Val is usually pretty even-keeled in public. She doesn't like to make a scene. No center of attention for our ample-rumpused, lovely-lady-mullet-sporting gal. But sometimes, it's really HARD to maintain a neutral countenance.
Thursday, The Pony wanted to go to the casino where we took Genius when he was here in May. The Pony has never been to that one, due to his age, and then the VIRUS making a good time more difficult. So we hit the road bright and early in cool A-Cad, and not in The Pony's broken-AC Rogue.
A good time was had by most. Story to follow on Sunday and Monday. However... Val had an issue. A VALID issue. One should reasonably expect to sit at a slot machine and play unmolested, un-encroached-upon. Val was batting .500 on that expectation.
Yep. There I was, having a good ol' time, drinking my free Diet Coke with a dash of lemonade, playing away on Whales of Cash on a Wonder 4 Boost, on the end seat that I prefer... when a MAN sat down next to me. I do mean NEXT to me! Almost ON me!
So I stabbed with my cane and yelled at the louse, "HEY! What gives you the right?"
No. I didn't really. But I WANTED TO! Look at that hairy knee that does NOT belong to VAL! It is definitely within my space! Nothing prevented him from fitting under his own slot machine! Nobody was in the way. There were four slot machines in that row. I was in #1, he chose to squeeze into #2. See the PLAY button? I had to reach over his knee to push it! But I was too smart for that! I just pushed the button where you choose the amount of the bet, right in front of me.
I did not take that weirdo's bait. I ignored him until he left. I think my string of bonuses might have discouraged him from continued play.
Don't get me wrong. I WANTED to scream at that guy. Jab my cane down hard on his toe as I stood up and swung my ample rumpus toward him. But I was winning! So I endured. I had a little fantasy to keep me calm.
Whine, whine, everywhere a whine, echoing the casino, speaking Val's mind.
I asked Tommy if there is a real need to air them out. He said, sometimes. He said that if a guy needs to spread for airing out in ac, he has a real problem. I would have had to do something! That is just icky. Tommy had no idea what "manspreading" is....lol.
ReplyDeleteI'm not even sure if that was this weirdo's goal. Maybe he was just inconsiderate, thinking he owned the place, and could take up as much room as he wanted. He could have spread from one side of HIS OWN slot to the other, and I wouldn't even have noticed. But he was in MY TERRITORY!
DeleteLately I have noticed women sitting like that. For whatever reason, that is even more gross!!
ReplyDeleteI haven't noticed that around here, but I don't see many women sitting.
Deletemanspreading is common on the subway where a-holes think they can keep others from crowding them...I used to take it as an invite to out manspread them. In a casino is just wrong, he may have been trying to get you to move from his preferred machine.
ReplyDeleteAha! That could have been his tactic. His machine was colder than Val's heart when Hick tries to get back in her good graces after a pretty-sure murder attempt.
DeleteThis guy definitely wanted to be in MY space. He's barely even under his own slot machine. On the other side of him was the husband of a lady in a wheelchair. Husband had gone down the row, straightening all the chairs, and moving the one on the other end so the wheelchair could fit there. So each chair was centered at its own slot. I even waited for him to move along the row, because Wheelie had been playing my machine just before.
Men historically have been able to commandeer more space than women. Men put their arms on backs of chairs, just lolling all over the place. Women have to be ladylike and polite, keeping elbows close to body, legs tucked in. It is just the a priori right of men to occupy space.
ReplyDeleteThat's so true.
DeleteI would have stared at him and then at his knee until he got the hint and put it under his own machine. I might have even made a little hand movement indicating that he should do so.
ReplyDeleteI didn't want to engage him in any way. He even saw me taking a picture of his leg, and didn't have the common decency to move it into his own space. He glanced as I was taking the picture. I didn't have any kind of bonus on my screen, and my phone was pointed too low to capture the slot screen anyway.
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