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?

Do you normally travel by bus? Yabu, that is hella annoying. It's sounds like you normally travel another way in which case you could talk while on the car or walking. You'd have ruined my bus journey, sorry

IME people sat having a conversation not he bus do NOT lean together and whisper their conversation. they talk in a normal level voice. People around them can hear them.

Likewise if someone talks on the phone, if they use a normal voice, they are audible to others. Very little difference really.

However, some people are more stuffy and judge when it comes to phone use in public areas.

I know a small minority of people might shout when using a phone but, ime, most people talk normally!

YANBU! As long as you weren't shouting or having a conversation that's wildly inappropriate to have in public, there's nothing wrong with talking on a bus IMO.

Intolerant, self-important twats such as the ones you met on the bus may disagree, but fuck 'em! If they're that up-tight that's their issue not yours IMO.

Apparently our brains register mobile phone conversations differently than they do two-way conversations and can't tune them out in the same way.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/03/study-its-harder-to-tune-out-cell-phone-talkers-than-regular-human-conversations/274128/

I find it annoying, sorry, OP

Oh I'm an awful chatterer to strangers. I regularly freak people out in shops and other public places. But I'm foreign so usually get away with it. And generally, people are very nice. I know someone who has recently moved to south-east London and says that people are friendlier than in the West Country (I have no experience of the West Country. I'm not even sure what constitutes the West Country. Please do not berate the messenger ).

I do, admittedly, have Incredible Hulk like tendencies and get the rage when I can't commute in peace and quiet. It's a strange phenomenon. But based on 16 years experience of commuting in London, not unknown.

Another link.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3596270/

It's irritating to have to listen to another person's conversation.

I have a wish for Christmas - I would like the mobile phone to be UNinvented - are there are any clever clogs out there?

I agree with previous posters - a quick 30 second call to say you're running late or whatever is fine. But no one wants to listen to long phone conversations on public transport.

I was once on a 3 hour train journey back home after a work meeting. A teenager on the train had a 30 minute loud phone call telling all about his university open day, all the ins and outs of it. He ended the call then made two more calls to other family members, having exactly the same conversation each time! So annoying when you just want to rest and read your book in peace.

Usual

Please elaborate while I pretend to be engrossed in my book.

loobyLou1234 Can't even have a chat with a grandmother on the phone anymore

How silly - of course you can have a chat with your Grandmother - just not loud enough to annoy everyone else in a confined space . As I said earlier - just visit said GM and sit and chat over a cup of tea. How do you think people managed before the advent of mobile phones? There have never been phone boxes or booths on public transport to my knowledge. People do tend to yell into their mobile phones . . . . signal gets lost, etc. It's not the same as having a chat with an actual person physically sitting next to you. Not the same at all. And it is very intrusive for other passengers, if you are the passenger sitting in a seat which you have paid for and are perhaps trying to get five minutes to read your book, without the need of earplugs.

When you're speaking on a phone, you're not always aware of how loud you are. And it can be very annoyingly Dom Joly.

It's a real pet hate of mine and I would only do it in case of emergency.

I'm quite nosey and love people watching and ear wiggling on people's conversations on bus. I rarely use a bus so other people intrigue me haha

I wish the last five or so of you would be in my train carriage when I travel. We could just read or look out of the window.

Damn phone ear WIGGING NOT wiggling haha

Yanbu if talking in a normal voice, I get how shouting on the phone could be annoying. I talk on the phone when on the bus but do it in a quiet voice and I don't see how that's any different to people chatting to each other on the bus.

I don't mind. I got off a bus a stop early once because i really wanted to know what happened to Dennis.

YANBU. What a load of old bollocks boring dickhead posts on this thread

boring dickhead posts on this thread

Stop reading then - it's not compulsory!

I think sometimes some people don't understand the term 'companionable silence' ie, you don't HAVE to be making a noise to be able to live in this world. Sometimes quiet is so lovely.
Abraiid - I would love to travel in your carriage.
This is why 'Quiet Carriages' were invented in this modern age, but still there are some people who disrespect it.

I am agreeing with the OP.

that's why I'm reading !

Why is any disagreement met with 'stop reading'.

When talking on the bus isn't illegal via any method it's tough tits to everyone

It is though.

It's prim and proper fake middle class wannabe ballbag MNers.