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AIBU?

To wish mobile phones were banned on buses

40 replies

angelos02 · 23/04/2014 12:10

My bus journey to work each morning takes around 30 minutes. Today and yesterday I was stuck having to listen to half a conversation for the whole journey. The man yesterday was 9 rows in front of me and I could hear every word. Today, a woman was 2 rows behind me and didn't stop talking on her phone the whole time. Both conversations were all about nothing. I can't wear headphones as I have problems with my ears. Arggghhh.

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Birdsgottafly · 23/04/2014 12:14

I sometimes only get time to speak to people on bus journeys, so YABU.

I don't see this as any different to someone having a conversation.

It's public transport, so it's going to have other people behaving in a different manner than you.

Increase your tolerance level.

Topseyt · 23/04/2014 12:28

Doesn't bother me at all. What does bother me though is when I see people using their phones whilst they are driving their cars. That is dangerous, not to mention illegal.

People can use their phones on the bus or train, though sometimes need to be just a bit considerate with the volume.

Not something I really care about though.

Objection · 23/04/2014 12:32

YABU. Unless they are shouting down their phone, I don't see how it is any different to someone talking on the bus to the person next to them.

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 23/04/2014 12:33

It's annoying but banning them?

It's public transport so YABU..

Pootles2010 · 23/04/2014 12:34

Sorry YABU - its a bus, not a bloody library! It's never going to be calm and peaceful is it?

jaysaway · 23/04/2014 12:37

It doesnt bother me it is a phone people use them blah blah but i have heard some very loud but personal phone calls on the bus I am always what some will talk about tbh

angelos02 · 23/04/2014 12:44

I find that people generally speak more loudly when on a mobile phone. I shouldn't be able to hear someone 9 rows away! It is always tedious stuff. He said, she said. FFS

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jaysaway · 23/04/2014 12:45

I heard about a woman who was cheating on her husband on the bus once it was quite juicy then she had the cheek to say oh it is my stop

maras2 · 23/04/2014 13:02

Alan Bennett used to get a lot of his material listening to conversations on busses . I like to think that out there, there's someone who can weave as good a tale around a mobile phone conversation . On this hope alone I must say that YABU.

badidea · 23/04/2014 13:05

YANBU - I hate overhearing mobile conversations, primarily because you only get half of the story and I'm a nosey bugger and want to hear it all!

jaysaway · 23/04/2014 13:07

how annoying is it badidea that conversation i heard i wanted to hear the rest I did hear once about an oozing open wound though I so wanted that to end

badidea · 23/04/2014 13:10

eeuwww! 'oozing open wound' now that's a conversation that would make me get off a stop early!

I heard a good one once from a 17 year old bloke, talking to his gfriend who had put something on facebook about a party she wanted him and her to go too. He was pointing out that he was already on the bus somewhere else, had no money and really, why didn't she just call him to tell him about the party, that not everyone checks facebook every 10 minutes? (fine upstanding young man I thought

YoureBeingASillyBilly · 23/04/2014 13:14

YAB ridiculous!
Wear ear plugs/ ear muffs/ noise cancelling headphones. Humm to yourself. Drive. Take a cab. Cycle. Liftshare. Make up silly responses to the half of the conversation you can hear. Answer them loudly so the person hears you and gets embarrassed enough to stop talking so loud.

Andrewofgg · 23/04/2014 14:12

True story from the early days of mobile phones when not everybody had them.

I got on a train at Manchester and before we moved a big chap got on, took out his brick, and dialled.

"Get me George."

"Well where the hell is he?"

"Tell him to ring the moment he gets in! Whats that? My number? Yes, he has it, oh well, here it is anyway" and gives his number.

Just as we reach Stockport his phone rings and he grabs it.

"George? George? GEORGE?". Grunts. Nobody there.

Five minutes later the phone rings again.

"GEORGE!!". Nobody there.

And so it goes on every five minutes, and he is getting more and more angry.

Outside Milton Keynes the phone rings again and it is George, and he gets a bollocking and some jobs to do, and then the phone falls silent.

But I had spotted the chap opposite me who had scribbled down his number and had his phone on the seat next to him with a newspaper over it, and was ringing him, and ringing him, and ringing him, just to wind him up and piss him off!

Joules68 · 23/04/2014 14:15

Op.... You want them banned? But what if your own phone rings..... And it's some sort of emergency with work/home/kids? Would you just not talk?

ThatBloodyWoman · 23/04/2014 14:18

I really don't care at all if people talk on phones, or to each other on public transport.

Pumpkinette · 23/04/2014 14:22

Well as I'm sitting on a bus reading this on my phone I would say YABU.

I do think that playing music on your phone with no headphones should be banned on public transport.

Lottapianos · 23/04/2014 14:25

I do understand where you're coming from OP. It is extremely annoying having to listen to other people's non stop drivel, especially when it's delivered at 5000 decibels. I never set foot on public transport without my headphones. I realised I had left them at home one day and I swear I almost cried.

Lots of people just think they're in their own little bubble when they're out in public and behave as if they are in their own front rooms.

angelos02 · 23/04/2014 15:27

Love that story Andrewofgg

I don't mind a quick, 'I'll see you in 5 minutes' or 'Yes, I will meet you there'. It is 30 mins + conversations that do my head in. It is never ever anything interesting. Sad people. I am embarrassed when my phone rings and am very quiet and end the call as quickly as possible because, shock horror, I don't want to annoy the people around me.

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Lottapianos · 23/04/2014 15:30

'I am embarrassed when my phone rings and am very quiet and end the call as quickly as possible because, shock horror, I don't want to annoy the people around me'

Same here. HATE talking on the phone in public.

DurhamDurham · 23/04/2014 15:38

I'm hard of hearing and HATE speaking on my mobile phone in public. I struggle to hear and tend to talk louder than strictly necessary (prob due to my hearing problem). When I am on a train and my phone rings I hang up asap or don't answer at all. Sometimes though I have just had to take the call and I can see people 'judging' me and I inwardly cringe.

I remember one time calling my daughter who was 13 at the time. I asked her what time she was coming home from the shops, had she had lunch etc. She happily answered all my questions and then said 'I'll have to go mum, I'm in the cinema'.......I was cross on behalf of all the other people watching the film. I dread to think of the death stares she must have been on the receiving end of.

angelos02 · 23/04/2014 15:38

Like a lot of things, I think it is people trying to make out they are very popular. I think it is an insecurity thing.

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angelos02 · 23/04/2014 15:39

Surely you'd be chucked out of a cinema if your phone rings and you answer it. I'd hope so anyway.

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NoImSpartacus · 23/04/2014 15:47

Loud, inconsiderate morons who love the sound of their own foghorn voices should be banned, but not phones. People who don't think to fold their newspapers but instead read them, fully open, encroaching on others' space should be banned, but not phones. People who don't understand that my seat is my seat and their seat is their seat and they should never ever come into contact with any part of my seat. Ever. Should be banned, but not phones. And people who think that their shopping bags need the seat more than my sorry arse, should be banned. But phones. nah.

dreamingofsun · 23/04/2014 15:58

they are banned on some train compartments - usually the one i get in and have to then move from as its normally pretty empty. i can't understand why people object to phone conversations but not people talking to their neighbour - or shouting down the carriage for that matter. maybe its cause they're nosy and can't hear the whole conversation

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