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AIBU?

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Original poster

To open my window on the bus

440 replies

notknowledgeable · 28/01/2024 12:17

It seems to be a mission for some people to fight to have all the windows on the bus closed, for all of every journey? Why? Before covid this wasn't an issue - now it seems people have a point to make.

I get there can be a chilly draught, but just put your coat on, or put your hood up?

I am immunocompromised, and wear a mask and open the window on my way to and from work. Every single time I get ill, ( currently a couple of times a month) my classes are left with non specialist agency staff. I take all the precautions I reasonably can to keep from catching anything, but this constant battle on the bus every working day is really wearing my down.

OP posts:
Original poster
notknowledgeable · 28/01/2024 17:29

2024HappyNewYear · 28/01/2024 16:19

So a whole bus full of people should all be uncomfortable, cold, and apparently put our hoods up, because OP has decided her frequent colds are all caught on the bus?

Im not talking about colds, I am talking about being ill. I have been hopitalised twice in the last two months.

I am not talking about pitching my point of view against "a whole bus full of people" - I am talking about the constant fight between those who want their closest window open, and those who want every window on the bus closed.

OP posts:
Clafoutie · 28/01/2024 17:26

Roundtoedshoes · 28/01/2024 13:37

Unfortunately your own personal reasons do not get to dictate what others do on public transport. Wasting energy on it is pointless.

Limited options are using private transport (car/taxi), or asking people if they mind the windows open. I’m not sure I’d want to sit on a freezing bus, so you don’t trump others.

It also a stretch to say any illness you get stems from this.

It isn’t a stretch. With Covid, the one thing every expert agreed on was that ventilation was the most effective prevention against transmission, over and above everything else.

BassoContinuo · 28/01/2024 17:24

notknowledgeable · 28/01/2024 17:23

She wont be off sick because of the window being open

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How do you know? Some conditions are made worse by cold / draughts.

Clafoutie · 28/01/2024 17:23

Maxus · 28/01/2024 12:24

It's not your window.

Neither is it the window of someone who wants it closed.

Original poster
notknowledgeable · 28/01/2024 17:23

MustBeNapTime · 28/01/2024 15:48

I have a child in school, and to be honest, whilst I'm really sorry you are immunocomromised and I really don't know what the answer is, I'd prefer it if SHE wasn't off sick because she's been forced to sit in a classroom with open windows because the teacher decided her health was more important than the children's health... Even if she was wearing a coat, her hands would be uncomfortably cold and it's really hard to write with cold hands!

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She wont be off sick because of the window being open

OP posts:
Catdoorman · 28/01/2024 17:21

I have to catch the bus sometimes, I sit upstairs where there are fewer people, but there's always people coughing and sneezing up there, I sit at the back with one window open for airflow. I'm amazed at people who want to breathe in all those germs. I can't afford to get sick.

Original poster
notknowledgeable · 28/01/2024 17:20

Mybusyday · 28/01/2024 15:54

That's what I thought too - how can you teach and be so far away from the pupils?? And as a parent my children come from school absolutely freezing because of selfish teachers having the windows open in Winter causing my kids to be ill!

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Open windows are not going to cause your kids to be ill

OP posts:
Patcherdog · 28/01/2024 17:19

Unless it's boiling outside (very rarely in my neck of the woods) I would much rather have the windows closed and keep warm on the bus. When a window is open it creates a freezing cold draft which is uncomfortable for the people sitting behind.

TortolaParadise · 28/01/2024 17:16

CHEESEY13 · 28/01/2024 13:05

Some people have an almost paranoid aversion to fresh air. They seem quite content to occupy a non-ventilated space, coughing or sneezing without covering their mouth/nose, absolutely oblivious to a stuffy, rank atmosphere. Vile.

I work with people like this aaaalllllllll ddddaaaayyy! They drive me nuts. Coughing and spluttering everywhere then touching everything in sight. Don't cover nose, mouth, wash hands, wear a mask when knowingly unwell - nothing. Audacity to close all windows! Sigh! Tomorrow is Monday and it starts all over again!

I am trying to understand them really I am😱.

