Quiet carriage - please tell me this woman broke the rules, not me

[Xiaoxiong]

Tonight I am raging - I rushed to Waterloo to catch my train home as DS is ill, so I was on the phone telling DH when I would be back and to give him dioralyte until I could get back to breastfeed. As I stepped into the carriage before it had left the station, I was literally saying "ok, so I'll get into [end of line] in an hour, and home by 8.30pm - right, see you, bye, bye now".

As I was saying "see you, bye", literally less than 3 seconds after I stepped onto the train, a woman stood up from two rows away, walked a few steps towards me pointing at the little blue sign on the window and said loudly and officiously, "EXCUSE ME. THIS IS A QUIET CARRIAGE."

I was so I said to DH "sorry one sec, someone is saying something to me" and looked at her. She said again slowly and loudly "QUIET. CARRIAGE." and jabbed her finger towards the window, then sat down with a huge huff.

Yes I was on the phone as I stepped into the sacred silence of the quiet carriage. But the train was not yet moving and I was clearly ringing off.

AIBU or has she has broken the Commuting Rules? DH says I am in the wrong as I was on the phone in the quiet carriage but he doesn't commute so he doesn't know the Rules.

I've never heard if this quiet carriage before! Is ther also a loud/party carriage?

What about a swapping carriage?

Whoops. So good I said it twice.

Shit I've been breaking the rules for years!

As was the weird Italian man who told me his penis was hard and where did I live and could we go for dinner!

I think YABU (maybe)
Mmm. I have to say I do find people who use mobiles in the quiet carriages quite irritating but if you were just finishing the call her response does seem OTT unless you were talking really loudly. I would have finished the call before going into the carriage personally.

The bossy lady was quick to have got up and walked a few steps within the three seconds that you had borded the train. . My guess is that you were louder and longer on the phone than you thought. and that the bossy lady had had a bad day

I regularly broke The Rules I'm afraid, also departing from Waterloo, I used to name and shame aisle blockers very loudly...
But still, YANBU, and quite frankly if peace and quiet are that important to the grumpy Git then she should have done the right thing and simply raised her eyebrows at you pointedly.

The Rules only apply in civilised commuting circumstances tho, when the last three trains have been cancelled and snow is forecast it's utterly pointless trying to avoid eye contact while you are pressed up in full body contact with at least two complete strangers, and at least two of whom are still trying to read their fucking broadsheet newspaper! Sorry. Ahem. Am so very very glad my commuting days are over...

Ah you see - this is where the ability to raise one eyebrow comes into its own You look at the mad cow, then at the sign, then back to the mad cow - with one raised eyebrow. It works.

How is DS now?

Yes to naming and shaming aisle blockers. I am happy to ask very loudly for people to move down the carriage.

I disagree with the summary of the only words allowed to be spoken while commuting.

It is also de rigueur when someone gets onto the quiet coach still yelling down their phone for everyone else to mutter 'twat!' viciously. There should be a gentle auditory wave of profanity washing over you.

(But yeah, she was a bit mad to be so quick off the mark, despite you being wrong like a wrong wrong wrong thing.)

What on earth is a quiet carriage?
Never heard of them..

It's the one where everyone is giving you the pissed off looks, anew.

I love that people only pay attention to this on commuter trains/trains to London. I've been in quiet coaches with drunk squaddies, hen nights, couples argueing... no one pays blind bit of notice.

Ah yes LRD you can mutter anything you like under your breath. If this woman had limited herself to stewing in silence and murmuring under her breath "it's the sodding quiet carriage you twat" that would have been fine But actual human interaction is verboten.

Another one for the annals of commuting - two men got in a fistfight this morning trying to get through the doors at Putney. It was brilliant - they then both managed to crush into the carriage and had to stand (in silence!) crushed up against each other avoiding eye contact.

Brilliant!

Pat it no more thought - it would be no different than if you were with a friend chatting quietly. People do get their knickers in a twist about nothing.

Did she bellow it at you (I hope so, that's too funny)

You should have just done a SSSHHHHHH!! at her and an aggressive pointy finger at the blue sign

How is she supposed to know you were finishing your call? Clearly you weren't if you said to your dh that someone was talking to you. Why do your personal circumstances trump yours? I assume she had chosen to sit in the quiet carriage because she wanted some quiet, not people like you chatting on your mobile phone. If the train wasn't about to depart I don't understand why you couldn't have finished your conversation on the platform and then boarded the train.

As someone who has been commuting for 28 years I think YABU.

trump hers no yours.

tigerdriverII, I can't believe you thought it was OK to take an urgent work call in the quiet coach! Avoiding other people's urgent work calls is exactly why I sit in the quiet coach, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. You could always go to another coach to take the urgent call.

Surely it's meant to be electronic sounds such as ringing, music, bleeps and and LOUD conversation which is banned anyway, not conversation at normal volume whether face to face or into a photo.

Phone I meant - sorry, Firefox deleted my entire post 5 times when I tried to correct it so I didn't bother correcting the lasr word!

God yes, Putney. I always felt like I'd been in a fight when I arrived at work, though always managed to avoid an actual fight. Saw fairly regular punch ups or slanging matches though.

bisjo I was saying "see you, bye, bye now" as she started speaking to me and I thought she was telling me the train had been cancelled which is why I then said to DH someone was talking to me. Also it was pouring on the platform and I had no umbrella.

I guess it was the lack of grace period that annoyed me at the time. Not annoyed any more though

And yes Chestnuts she did bellow, really loudly and slowly while emphasising with finger jabs at the sign

I would shout back, to the cries of "Move down!"

"You are welcome to move past me, but there is nothing to hold onto down there so I'm staying where I am."

what happens if someone sneezes?? is there a 'someone's made a loud noise' lever they pull which stops the train?

woozly - maybe it depends which trains, but the ones I go on regularly the fucking annoying announcement they play (which makes it slightly ironic) tells you not to use your phone in the quiet carriage and to stay in the vestibule if you want to talk on it.

You know what pisses me off more is people listening to music in headphones, which they think is inaudible but is actually just at that volume where you can hear the whole tinny beat of it but nothing more.