<p>Oh that reminds me of the Kathy Bates scene in “Fried Green Tomatoes” [Fried</a> Green Tomatoes (7/10) Movie CLIP - Parking Lot Rage (1991) HD - YouTube](<a href=“Fried Green Tomatoes (7/10) Movie CLIP - Parking Lot Rage (1991) HD - YouTube”>Fried Green Tomatoes (7/10) Movie CLIP - Parking Lot Rage (1991) HD - YouTube)</p>
<p>“Face it girls… I am older and I have more insurance”. Love that line.</p>
<p>People don’t have manners anymore. The large men at the baseball game deserve zero sympathy–they were presumptuous and rude. How could they possibly think they “deserved” four seats when they only had tickets for two?</p>
<p>We do have to do something as a society to adapt to the changing average size of Americans. Air travel is horrible enough. A regular seat should accommodate what is now a regular person. And smaller people should not be penalized by having to give up part of the seat they paid for to someone who doesn’t fit in theirs.</p>
<p>Agreed, Sally. I take up 2/3 of an airline coach seat. Why should a larger person, paying the same fare, be free to have their arms and thighs encroach on my space? I try to handle that kind of rare situation with the same kind of patience and grace as the OP, but on some level, it is unfair.</p>
<p>zoosermom - Oh, I was referring to those who just don’t want to sit next to anybody. I’m talking the people who see me with my huge backpack scouting out some place to sit and just sit there trying to avoid making eye contact. And yes, I think it is true that it mostly men I notice taking up seats with their bags. </p>
<p>EPTR - On the topic of crazy parking behavior, my undergraduate school had a big event annually during which all parking on campus was invariably taken. The residence hall director on duty had been given orange traffic cones by campus police to mark off parking spots around campus so he could easily get from place to place to address concerns. He happened to be pulling into one of those parking lots when he witnessed somebody moving his cone and pulling into his space, so he told them that they would need to move because the parking was reserved for the RHD on duty, or else he would have to call and have them towed. They threatened to SLASH HIS TIRES. (So he took a photograph of their license plate with his phone.)</p>
<p>I sincerely hate flying because of their lack of leg room. I try to get an aisle seat or an extra legroom seat, but they’re almost always the first to go IME. However, I’ll change my flight if at all possible just to get those seats. I’ll even spend more just to keep everyone “comfortable”. I’m 6’0" and it’s all in my legs. It’s gotten significantly worse in the last ten years… I’m thin and I don’t use up most of the seat, but I tend to take up too much leg space because it’s getting to the point where I literally can’t get my legs in the freaking space… I have to sit at an awkward angle. </p>
<p>I fly less than once a year because of this ridiculousness. </p>
<p>I agree that thin people taking up more than their fair share of space is just as bad. Can’t people care about anyone other than themself??</p>
<p>I fit easily in an airline seat–one of those times I’m glad to have relatively short legs–but my H has very broad shoulders and long legs, and it is misery for him. When we fly, I usually try to get us 2 aisle seats, since it makes things more comfortable for him and I have a tendency towards claustrophobia and the cabin roof curving over my head tends to set it off.</p>
<p>Men who sit in the subway or other places with their legs spread apart so that the people on either side of them have to cringe to avoid them irritate the hell out of me. I always feel like inquiring in a loud voice whether they have an intimate deformity that prevents them from sitting normally. 
So far, I have resisted the temptation.</p>
<p>At the OP’s sporting event, I wonder what would have happened if the row in front had been filled by the other fans, leaving two regular seats, before the two large men arrived. Would the men expect everyone to move to accommodate them?</p>
<p>We once espied an open parking space in downtown Chicago, but when we went to park realized a woman was standing in the space holding it for a car that was off circling the block. DH just pulled alongside the space (so no one could park in it) and waited. The woman got so incensed that she called over a passing police car to complain. The female officer just gave her a look and said, “Lady, you can’t save spaces” and waved the other car away.</p>
<p>I will say that the worst manners Ive seen belong to men my age- 50’s.
For the past year or so, I have been using a cane to walk, & I don’t skip along, I am in obvious pain.
I also take the bus frequently but prefer sitting in the front - in the handicapped seating.
Often times it is full, sometimes the whole bus is even full & Ive had to stand.
The people who Ive found to give up their seat first-
Young women in their early 20’s, often " tougher" looking, as opposed to girls loaded down with Nordstrom bags.
Teenage boys -but their numbers are weighted because they seem to ride the bus more than anyone else.
Women who are in their 50’s-70’s, but look like they could go for decades.
( and also most people except for below)</p>
<p>But when I see men in their 50’s & these aren’t men who look like they are so physically exhausted from their day job that they could not stand up to give me a seat, but men who look like they never go far from their cushy chair- they avoid my eyes & instead become * awfully engrossed* with their phone.
