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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think so many people have main character syndrome these days

63 replies

Stupid0849303o · 13/03/2026 17:43

I have misophonia which doesn't help, but I dread getting the train which I have to do to work 3 times per week. If it's rammed I can't even listen to music all the time because if I'm standing up I have to constantly be aware of who's around me, getting on and off the train etc.

So many people are just so loud, as if they're the only ones on the train. People of all ages, incapable of talking at a normal volume. I will let teenagers off as they're not yet adults but I am sick of hearing people just shouting at top note, bellowing across the carriage, cackling loudly at the top of their lungs. People have no consideration for others, it just makes the journey so stressful. Anyone else?

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Needhelp101 · 14/03/2026 17:39

WhatwillitTake · 14/03/2026 14:45

As long as they make an effort to cover their mouth, preferable cough into elbow. The amount of people who just cough ignorantly into the air with no regard fo others is appalling.

I agree with you!

You've just made me think, I just automatically elbow-cough now. Coughing into my hands would feel really weird.

Wellthisisdifficult · 14/03/2026 16:08

Yep. Recently on a train to London we actually had to move, family of mum two grown up daughters and their Partners. Constantly talking really loudly - it was energy draining, everyone round them was getting annoyed! We ended up moving carriages. Don’t even get me started on the ones who play films on their phones with no headphones or phone people on speaker.

WhatwillitTake · 14/03/2026 14:45

Needhelp101 · 14/03/2026 14:21

I mostly agree with you but I think you can give people a pass on the coughing. We've just been through cold/flu season and a lot of people's lungs are buggered from Covid.

As long as they make an effort to cover their mouth, preferable cough into elbow. The amount of people who just cough ignorantly into the air with no regard fo others is appalling.

Needhelp101 · 14/03/2026 14:21

I mostly agree with you but I think you can give people a pass on the coughing. We've just been through cold/flu season and a lot of people's lungs are buggered from Covid.

WhatwillitTake · 14/03/2026 14:12

Imlyingandthatsthetruth · 14/03/2026 12:23

Most behaviour I can grit my teeth and tell myself that it's only for ten minutes or whatever, but I can't cope with these clowns who stand two feet from each other yet still have to have their conversation so loud that everyone hears every word twenty feet away. Men, women, young, middle aged, it doesn't matter. Do they live in noisy households? Do they think everyone has hearing problems? Are they massive performative dickheads? Just stop, please.

I agree, mix alcohol, nighttime and standing outside their front door, while you're trying to sleep in the mix, and it is frustrating to say the least.

Imlyingandthatsthetruth · 14/03/2026 12:23

Most behaviour I can grit my teeth and tell myself that it's only for ten minutes or whatever, but I can't cope with these clowns who stand two feet from each other yet still have to have their conversation so loud that everyone hears every word twenty feet away. Men, women, young, middle aged, it doesn't matter. Do they live in noisy households? Do they think everyone has hearing problems? Are they massive performative dickheads? Just stop, please.

Dandeliontea123 · 14/03/2026 12:19

ChefsKisser · 13/03/2026 19:58

Totally agree. It’s worse in groups as well- my mum and I were trying to walk through a coffee shop from our table at the back to the front door and a running group had just arrived. None of them moved to the side or made any effort to let us past in a small shop. We had to ‘sorry’ ‘excuse me’ ‘could you just’ our way past 15 odd people stood stock still chatting as though we were in the way. I could have screamed by the end!

I live in a touristy area and this happens all the time with groups of people. It’s like they think they are in their own Disneyland.

Itiswhysofew · 14/03/2026 12:15

I was on the train yesterday and so many people were loud. Then at Heathrow yesterday I sat close to a man who was snorting and sniffing. Absolutely gross. A woman next to me on the flight picking her nose. Two other women being really loud. A woman ran past me in the terminal & bashed me with her backpack on purpose because I hadn't let her out of the seats in front of me on the plane.

I just despair.

PeonyPatch · 14/03/2026 11:41

Flamingojune · 14/03/2026 10:18

I travel on trains a lot and most, not all, but most people are fine. Perhaps you notice what you focus on

I find it depends on the area, train you get and time of day. The London Victoria commuter train I get is fine, just full of commuters going to work in London. The other train I get stops at all the towns near me, and it’s a completely different demographic. As someone who travels frequently, I would disagree with you.

Flamingojune · 14/03/2026 10:18

PeonyPatch · 13/03/2026 17:44

I feel exactly the same. Commuting is the worst and it’s like a cess pool on trains these days filled with such poor personal hygiene and bad manners.

I travel on trains a lot and most, not all, but most people are fine. Perhaps you notice what you focus on

Cantheowneroftheredcorsapleasemovetheircar · 14/03/2026 10:18

The older I get, the louder the world seems to become. I don't know if things are getting louder or if my tolerance is going down but I find myself needing to take myself off for a few minutes during the day to stop myself going insane.

My daughter's American YouTubers, my god, do they SHOUT. I can't bear even a few seconds of it.

My mum the other day, she's got such a loud voice anyway but when she's worked up about something she BOOMS. I had to tell her mum, sorry, but can you tone it down a little?

It's all just too much.

And what's with the people that stand stock still in shop doorways or in the middle of busy aisles, looking gormlessly around? I encounter one pretty much every day. A bloke yesterday stopped in front of me in a shop doorways, blocking the exit while he rolled a cigarette! Then got irritated with me when I asked him to move!

