I was in Rome last March with 20 people. We all took safety precautions with our belongings and no one was pickpocketed. We all loved Rome and had no problems EXCEPT: a man exposed himself to us on a crowded city bus.

Question: What's the best way to react?

(We just tried to move away and ignore the situation.)

"What's the best way to react?"

Physically: as if you've "seen better" elsewhere.

Mentally: with a great deal of compassion and sorrow for someone such as that.

I had a similar experience with a man "expressing himself" in the travel section of a Philadelphia bookstore. I reacted the way you did physicially and the way Voyager2006 did mentally.

They get off on a shock or disgust reaction, so just ignore them.

yawn

I think you handled it correctly. If there was a police officer nearby, you could mention it to them.

I was in Barcelona last summer and had lunch in a restaurant along the beach. A man walked down to the restaurant from the nude beach, totally nude, stood in line at the counter and ordered a beer. After a 10 minute wait, he finally walked off with his beer.

I got a kick out of watching the different reactions from the different people in the restaurant. I also wondered if they would serve him and they did.

Hi S,

My mother tells of the time when she was waiting under a store awning for a bus (it was raining) when a man pulled up in a car and called her over.

Thinking he needed driving directions, she opened her umbrella and walked over to help.

Somewhat to her surprise, he took his hat off his lap and exposed himself.

She exclaimed, "For that little worm you made me come out in the rain?".

He visibly shrank and drove away.

Oh Ira, what a beautiful story. I have a similar one:

My mother was in a small motor boat, driving past the Evergreen State College property on Puget Sound. The college is known for it's "hippie like" students. There was a naked man fishing from the shore. My mother didn't miss a beat and yelled: "You can't catch any fish with that little worm." Everyone else in the boat ducked, rolling with laughter.

Mothers can say the darndest things.

My Mom and I were on a L'Open tour in Paris. There are few scenic divided roads in Paris with park like medians with trees, sidewalks, benches. We saw an older man leaning on a tree in an awkward position. When the bus passed him it was obvious he was taking a pee on the tree in plain view. It caught us off guard how out in the open he was. As this was not directed AT us, we just chuckled and made a snide remark about the "interesting" park view.

LOL. I loved the worm stories. Or you could just point to his privates and laugh!

Well, if you like what you see, here's hoping you have knee pads in your purse.

Otherwise, you might say, "No, thank you! I've got sexier looking veggies in my bin."