To think that loudly conducting the staff meeting by phone on a train

[familycourtq]

Is fucking rude?

Very rude!

Fellow-travellers on trains are fucking rude by default. I've accepted this is the way things are going to be (infuriating I know), and never board without earphones and loud rock music available on a device, or without burying my nose either in work or a book.

This drowns out most of it. But last week it still didn't wholly shut out the carriage on my London train reeking of Stella and Prosecco BEFORE 10 AM, or drunken sad-sacks swaying down the aisle and jostling into me or treading into my feet (tucked under the seat, not blocking the aisles).

On the return trip I was asked to move from my reserved seat to make way for a couple who wanted to sit together (refused), and toward the end of the journey was subjected to one bloke slurring incomprehensible garbage a couple of seats down, and another one somewhere behind me making train noises! (Yes I jest you not).

First-class is no protection against horrors like this: just as frequently, it happens there too.

YADNBU.

I once heard a man on the train tell a colleague (on the phone), that he would 'populate a spreadsheet'.

I mean, really?? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I always quite enjoy eavesdropping on this sort of thing tbh. Depends how loud and what about. Also ‘populate a spreadsheet’ is a fairly normal expression.

'Populate a spreadsheet' is the normal expression.

I would be so so tempted to shout things out the staff could hear such as - excuse me - please do you realise you are unzipped in the trouser department. Or - stop pretending you are on a train to x, when you are really going to Blackpool.
I wouldnt, but I would amuse myself with the thought.

No ruder than everything else the public do on public transport:

Bags/ shoes on seats
Doing ones make up
Blasting music through headphones so you can still hear
Eating so crumbs go everywhere

My boss does this - also on long distance buses. I cringe mightily at the other end of the conference call, it must be hell for his fellow passengers!

The woman doing it this morning didn’t need a phone, she was so fucking loud

Yanbu. I hate it. But I also kind of get it. DH commutes long distance and travels during work time so there's sometimes no way for him to avoid it. I die 1000 deaths of embarrassment when I very occasionally sit next to him doing it. But it's not worth getting the sack over, nor would I be happy if he missed an extra night at home to travel later.

And I don't find it as objectionable as the women who get on in Newcastle and get wankered before midday. And no, it's not every time, but it has happened the last three times I've been on a cheap ticket to London. No chance to work - even noise cancelling headphones can't drown out the screeching.

DH and I used to regularly get a commuter train with ‘Hazel from HR’. She worked for whoever it is that owns pizza express. It was so bad it was funny, I have to say I miss her as it did liven up the commute.