The average height varies between countries, but in the US, it’s 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) for men and 5 feet 3.5 inches (161 cm) for women.
If you’re above or below these measurements, you might notice a few traits specific to your size. Interested in the latter group, one Reddit user made a post on the platform, asking people who consider themselves short to share the problems that they think taller folks will never truly understand.
From attending concerts to carrying backpacks, here are some of the things that they’ve mentioned.
#1
The overhead visor isn’t going to do anything against the sun.
Image source: 13-Penguins, ConfusedRant6669/reddit
#2
We don’t need to ever clean those top shelves you say are dirty. I don’t see them. Thus, they do not exist.
Image source: OUJayhawk36, cottonbro studio/pexels
#3
It makes me feel unsafe if you talk about how easily you can pick me up and take me. Or how easily someone could overpower me. why would you tell me that when I’m already afraid of it happening.
Image source: Vivid_Sport9191, Victoria Strelka_ph/pexels
#4
Most short people can’t sit with their back against the back of a chair or sofa AND have their feet touch the floor. Without a pillow behind them it gets uncomfortable quickly. A lot of guys make fun of all the decorative pillows, but they also serve a function.
Image source: Silly-Resist8306, George Chambers/pexels
#5
When you’re in a crowd of people, you can’t see a damn thing!
dogballet:
I’m 5ft tall and I have almost never enjoyed a live music event in my life.
Image source: Pennyfeather46, Laura Stanley/pexels
#6
If you walk normally I have to basically power walk. Even if you tell them, either they don’t seem to understand, can’t adapt on short notice or don’t care.
Image source: LichtbringerU, Clem Onojeghuo/pexels
#7
That people won’t respect you as much as a tall person in a professional setting.
Prosperous_Petiole:
4’8 here. Customers at my work often think I’m the trainee. I’m the manager.
Image source: Yansura25, Canva Studio/pexels
#8
If I gain 5lbs I may need a different size pants. 5lbs is so much to a person with no place to put it.
missdawn1970:
OMG, yes! I’m 5 feet tall, and gaining even 2 pounds makes my pants and skirts dig into my waist.
Image source: centralperk_7, Andres Ayrton/pexels
#9
In crowds it can become difficult to breathe. Taller people can reach the fresh air, but I’m trapped under where everyone else is breathing out.
Image source: MEG4NTRON, San Fermin Pamplona/pexels
#10
My space matters too. I also like to be comfortable. I don’t appreciate being squeezed into the smallest space all the time “because it’s easier”. I don’t want the s****y seat, bed, etc. every time we travel.
Being told constantly that you just need to roll with whatever because your comfort matters least HONESTLY had an effect on me.
Image source: Hagridsbuttcrack66, João Jesus/pexels
#11
How difficult it is to get clothes out the bottom of a top loading washer. I have repurposed some kitchen tongs to be used as laundry tongs.
Image source: Beers4All
#12
Y’all tall b**ches need to stop hovering over toilets and making them wet and gross. Short women cannot hover pee, and we should not have to. If no one hovered this would not be an issue.
Image source: str4ngerc4t, grilledcheese2332/reddit
#13
Being used as an armrest is annoying, and not peak humor that some tall people think it is.
Image source: Aoife226, Samson Katt/pexels
#14
People really do show preferential treatment to tall men and discriminate against short men.
Image source: ProfessionalPin5993, Kampus Production/pexels
#15
That annoying, tip of the fingers making the thing turn around instead of being able to grab it off an upper shelf.
Image source: zardozLateFee
#16
I have rocked out calves because I go up on tiptoes twenty times a day.
Image source: zardozLateFee, Amar Preciado/pexels
#17
How awesome it is to be able to pull the covers up to your chin without having your feet sticking out from under the duvet even when you’re lying stretched out on the bed.
Image source: mechtil_d
#18
**I’m still a m***********g adult.**
I am a 43-year-old adult who has been working in my career for **20 f*****g years.**
I am a grown-up. Just because I’m the height of the average 12-year-old and also have a baby face and also just happen to be traditionally attractive does not mean that I am not a *serious f*****g adult.* This has been my biggest pet peeve since I was in my 20s, where at my first job out of college everyone assumed I was not a college intern, but someone who somehow was in high school yet coming to an office job from 8 to 5 every day?!
Just because we’re short doesn’t mean we’re actually children. For the love of God, I am begging all of you to please remember this whenever you deal with a professional adult who just doesn’t happen to be as tall as most adults.
Image source: ranchojasper, Keira Burton/pexels
#19
Every time I go to see a movie or play, I hope that a kid is sitting in front of me, otherwise I can’t see the stage/screen.
Image source: Espressoencake, Luis Quintero/pexels
#20
No chairs are made for me. At 5’3, my feet always dangle and worsen my sciatica. It feels dumb to feel like a toddler in every chair.
Image source: HellyOHaint, Andrea Piacquadio/pexels
#21
We see up into your nostrils all the time.
Image source: Rizalwasright, M. M. Sand/flickr
#22
Even if the object isn’t that heavy, if my arms can’t wrap comfortable around to hold it, I can’t carry it.
Image source: 13-Penguins, Humphrey Muleba/pexels
#23
The joy of going to Japan and finally having counters and cupboards in your size.
Image source: icantflyyet
#24
I’m not eating small portions to starve myself, I’m eating small portions because if I consume more than 1300 calories a day I’ll gain weight.
Image source: razcalnikov, Alexy Almond/pexels
#25
Carrying pretty much anything in bags or under arms is heavier because our arms are shorter. The bags or whatever we’re carrying would probably drag on the floor if we left our arms hanging at full length. So we gotta bend them up, and sustain that muscle contracted all the way home.
Tall people can just grab a bag, and let their arms relax.
Image source: Lasdary
#26
We can comfortably sleep on most couches/airplanes.
Image source: TrocCiroc
#27
Always having to find the step stool that they’ve moved.
Image source: Danivelle
#28
As a shorter guy (5’5″M), you can literally be invisible in a group. At parties or gatherings, I’ve often had experiences where taller people will introduce themselves to each other and simply not notice me. I’ve learned to be more assertive, but it’s annoying AF when it happens all the time.
Image source: lovebzz, Fox/pexels
#29
The world is not designed for short people. As mentioned in other comments, items on higher shelves aren’t easy to reach and dangling feet when sitting on a toilet or in a chair sucks. Consider my own 4’10” pet peeve… the average countertop height should reach the average person around mid-hip or thereabouts. This allows for hands to be in an ideal ergonomic position to do whatever. But for us short people, the countertop height trends upward to somewhere torso level making doing things at counter height just… miserable. I hate cooking, doing dishes, etc. simply because after a little while, my neck, shoulders, and back ache from extending my arms up and out rather than out and down like everyone else. I imagine taller than average folks have similar issues with needing to stoop down to reach the counter.
Image source: H0us3Hunt3r, Los Muertos Crew/pexels
#30
People treat you like your lesser of a person. Like hell I’m 38, I’ve been through a lot of s**t. just because I’m 4’11” doesn’t mean I’m not worthy of respect. Damnit.
Image source: krandle41709, Liza Summer/pexels
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