50 Tall People Problems You'll Only Understand If You're Over 6 Foot  

50 Tall People Problems You’ll Only Understand If You’re Over 6 Foot  

If you’re considered tall, you’ll understand these struggles people on Ask Reddit face.

1. Feeling self-conscious at concerts and cinemas about blocking the view of people behind you.

2. Having to purposefully slow your walking in order to allow your shorter friends to keep up.

3. It takes a lot more to feel full/drunk (aka $$$).

4. When I’m at a bar talking to 3 people all below 5’4” and music is playing I can’t hear a fucking thing and will have to crouch a bit or stand in a power split to lower my head to them.

5. If you’re doing the dishes for a longer period of time your back starts hurting, because most kitchens are built for medium/small heights. Also sitting in university for 90 minutes. Legs are long, need space, don’t know where to go.

6. Sun visors in cars are completely useless. Flop that down and I can’t see the road.

7. My ass hurts!

Look at how an average chair is designed: your butt and thighs rest on it and your feet just rest on the ground (ideally speaking). Now imagine if the seat were much lower. Now your feet hit the ground too soon and your knees are propped up a bit. Your thighs no longer touch the seat of the chair, and all your weight falls on your butt.

This is a problem everywhere. It becomes impossible to sit comfortable with proper posture. Long drives become torture sessions unless the front of the seat can tilt up.

8. It’s often a bitch finding clothes that fit. A lot of brands I can’t get the jeans I want in the store, they have to be ordered online or in store and shipped. A lot of brands assume that if you are long you are also wide. Same for shoes—tall people tend to have large feet, and so many shoes aren’t made above like a size 12. And often, even if they are, shoes that look nice in normal sizes look like clown shoes at bigger sizes.

9. You’re always hidden in the back of group photos.

10. Hair dresser can’t reach and asks you slide down in your chair.

11. Climbing stairs, I have 2 issues with it. I have size 13 feet which don’t fit on stairs so I use only the toes to climb. Sometimes very dangerous specially on my way down.

I’m well above the average height of my country and the stair height is such that it feels weird to I’m one stair at a time and I look like I’m a kid toying around when I have to skip 2 stairs at the same time sometimes.

12. Shower heads are too goddamn short. I’m not even that tall (6’3) but it’s a rare occasion that I’m somewhere taking a shower that I don’t have to duck to get anything above my chin in the water.

13. Angry short men. They like to pick fights.

14. Being asked, “How tall are you?” Followed by, “Do you play basketball?

15. Hitting your kneecap hard against the 45 degree angle 2×4 support bars that are under long work desks at hospitals/nursing homes when bringing your chair closer.

16. Take a close up selfie of me and my short wife standing side by side? I have to squat or you get her eyes/forehead and my mouth/chin only in the picture.

17. I’m at any grocery store. I can see the short person next to me looking at that item way up there on the high shelf. Just ask me (this one doesn’t bother me too much) but expect me to ask you to get me that once item on the shelf by the ground. I don’t want to bend down as much as you don’t want to jump or climb the shelves like a ladder.

18. I usually can’t sit in the backseat of a car and not be crushed.

19. Never being able to just “hide” in any situation. Everybody sees you as the first thing. And. They. Keep. On. Noticing. You!!!

20. Guys are intimidated and never go for me, always my shorter friends.

21. Your jeans fit around your hips or thighs but are 4 inches above your ankles.

22. There are certain basements or doorways I need to duck under. I crack my head on stuff all the time. I’m only 6’5 so not like freakishly tall.

23. Not being able to comfortably kiss someone who is shorter than me.

24. I’m clumsy AF considering the higher center of gravity.

25. Being tall is expensive. Clothes cost more, shoes cost more, you often need a bigger meal in a restaurant so you won’t leave feeling hungry. Holidays cost more as you won’t fit on a regular seat but need “extra” legroom. Groceries cost more as you need bigger meals. You need a bigger car or you won’t fit behind the wheel and your kids won’t fit behind you. All of this adds up fast. Most of it goes unnoticed but if you’re 20% taller than most people chances are you’ll spend 20% more on things compared to them as well.