Allfur · 28/01/2024 17:16

I use buses alot, and am rarely ill, windows shut or open

catelynjane · 28/01/2024 17:13

Why would you want to sit in a soup of other people's germs recirculating?

Comments like this just sound a bit silly to me. If you genuinely think buses are "germ soup", what do you think about other enclosed spaces - offices, shops, restaurants, gyms?

User1775 · 28/01/2024 17:02

Huge cultural differences at play. Chinese, Russian and Italian friends all genuinely believe that being cold or a draft makes you seriously ill. Even drinking cold water is frowned upon by Chinese friends.

Allfur · 28/01/2024 16:57

Could you cycle op?

SleepingStandingUp · 28/01/2024 16:56

Januarydayssss · 28/01/2024 13:29

Hahahahmy mum hates opened window as says she gets ill from it so she actually stands up, and shuts every window in the bus and if anyone has any issiues, she tells them off.

If she gets ill from fresh air, how does she make it to and from the bus stop?

BassoContinuo · 28/01/2024 16:55

SleepingStandingUp · 28/01/2024 16:52

There's v few places on the bus where you can catch an actual draft from an open window. It isn't hard to not sit in one.

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But you could be sitting in a spot that suits you, no draught, and then OP comes along and opens the window and you have nowhere to move to!

Toddlerteaplease · 28/01/2024 16:55

@PickAChew we have posh buses!

Bbq1 · 28/01/2024 16:54

2024HappyNewYear · 28/01/2024 16:26

So everyone else should be cold and uncomfortable because you don't like wearing a mask?

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Haha, no i WOULD wear a mask if i was on a bus. I thought i made that clear? I am fortunate that dh drives me where I need to be and i haven't been on a bus since before covid. So it's nothing to do with wearing a mask, i still would wear but woulds still open a window. Why would you want to sit in a soup of other people's germs recirculating?

ActDottie · 28/01/2024 16:52

I think the issue is probably more that 50% of people probably want them open and 50% want them closed.

Sometimes when it’s really cold I wouldn’t want them open. Yes I have my coat etc. on but normally when I’m outside I’m walking so keeping warm. It may not keep me warm enough sat on a bus doing nothing.

Then other times I might be really hot and would appreciate the cold air coming in.

SleepingStandingUp · 28/01/2024 16:52

2024HappyNewYear · 28/01/2024 13:07

I'd be annoyed with you. I hate sitting in a cold draft. You'd be making me really uncomfortable.

There's v few places on the bus where you can catch an actual draft from an open window. It isn't hard to not sit in one.

PickAChew · 28/01/2024 16:47

Toddlerteaplease · 28/01/2024 12:26

They need to be closed or the air in or heating doesn't work.

Most buses don't have air con.

With some companies, you're lucky if the windows work.

Roundtoedshoes · 28/01/2024 16:45

60% YABU but OP won’t concede or even consider people are different (and most people who have said they don’t like the windows open have been shot down for expressing any (equally) valid reasons for their preference).

Portakalkedi · 28/01/2024 16:44

yes I always wonder about this (or did when I was using public transport), those who insist on having all windows closed, how do they manage when they have to be outside? It should be standard to have ventilation in such enclosed and crowded spaces.

willWillSmithsmith · 28/01/2024 16:40

I used to have to get the bus to work and on a cold day open windows were horrible. Not in London or a city so the bus wasn’t smelly or overcrowded but the draft through a bus window can really cut through you depending on where you’re sitting. The problem is the person who opens the window is usually sitting next to it but it’s the people behind it that get a freezing gust.

Newgreendress · 28/01/2024 16:38

OP, if you asked the driver's permission to open the window, he would probably tell you to ask whether other passengers don't mind, and if they do, you can't open it.

hummmmm · 28/01/2024 16:35

All these people saying school is where you pick up the bugs so it's pointless in the bus are showing a huge lack of empathy and aren't even trying to understand that for some of us every situation needs a personal risk assessment.

Yes school is risky so op is distancing, ventilating and masking.
The bus is also risky so they are taking what precautions they can there too. They can't make others stay at home or mask if they're ill but they can open the windows so they do that.

Every encounter with potential infection situations needs you to take what you consider to be reasonable precautions to do what you can to avoid THAT encounter leading to illness.