To have a phone conversation on the bus?

[LauderSyme]

I travelled to work by bus today and thought I'd use the time to call my grandmother on my mobile. I work full time and am a single parent so finding the time to chat on the phone can be tricky. We talked for 20 mins or so, mainly about my dc. As I was getting off, an elderly couple confronted me quite nastily to tell me how rude I was and how disgusting it was of me to "force the whole top deck to listen to my conversation" and that I should "think twice before getting that thing out". I know other people's public conversations can be really annoying but I didn't raise my voice or swear or speak inappropriately. I think they were the rude ones! WIBU or were they?

Why should people have to shove ear plugs in because of some ignorant bugger?!

'Why should people have to stop talking on the phone on public transport because of some ignorant bugger(s)?'

Realistically, people on the bus all hate each other anyway. Have conversations or don't - it won't make any difference.

I think the message is to be considerate to others around you whatever you are doing.

I agree, Woodhill

YANBU if you were talking quietly
YABU if you weren't

I think the other people were rude to speak to you like that, although I sympathise with their opinion to an extent. You're far from alone in having phone conversations on public transport though. I've often been stuck listening to people's boring one-sided conversations on the bus or train. Admittedly I wouldn't mind if they were sitting next to each other and I could hear both sides! Personally I would prefer to have a conversation in the evening at home when I'll be able to hear better and won't have half the bus or train passengers listening in.

Badknee my dad is over 70 and got a full grant (even though he was from an upper middle class well off family and had been privately educated right the way through his primary and secondary education) and tuition fees paid.

My mum and dad claimed full child benefit for 4 children whom they privately educated. I remember my mum joking about going to the post office to get her child benefit, but she still went and got it, despite a household income that would mean they would be way over the threshold now.

Those in their early 70s didn't do as badly as you seem to think.

There are a few totally inaccurate comments about how people a few decades ago lived on this thread (like the "I'm sure there weren't pay phones on trains before we all had mobiles" one - yes there were, I remember using them regularly!

Perhaps it's a generation thing. I have made a very quick phone call on public transport but I don't think I would feel comfortable with a long conversation.

YABU I find this incredibly annoying. It means that everyone around you has to hear your end of the conversation. Regardless of whether you were shouting or not. Plus 20 minutes is a long time.

YANBU - I can't believe the comments on here. No-one surely expects to sit in silence on public transport, unless you are in a silent carriage perhaps, and as long as the conversation isn't louder than the ones on the bus, I don't see the problem.

I have my earphones in anyway, most people do. As long as people don't speak more loudly than the book I'm listening to I don't mind at all.

Lots if annoying things happen in life but I don't think that makes it ok to be rude to someone and tell them what to do!
It's public transport, I'd rather someone was chatting than farting, sniffing, blowing their nose in a germ infested hanky or any other hideous things you see everyday on public transport.
I hate people eno think they can have a go at people when they don't like something they have done.
They sound ruder than you op!

No, you're grasping at straws, trying to justify your argument.

No, Evans, I wasn't. I was just saying I think you sound as much as a cats-nbum-face misery as the couple on the bus.

End of the day: it's public transport, FFS. Unless someone is swearing or yelling into their phone, it's not THAT much of an issue and people need to get over themselves.

People are fucking deluded... 'Don't use your MOBILE phone in public whilst on the go because even though, that's what it was made for, it's rude'... As if! Yes sometimes people speak too loud but most people don't, there's no difference between speaking with someone on the phone and speaking to a person in person. I don't particular want to hear what other people are talking about when I see them out and about but hey ho that's life and people have a right to talk.

People don't have the right to do what they like at the expense of others no matter where they are.

Well, I didn't say that and don't mean that. Having a quiet conversation is not the same as yelling into your phone. Or, as has been said many times here, as bad as people on the bus yelling/screaming/swearing at each other. I get much more irritated by that than by the odd person talking at normal levels on their phone.

No-one surely expects to sit in silence on public transport
Nope - no-one has said that.

I have my earphones in anyway, most people do. As long as people don't speak more loudly than the book I'm listening to I don't mind at all

Some people may have their earphones in, not all. I like to read books, not listen to them.
Most posters in the YABU camp have said that having to listen to an enforced (possibly loud conversation, as even conceded by the OP further back) is intrusive. Some posters have said thinkgs along the lines of "It's a public space, use your phone in any way you like". Yet this is the very reason many waiting rooms and restaurants (which are also public spaces) often have signs up asking customers/clients to be respectful when using their mobile phones, or even to perhaps switch them off for the duration of your visit. Because they are intrusive. They invade other people's space. A bus is a confined space. The passenger being forced to listen to a 20-min conversation that they don't want to listen to has paid for their journey. Someone reading a book is not making much noise, thereby not making a nuisance of themselves to other passengers. Doesn't need to be a silent journey, of course. All day-to-day sounds of life are marvellous - but having to listen to a fellow passenger(s) shouting into their phones is intrusive and very bad manners.

My phone rings - if I feel I'm not in a convenient place to answer it, I'll wait a few minutes until I am in the right place, then call that person back. I'll happily chat to a fellow passenger - chatting, everyday sounds, are NOT the same as a public mobile phone conversation, which usually drowns out all other day-to-day sounds.

Navy&White This "cats bum misery" stuff is bollocks. People don't have the right to do what they like at the expense of others no matter where they are

This ^

shouting into their phones

There's A LOT of difference between talking to someone sat next to you and talking to them on the phone.

It's interesting how black and white the anti-phones argument is: people are never just talking on their phones, they're 'shouting'; not everyone pro-mobile on here is saying that everyone has the right to talk as loud as they like/do what they like at the expense of others.

It is entirely possible to talk on a phone at normal conversational level; people on my bus/train do it often.

It is entirely possibly, but unlikely, in truth. Most people using their mobile phones are completely oblivious as to how loud they are.

No, but lots of people have said 'shouting', 'yelling' etc. And it's not the case that everyone on their phone talks louder than normal. It just isn't. It's an oversimplification.

Most people using their mobile phones are completely oblivious as to how loud they are.

Another sweeping statement. I get public transport a lot and would say that loud and annoying mobile conversations are more the exception than the norm.

But someone who gets public transport once a year, or whatever Evans said, would know better, obvs.