My workplace follows the open office layout. My team consists of a product manager and 7 developers (including myself). We have one large table to ourselves and its a cozy setup we have managed. I sit next to the window at the edge of the table with the PM to my left.
Just last week a designer was moved to our team from one of the other teams. He had to sit close to the PM and he decided to squeeze in between the him and me. That left very little wiggle room for me. I requested him to move to some other spot or make some space to which he obliged by moving away a few inches. Good enough.
The next day he got along all the stuff from his previous desk which included a lot of table accessories that take up space. My laptop was about 4 inches away from his mousepad. I had to request him again to make space as this arrangement was not comfortable for me. This time he moved but not without making remarks about how I am being such a baby. This was said in a friendly tone and I would not have given much thought to it, but then 2 other developers sitting across the table made the same comments (still in friendly tones).
Currently the setup is back to being cozy for all of us and I have no complaints but I feel the way I handled this situation ended up making me look stubborn and inflexible. The other developers may or may be okay with having very little breathing room and I would not like to broach the subject for a few days.
Should I clear the air around why I had to make the request I made? What should I do if a similar situation presents itself again?