Horrible incident on train

[TheAverageJoanne]

On a train to Leeds. Woman chatting on the phone, quite loud to be fair in what sounded like Spanish and a man across the aisle kept saying loudly "shut up jabbering." Not to her, just in general. He then got up waved his hands around in front of this woman's face and started saying several times "Me no speaky language" thank god he got off at the next stop which was coming up. Fair play to her she carried on with her phone call. I doubt he'd have said this if it had been a man on the phone.

He was right. Im sick of people speaking on phones in public places. It is even worse when it is a foreign language.

Lots of people missing the point that there’s no way he would have done this to a man.

“As bad as eachother”

No a single phonecall is not “as bad” as aggressive xenophobia.

Brits also operate on a different level of politeness to most of the rest of Europe. I have been cosidered rude many times in the UK because where I'm from our communication style is much more direct and a lot less flowery than in the UK so rather than saying "would you mind...", I'd say "can you..." and I'd often forget "please" at the end as it just doesn't come all that naturally for me.

It could just be that in Spain, speaking on the phone on a train isn't considered rude and she had no clue she was annoying people around her. Either way, he was a racist twat and in the wrong.

My late husband told me that - before we were married - he'd been on holiday in Spain and a Spanish gentleman who spoke English had berated DH for not being able to speak Spanish.

The thing is that DH had actually been learning a couple of languages - but not Spanish - and he was holidaying in an area which relied on tourism.

I can't think that many tourist areas would do well if they only allowed in tourists who could speak the local language. In my experience, most tourists do at least learn to say 'thank you' in the local language.

Why would it be worse?

How do you know that?

Good its about time people rose up against the scourge of people on public transport having to endure people talking loudly into a mobil
They are a fucking nuisnace

Because if you dont understand the language it’s just gibberish noise.
The main point is she shouldn't be speaking on the phone in a public place. She is the selfish one.

Yes you should have told her to get off her phone.

Being loud on the phone is most definitely not as bad as being xenophobic and directly confrontational to a lone female.

At least it might be marginally interesting if you knew what they were on about…

Fuck me, are the reformers all on their tea break at the same time or what.

This

🥱

Anyone talking loudly on their phone or having a hands-free call or video call on a train/bus/restaurant/pub is inconsiderate with little self-awareness.

However, being rude to someone, because they're being annoying isn't right either. As the saying goes 'two wrongs don't make a right'.

Both were in the wrong.

Another brave British racist confronting a lone woman in an enclosed space.

He is literally getting away with silencing women in our country so that they comply with his wishes.

If someone is having a too loud phone call, the normal thing to do is to ask them to keep it down, not embark on a hideous xenophobic pantomime.

But people on this thread are defending aggressive behaviour again a woman by a man- what the hell happened, is it ok for a woman to be abused in public by a man if shes a foreigner now?

On the continent they do that as a matter of course - I've noticed it in Italy in particular - and no one thinks anything of it. It's entirely normal. And yes, I'm quite noise intolerant and do find it annoying, which is why I take noise-cancelling headphones on trains.

Her behaviour can be put down to a cultural misunderstanding.

His was inexcusable.

Waving aggressively in a woman's face and shouting at her is by no means ever acceptable. The two modes of behaviour don't even equate.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

Being stressed does not excuse the man's behaviour. He escalated in a threatening manner.

Because men like that are everywhere and we all know it.

The woman’s behaviour was inconsiderate. The man’s behaviour was absolutely disgraceful and unacceptable.

I think its more difficult to listen to loud conversation you don't understand than when you do. If someone is talking loudly in a language you understand, you're distracted from the noise to an extent by the content. Your brain is processing what's being said. When you can't understand it is simply 'noise'. A bit like how it can be more annoying to hear the the tinny sound from someone's headphones than if you could actually hear the tune.
No excuse for his behaviour though and they're absolutely not as bad as each other. She was inconsiderate but meant no harm. He was aggressive and xenophobic.

Not at all. The man sounds fed up with someone (man or woman) speaking loudly on a mobile phone.
She just happened to be a woman.

i hate woman bashing men and acting like we are defenceless wall flowers. The woman was in the wrong. The man was right to speak up.

The man was appalling.

But someone speaking loudly in a train carriage is also very rude.