Their cushy chair may be part of the problem, they often don’t look very fit.</p>
<p>Ive even had a woman with small children offer to give me her seat when there were 2 or 3 dolts who could have done so. I refused, but then I saw that there was a place at the back of the bus with the colorful hooligans, so I sat with them for a while.
;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You may find the seat pitch comparisons to be of use:
[Short-haul</a> Economy Class Comparison Chart - SeatGuru](<a href=“Short-haul Economy Class Comparison Chart - SeatGuru”>Short-haul Economy Class Comparison Chart - SeatGuru)</p>
<p>I am not surprised that the woman stood in the spot. In Chicago there is a long tradition of putting out lawn chairs, etc. to save the residential parking spaces in the winter after one clears the space of snow. Doomed is the person that tries to park in a spot that they did not clear!</p>
<p>Classof2015,</p>
<p>I’m sorry you were not more assertive and occasionally asked that woman to move her arm so you could watch TV. She had no problem asking you to get up often so she could go to the bathroom! Lifting an arm is a lot easier than taking off seatbelt and getting up.</p>
<p>If I pay for an aisle seat, I don’t want to give it up for a middle seat so 2 late-comers can sit together. It is not like they were a parent and child. I do sound mean, but long flights are just not comfortable.</p>
<p>I knew a 6’ tall woman, very large, who said she’s rather fly first class than suffer the indignities of the abuse she took in coach. She mentioned flight attendants offering her the extension if she was unable to fasten seat belt.</p>
<p>bookworm – you’re right – I should have been more assertive – I was just so conscious of her size and I didn’t want to draw attention to it and embarrass her. I should have just said “excuse me” and pointed to her arm, but it would have meant doing that many many times (but you’re right – probably no more times than she had to get to the ladies’ room).</p>
<p>Could you have turned the tv thing on during one of her many trips to the restroom?</p>
<p>As an aside-- wonder if she might have had a stomach/gastric procedure of some sort that could explain the numerous trips to the bathroom. Or perhaps she could be diabetic and have need for frequent bathroom use. Several possibilities…</p>
<p>^I tried 
but since I don’t have cable TV at home (to save money) I am amazed at all the channels out there and I like to surf from one to another, like, constantly. I should get out more.</p>
<p>I kind of thought the frequent trips were related to her size. She seemed quite uncomfortable during the trip. And the flight attendants were very nice about getting her a lap belt extender. I heard one say they were down to their last one.</p>
<p>My husband is a big man and tall. His height is more from waist up proportionally and he sits upright rather than slouching so it’s very bad luck to get stuck in a seat behind him at a lot of venues. He also likes to sit smack dab in the middle at moves and has a certain row at our local theaters that he favors that gives him extra leg room. We often get there early so he can get his favored seats.</p>
<p>Once we were asked to swap with a mom and child behind us who could not see. They had gotten there just before the movie started and got what was left of the seats. The problem was that if we did swap, the people behind where they were sitting would have the same issue and there was a child there too, so we declined. The woman was furious and made remarks throughout the entire movie. </p>
<p>If someone is over a certain size so that they don’t fit according to rules and guidelines, that is one thing, but some things are just your bad luck. I was seated next to someone on a plane that smelled strongly of cigarettes and garlic, that just about made me ill once. There are often children with issues on flights and venues and, yes, very big people.</p>
<p>You uncovered the secret of most venues - there are always extra seats that are saved in the event a reserved seat is unusable. </p>
<p>Years ago at the old Giants Stadium, we had tickets to a Springsteen concert that were OK, not great, however after the audio was rigged, they needed the seats for something. When we got near our seats, the ushers immediately took my friend & I to much better seats in the stadium.</p>
<p>H and I often pay extra for our youngest son to get an aisle seat/extra leg room when he flies because he is 6’3" (and now up to 161 libs!).</p>
<p>Last year he was flying from a wedding in San Francisco back to DC school and sat down in his seat on the aisle. A few minutes later, a very portly and about 5’8" man got on the plane, and ordered him to move in to the middle seat. My son checked his ticket, said politely, no , I am sorry, I am in my assigned seat, and the guy just lost it with him. The flight attendant came over and asked my son if he wanted to trade seats, and he just said, sorry, no, my parents paid extra for this seat…so the man had to sit in his assigned seat. It was not a pleasant flight.</p>
<p>Actually, a lot of times other passengers try to intimidate my son. While he is very tall, he has a baby face. I tease him that he is now 22 and looks 12.</p>
<p>UPDATE:</p>
<p>We had been at an MLS soccer game…the front office had received a report from the venue attendant, and called us to thank us for helping them resolve the situation in the row in front of us. Believe it or not, they are sending us tickets for another game.</p>
<p>Yay! A happy ending!</p>