Cafes are no longer pleasant experiences

And people are so performative and needy now, it is draining just listening to people on buses etc. trying to outdo each other for attention.

How do you know why someone is on speaker phone?
A lot of ageist comments on here about how it is the older generation (or some people just saying grey haired). Loss of hearing in the later years is a gradual decline. A lot of people are in denial about it. DF had the TV up on full blast, along with subtitles. Swore blind there was nothing wrong with his hearing at all.

My phone is old and I can hear a call if I am somewhere quiet. But if it is somewhere noisy, I have it on speakerphone. Nothing to do with wanting attention... but all to do with actually wanting to hear the person talking to me.

You could get headphones for that XenoBitch

Where did I mention speaker phone?

Why can't you wait until you get home to make a phone call? Unless it is an emergency that is.

Sorry, you are right.
It just got mentioned a lot on here.

The line that jumped out at me in your post was 'Elderly on mobile phones with the speaker on so you can hear the other person'. In my experience, elderly people are definitely not the worst offenders for this. In fact,I usually find elderly people to be more considerate phone users. I've noticed that it is young and middle aged people who make and take calls with the speaker on. Regarding your issue with cafes though,I do tend to agree with you. If I want to relax in peace,the last place I go to is any of the cafes that I know of in my local area.

You can avoid your child being the cause of an elderly person having an accident, @kvazzy, by making g sure they behave appropriately for where they are. Running around a cafe or restaurant is absolutely unacceptable - it is not safe for the staff or patrons who are carrying hot drinks and food, nor is it safe for the child who is running around - if they knock into someone and get drenched with boiling tea or soup, it is going to hurt and possibly scar them, or the person who was barged into by the out-of-control child.

If your children were allowed to run around in cafes/restaurants/supermarkets and didn’t cause any accidents, that is purely luck - not good parenting.

Supermarkets are not playgrounds either - I managed to raise three energetic boys without letting them run around in cafes, restaurants or supermarkets. Parents need to make sure their children are behaving and are not being a hazard or a nuisance.

Seen a lot of cafes with signs up recently saying no laptops or work calls. I have walked out of a few recently before ordering because I felt like I was sitting in an open plan office. I have enough of being in an office at work, don’t want sit in a cafe with that same vibe.

when I read posts like this (and the ones about inconsiderate dog owners and homicidal cyclists) I wonder if I am just unobservant, or if I live in an especially pleasant place.

Fair enough, I am talking about (usually younger) people braying like Donkeys about their Latest "solo trip to Japan" or whatever, it used to just be loud rich student types now nearly everyone under 40 thinks they are in a Tik Tok video all the time, but now you mention it, how many times do you REALLY need to phone someone from a bus?

maybe she's a bit hard of hearing?...so doesn't realise she's speaking loudly?

Excellent, hope this catches on, in the future there will be "Phone Areas" in a shed outside like smoking areas are now.

Maybe the person on the other end is deaf? Couldn"t she just text them?

Maybe she didn't realise they were so hard of hearing (more PC than "deaf"!) until it was too late

Also if it was anyone from my family who were that hard of hearing they probably wouldn't be au fait with texting in any case....so it's a phone call or nothing

The children will be back in school soon. I really enjoy going to a cafe too, I agree that the prices are getting too high, people are noisy and annoying. Social skills have fallen.

Maybe her phone was broken?

?

Maybe her hearing aid was broken?

Most of the screams etc come from those kids who are not old enough to attend school

Maybe

I'm bemused by Elderly on mobile phones with the speaker on so you can hear the other person. I do see/hear this happening a LOT more, along with people playing music or a film on their mobile with full volume and no earbuds or equivalent. But it's so disproportionately people in their early- to mid-20s that my working theory is that people who were to young to go out on their own pre-COVID simply forgot or never learned how to behave in public, and because they missed the part where they'd learn hands on from parents or slightly older friends and siblings they've just gone full-on feral re mobile etiquette and don't even know it's wrong.

I personally think the number of electrical gadgets that don’t have a headphone jack is one of the biggest reasons why people are using loudspeakers.

As with when you left your wired earphones at home, you went into a shop and bought some.

Now the earbuds, headphones that are wireless need charging, pairing up. Plus battery life of many wireless earbuds isn’t long enough. People are switching to loudspeaker instead of having no music

Independent cafes are the best, especially in quiter areas. I avoid the chains that don't pay tax and serve shit coffee.