26. Combing your hair down so it doesn’t rub on the roof of your vehicle.

27. Finding a long enough blanket to fit me on my bed.

28. Always changing the seat position in someone else’s car.

29. Ceiling fans. Do not change your shirt near ceiling fans.

30. How hard it is to take a bath, I swear tubs are designed for short people, I’m only 6’1 and it’s still hard to find a bath I can fit into without having to lift my legs out of it.

31. If you’re female and you’re taller than the average male, they treat you very differently, no matter how you look. They are always distant, cold, and distrustful, because as a woman being taller than they are you emasculate them or something. Like me standing up normally and being bigger than you, and you having to look up at someone, is an insult in and of itself. Taller men don’t usually have a problem at all, it’s only men who are shorter than you. They aren’t used to being shorter than people they already look down on.

Tall men, while they don’t treat you with that cold distant feeling right away, don’t ever consider you as a romantic partner; I’ve noticed that the taller a guy is, the shorter they want their partners to be. I can guess why, but it winds up being awkward to everyone around them and I’m not sure if they know that we all know why that is.

You wind up being pretty invisible, which is troublesome. You get caught in a trap, when you’re a chick: either you don’t get taken seriously, or you aren’t even listened to at all.

32. Using sinks often leads to wet pants.

33. [Male problem specifically] You have to aim better when urinating in a toilet. Not to mention the “splash damage” from urinating at your height.

34. One time I was riding Space Mountain at Disneyland and my vehicle had to get pulled off of the track because a guy who was like 6’5 couldn’t get his lap bar down.

35. Hitting my head on shit. People always laughingly blurt out: “haha it’s because you are soooo taaallll” yeah no shit you peasant, if only the world hasn’t been designed around your inability to grow further than snack-sized human, I wouldn’t be in a foul mood all the time, because I wouldn’t hit my head on unexpected shit everywhere.

36. Standing up too fast has a good chance of making you pass out.

37. Yard tools aren’t made for people who are 6’5”. That shit hurts my back.

38. Hiding things on lower shelves is our equivalent of on top of the fridge. We don’t always think to check down there.

39. Constantly feeling like I have to duck when going through doorways. I’m only 6′ and a few apartments I’ve had had doorways at 6′ 4″ and I constantly had to duck or get that “Oh shit!” reflex.

40. Kinda obvious but not one that people think about: Stretch marks. I’m not even super tall, just 6’2″ and I’ll have these marks across my back for my entire life.

41. Being too tall for the dividers between urinals to be of any use. It’s not like you’re looking, but it’s awkward. If you’re standing in a bathroom stall you will be seen.

42. I lean chairs on their back two legs ALL THE TIME just so my upper legs and knees are at a comfortable angle.

43. Traffic lights are always blocked by the top of the car if I’m in front.

44. Everyone expects me to remember them because they remember me. I have a hard time remembering names without repeated exposure to people, yet everyone seems to remember mine.

45. My knees seem to always hurt. Everyone tall person I know has some form of knee issues.

46. Hotel showers, the shower squat sucks.

47. How people think of you, they expect you to be a brute. It’s hard to walk up to a shorter person without them being concerned, especially because I’m not just tall I also have broad shoulders, giant feet and whatnot.

48. You can never get a bed that has one of those sticky-up bits at the foot of the bed. And for some reason those beds frames often cost more.

49. Flying anywhere is a goddamned nightmare. Can’t take long-haul buses anywhere. Some cars, their seats don’t go that far back.

Airplanes are made for short people, I can only travel some airlines because of the space between the seat back and next seat.

And some people shrug it off, but it’s actually a pretty big problem, sitting for so long, not being able to stand up and stretch, and in a pressurized environment can cause serious medical issues.

50. Walking behind people thinking it’ll be ok, then BOOM! Spider web. They were just short enough to miss it, and I’m just tall enough for it to hit me in the face. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

January Nelson is a writer, editor, and dreamer. She writes about astrology, games, love, relationships, and entertainment. January graduated with an English and Literature degree from Columbia University.