a very stereotypically girly car and my husbands noticed that if he drives it people behave to him like they wouldn’t in his own car, presumably making the assumption that there’s a woman driving - the main thing is refusing to let me overtake on motorways, speeding right up so I can’t get past then slowing down again as soon as I stop trying! WHY!!!

Imagine being so horrified by the idea that a woman driving a ‘girly’ car might be able to overtake you occasionally!

What a total fecking eejit!
There's always men sitting on bits of equipment using their phone in my gym but this is outrageous! Well done for saying no.

I walked to to a coffee counter at St Pancras at the weekend and opened my mouth to ask for a coffee. A man just walked up from the other direction and ordered over me. This has happened once before (different place) and I made some 'Sorry, did you not see me standing here' comment but this time I just couldn't be arsed. I can't tell if he was very arrogant or just had no spacial awareness.
I no longer get out of men's way on pavements though, nor make myself small so they can leg spread on the train.

Haha - serves him right 😂

I got quite a high power, sporty car last year, and the attitude of men drivers towards me since has been ridiculous. They drive up my arse, “race” me off at lights, stupid overtakes etc. I had a normal family car previously, and yeah, those things happened now and then, but now it’s every single time I’m out driving. Insecure dickheads.

That’s mental, you’re not even that tall. My husband is 6 ft 8 and to my knowledge has ever been known to trample on children or anyone less than 5ft. Do you walk with your nose in the air?

Ah yes, my favourite game 'patriarchal chicken'....

This Small blonde woman behind the wheel of a Sports car seems to really upset some men. Especially if the top is down.
They don’t do that when DH is driving.

I had a triumphant moment this week for which I am still proud. A puffed up man in a hard hat yelled at me across a car park for being in the wrong place (I was not). He pointed at me and summed me with his finger like a naughty school girl. I stayed put, looked scornful, shook my head and summoned him to me. He had to trot across the car park. Then I pointed out why he was wrong and suggested he learn some manners. Being middle aged and cross RULES!

Yes to it being even worse top down! I just laugh at them. Sad acts.

Many years ago (when I was younger and spent all my free time in the gym), I was crossing Covent Garden and a street performer decided to 'incorporate' me into his act by trapping me with a hoop. I asked him, politely, to let me go several times as I had to get to a meeting but he was having a high old time showing off and kept twisting the hoop around me.

It was only when I informed him that I would break his fucking arms off at the fucking shoulders that he stopped. Like I say, hours in the gym every day.

Now, I walk with a stick - ah, well ... I can always thump someone with it, I suppose.

I have heard this from women with sports cars before. My Aunty for one. She was a high powered business woman with a poster in her kitchen that said 'Behind every successful woman is a man who's surprised'.

I've never forgotten it.