Manspreaders - do you call them out?

[Floofydawg]

I've just done a 4.5 hour flight; when I boarded the plane the bloke in the seat next to me had his legs spread such that they took up literally half my seat space. Oh he'll move, I thought to myself as I sat down. Did he fuck move. So I thought I can either sit here seething for the duration of the flight and trying to make myself as small as possible, or I can call him out. So I did. His wife tittered, like I was joking. But he bloody moved his legs.

So I'm posting this to encourage others to have the difficult conversation instead of being embarrassed about claiming your own space that you've bloody well paid for!

The older I get, the more I have become comfortable with the uncomfortable.

The snorting disbelieving low-key outrage is just comedic now.

Yes, I say something. And it's not even that dramatic... "You're using my space" seems to be enough to send their eyebrows into their hairline. It's very odd, considering that the entire exchange is easily resolved with "oops, so I am" and a 2-second adjustment.

On the tube i moved their legs with my laptop bag. Then ignore if they huff. Mostly though people aren't too bad.

To be fair, he generally does. Should people with large boobs and/or waistline also pay extra? Or should we all just have more room?

If those boobs are so randomly gigantic that they encroach on the seat next door… hell YES they should get extra leg/boob room

Like I said, the guy's wife actually laughed when I said something. Why would you think I'm joking? Then I'm sure I heard her referring to me as a 'stupid bitch' a bit later but I can't be sure. Think you're the stupid one my love, married to an arsehole.

This reminds me of a recent school event I went to - I went to sit down next to a young guy in one of the front rows. I wanted to be near the front and as close to the middle
as possible so i could hear more easily.

He was manspreading and I put my leg against his as a way to reclaim some space. He made some smart arse comment about there being plenty of space and that i should move up one. I was so taken aback at his arrogance that I moved! I wish I had had some words to come back at him, but was so astonished at his entitlement that I froze.

Any suggestions of suitable words gratefully received :)

Fantastic. I call people out all the time but not with such a calm and concise approach unfortunately. I usually lose it at some point.

@Rosesandcrysanthamumsi think I'd have chosen to sit somewhere with more space to be honest but he was still a dick.

I actually had a manspreader apologise to me and move himself very recently . I was on a packed train, standing room only, and found a seat next to him. It was only when I said I needed to use the plug at the side of my seat I realised the only plug available was his that he was using as his leg was over my plug

he apologised profusely, offered his plug if mine didn’t work and moved his leg. He was very very tall. I said he was fine where he was but he wouldn’t have it and managed to fit into his seat. There are no excuses for manspreaders

So so true. Amazing how the tallest man in the world can keep his legs to himself when hes sitting next to a man.

@Applestroodle your h sounds awful and you clearly just pander. Ridiculous sense of entitlement. Tell him to pay for extra space.

Were you travelling alone?

No. Husband was across the aisle silently clapping me on.

Od give her the benefit of the doubt that
she didn’t later on call you a stupid
Bitch.

are you now in holiday or were you returning?

@Gherkinlovesme why all the questions! Am back.

No if you have really long legs both with both long tibia and femur bones and your back to knee length is longer than the seat pitch you will not be able to get your legs under the seat in front of you. Try a mock up. You won’t be able to do it!
This doesn’t mean you can encroach on other people’s space ( except your travelling companion with their permission).

He does pay for extra space. When it is available. Always.

I don’t pander to anything.

Extra space is always available if you book it early enough.

And if you can’t book it early enough?

You buy an extra seat/ economy plus/ spills sideways into your space if travelling with you. Failing that knees up by chest.

@Applestroodle so many excuses as to why your husband is entitled to other people's space. It's getting boring now.

Even that isn’t infallible.

This situation is hypothetical. It was prompted by a recent flight where we had booked extra legroom seats sitting together. Unfortunately, the type of plane was changed to a much smaller one and we were separated and moved to standard seats. There wasn’t an empty seat on the plane.

Luckily the person sitting next to DH in the middle was more than happy to swap with my aisle seat so any potential manspreading incident was avoided.

I find handbags have strange man-leg-repelling properties. Dangle your handbag over the knee next to the offending limb and they seem to quickly shuffle over rather than have to touch it. No idea why this is a thing.

@Backswiftly

You were saying? Did you read the whole thread? It was a hypothetical situation.