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?

As a regular bus user it does grind my gears having to listen to people's conversations. Whether you intended to or not, it is highly likely that you will have raised your voice in order to be heard over the bus noise by your grandmother on the other end of the line. I now spend my time on the bus listening to podcasts through headphones to block out the noise around me.

Wait a fucking minute if you want to call your granny on the bus then you can call your granny on the bus.

Fair enough if you were ignoring someone you were travelling with them it would be rude.

Given some of the characters I've seen on buses/public transport, you sound quite normal.

Who are these people who think they can dictate to you when you can and can't speak to someone on the phone.

It's pretty inconsiderate to use your phone on a bus unless there is a genuine emergency. It's very easy to believe there's nothing wrong in it when it is you who are the offender, but using a phone is just as annoying as someone playing music too loud or having a conversation with another passenger.

It is very distracting and irritating to other passengers to inflict your noise upon them, however you go about it. It's a sign of the "me first, bollocks to the rest of you" mentality that so many people have.

It's pretty inconsiderate to use your phone on a bus unless there is a genuine emergency. It's very easy to believe there's nothing wrong in it when it is you who are the offender, but using a phone is just as annoying as someone playing music too loud or having a conversation with another passenger.

It is very distracting and irritating to other passengers to inflict your noise upon them, however you go about it. It's a sign of the "me first, bollocks to the rest of you" mentality that so many people have.

The OP said she wasn't shouting. Or swearing.

It would be way too boring to assume she was right and it's been now assumed she was shouting and being annoying.

Public space is just that - around here no smelly food, alcohol or instruments but apart from that it's a free for all.

yanbu.
a polite conversation at normal volume on a bus is no different to if u we're talking to the person next to you politely at normal volume. except nosey people can't hear the whole conversation!
if you are riding the bus u have to accept other people will be on it, and they are allowed to talk, on the phone or in person or to themselves if they're that way inclined!

I'm beginning to wonder if you were one of the pair who told her off

Most definitely not, I drive everywhere. Only use public transport when I absolutely have to, once a year on average to get into London. That's bad enough. No, you're grasping at straws, trying to justify your argument.

DP is bad with his mobile phone. He is self-employed, so important that he answers it and does, at every opportunity (when I'm not around), but when I am I really reprimand him to reiterate that not everyone wants to hear your bloody conversation - call them back in a private quiet minute, when no-one else has to hear you.

Maybe the couple liked silence and she wasn't talking g loud

It's easy to assume it's you, when you are shy, have esteem issues

We will never know but I stand by my words and don't give a shiner shit what anyone thinks.

Especially internet randoms

I use the bus all the time. With the rest of the "plebs".
Still, or maybe because of that, I think it's bad manners to conduct a long loud phone call.

Maybe they did like silence, but you can't expect silence on public transport.

No one expects silence, just the absence of avoidable noise.

I've just had visions through the whole thread of twinset and pearls brigade with knees together on the bus only looking forward having a heart attack when a pleb doth speak on the phone.

Just to clarify I was definitely not yelling! I said upthread I must have been speaking more loudly than I realised, and I am slightly mortified about being that person disturbing people But nobody is entitled to travel in absolute silence on a bus! I don't drive and I've tolerated tons of annoying shit from other people on public transport without confronting them.
Does it make any difference if I tell you the bus was full of senior citizens travelling on their free passes so I was pretty much the only person aboard who had paid?!

Yes it is.
A two way conversation tends to be quieter than a phone call.
Unless the conversation is very loud, which is, again, bad manners.

I'm with you OP. Ignore IGNORE IGNORE

My world is anything but cosy and little, but I tend not to share it, and my phone conversations, with the rest of the travelling public and I would appreciate it if they wouldn't, either.
Manners cost nothing.