But I've been on threads like this before and people will simply tell you that you are mean, impatient, intolerant and selfish and that it's perfectly reasonable to roll a fag in a shop doorway because your minute is not more important than their minute.

Honestly, sometimes when everyone is asleep and the world is quiet and dark and I'm alone and in peace and silence, I feel like I could stay that way forever.

Letskeepcalm · 14/03/2026 10:16

3ormorecharacters · 13/03/2026 20:23

I really notice this as a primary school teacher. So many children now seem incapable of being part of a group - even during the register or really simple circle games, a significant proportion seems to feel the need to do something to take the limelight, usually some kind of silly and / or disruptive behaviour. It drives me mad and I'm sure it wasn't like this a few years ago.

Agree. Children have ridiculously short attention spans now. They are used to th8ngs happening every 20 seconds on a screen

HopSpringsEternal · 14/03/2026 10:08

PeonyPatch · 13/03/2026 17:44

I feel exactly the same. Commuting is the worst and it’s like a cess pool on trains these days filled with such poor personal hygiene and bad manners.

Its not changed. It has been like this since I used to commute in the 90s and the trams were awful when I was kid.

SockPlant · 14/03/2026 10:06

wear earplugs and stand as much in a corner where you can see what's going on, that's what i do. I use Loop Engage 2 with the extra inset piece and they are very effective in cutting out noise.

Is it genuine diagnosed misophonia or just there is too much constant noise? What do your health professionals say to do?

Missingpate · 14/03/2026 10:06

Sorry thought my phone was playing up, really didn’t mean to post that three times! 😭

Missingpate · 14/03/2026 10:05

Kingdomofsleep · 14/03/2026 08:49

Haha you've reminded me of Bob Mortimer's train guy

https://youtube.com/shorts/MZmBx6WL6SI?si=w3FECeLmuFQ6UwOy

I hadn’t seen that! And yes, hilariously accurate! 😂
When he got off, the woman next to me murmured ‘he thinks he’s running the world’.

Missingpate · 14/03/2026 10:04

Kingdomofsleep · 14/03/2026 08:49

Haha you've reminded me of Bob Mortimer's train guy

https://youtube.com/shorts/MZmBx6WL6SI?si=w3FECeLmuFQ6UwOy

I hadn’t seen that! And yes, hilariously accurate! 😂
When he got off, the woman next to me murmured ‘he thinks he’s running the world’.

Missingpate · 14/03/2026 10:04

Kingdomofsleep · 14/03/2026 08:49

Haha you've reminded me of Bob Mortimer's train guy

https://youtube.com/shorts/MZmBx6WL6SI?si=w3FECeLmuFQ6UwOy

I hadn’t seen that! And yes, hilariously accurate! 😂
When he got off, the woman next to me murmured ‘he thinks he’s running the world’.

NormasArse · 14/03/2026 09:07

PurpleLovecats · 13/03/2026 23:28

I think they should bring back trains with those little compartments à la Harry Potter.

Much nicer to choose a small compartment and avoid most people.

I remember those as a child 🥰

Kingdomofsleep · 14/03/2026 08:49

Missingpate · 13/03/2026 21:48

I travelled to and from London on the train this week, couple of hours each way. It had been a while since I’d been on a train. Journey in was rammed and I was lucky to have a seat. I was trying to work and the young man sitting behind me proceeded to make phone call after phone call at full volume, all work calls, all punctuated with yeah buddy and right bro etc. it was like that Dom Joly sketch. I could have cheerfully throttled him after a while. Such a relief when he got off.
And everyone seemed to be coughing.
But at least I had a seat.

Haha you've reminded me of Bob Mortimer's train guy

https://youtube.com/shorts/MZmBx6WL6SI?si=w3FECeLmuFQ6UwOy

Before you continue to YouTube

https://youtube.com/shorts/MZmBx6WL6SI?si=w3FECeLmuFQ6UwOy

Skybunnee · 14/03/2026 08:49

I have never seen a man take a pack of tissues out and blow his nose on one (including my son)
-oh, my DH would if he had a cold

bostonchamps · 14/03/2026 08:45

Stupid0849303o · 13/03/2026 23:24

If im standing in a crowded carriage and doors open on either side I have to be aware of people squeezing past/trying to get off the train, if I have music on i may not hear

You know headphones go in your ears, not over your eyes? I commute three or four times a week on sardine can TfL tubes and wouldn’t travel without headphones in. I manage to let people off every three or four minutes.

user1497787065 · 14/03/2026 07:04

My main issue in overhearing of conversations is the constant swearing. Is it really necessary to use the f word six times in three or four sentences across the street or across a train carriage?

PeonyPatch · 14/03/2026 06:05

I was on the train Thursday at 7:30am and a young family sat next to me. The dad smelled so strongly of cannabis and even had a spliff over his ear. It was so gross!!! I hate the smell of weed. I just hate people on trains

SteveandLeanne · 14/03/2026 00:19

PurpleLovecats · 13/03/2026 23:28

I think they should bring back trains with those little compartments à la Harry Potter.

Much nicer to choose a small compartment and avoid most people.

Not very safe for a woman on her own though, to get trapped in a small compartment with a predatory male