AIBU or is this mad behaviour on a train?

[capermum]

So today I have a meeting the other side of the country today and I get an early train, guy in my seat when I arrive but shifts over for me (it’s a table of 4)
I’m window forward facing
he’s aisle forward facing

But THEN! The guy reaches down into a carrier bag on the floor and pulls out a large bowl which he places on top of his laptop, then reaches down again and retrieves a box of cornflakes that he tips into said massive bowl and then pulls out a big bottle of milk, pours it on the flakes and proceeds to munch away while watching iplayer though headphones like munch munch munch right in my effing ear, it’s not first class or anything so the seats are very close to each other.

I wouldn’t even sit next to my DH to eat cereal that close let alone a stranger!!!

After about 2 mins of this I interrupted his viewing and say “You have to let me out! I have to move while you eat, this is so antisocial and I can’t bear it”
“But I’m nearly finished” he says agog
“But I can’t bear to listen to another mouthful!”

So i do indeed leave while he finished and read my book further down the train where I can, in fact, still bloody hear him munch-munching away…

Then when it’s safe I return to my seat and get back to work

Oh yeah and when I’d arrived I get out my laptop and set it up to work, he reaches right across me an plugs into the socket that would have been closest to me, before I have a chance to, the passenger across from me notes this and offers me his socket with a knowing look, so is this further proof he’s a without doubt a total psycho?

I think in the end I made him as uncomfortable as he made me by calling him out, so I guess we are quits (for now)

It’s quite out of character for me to confront anyone ever, so tell me, is this totally antisocial or am I being over sensitive? and if I’m you think I’m being too soft then, please tell me what’s the worst outrageous antisocial behaviour you’ve witnessed on a train?

My colleague just told me she watched someone clipping their toenails once with those clippers that fling the nails every which way. So that’s probably worse

About 20 years ago I saw a smart suited young man eating a full English breakfast on a plate with knife & fork on the tube, central line to be precise. English eccentricity at its finest I say.

I have chronic misophonia, a trigger like this would have sent me over the edge.

Sounds like Mr Bean 😂

YABU. If someone is commuting maybe they need to eat. It sounds as though he was a regular traveler whereas you aren’t accustomed to public transport.

At least cereal doesn’t smell, like beer, wine, or a hamburger. And he didn’t tip milk onto your laptop. I don’t see that he did very much wrong.

If you wanted isolation from other members of the public, on public transport, then you should have booked a First Class ticket.

They eat in first class too

Full QUIET coach last year, a guy was facetiming loudly in the seat across the aisle! I felt so sorry for the woman next to him in the window seat, fortunately someone got off at the next stop so she could move. I didn’t feel confident enough to ask him to be quiet, and perhaps no one else was bothered.

I use local public transport regularly, its usually ok apart from some very stinky people and the totally unaware travellers who clout seated passengers with their backpacks!

If have left at the first sight of his box of cereal. I can't stand the sound of anyone eating. What a weirdo.

I find the obsession with other people eating far weirder than people eating.

After all, we all eat. We have to eat to live, and food is sold widely in shops and restaurants and takeaway vendors across the country. So quite why someone bringing food from home on to a train is so offensive is beyond me.

And calling someone a psycho for doing so really is offensive.

People who let their kids scream and run up and down on public transport are far worse. Or let them watch video’s on loudspeaker, or who make calls on speakerphone so you have to hear their entire conversation.

I speak another language. Once a woman got on a train I was on speaking said language and she was having a full-blown row with her husband. On the phone Telling him how bad he was in bed, how awful the sex was etc, the kind of argument you would only have if you knew no-one was listening, and speaking a different language my guess is she didn’t consider that anyone would understand. But if she’d been having the same argument in English the whole carriage would probably have gone home to their partners, or posted on mn about the row they’d overheard and was it unreasonable to tell your husband they’re a bad shag on public transport….

He sounds kind of weird and annoying. Eating on the train is one thing but actually bringing a bowl, spoon, cereal and milk along to have some cereal is out and out weird. I wouldn’t have moved though, I’d probably just put my AirPods in to drown the noise out.

You’re over sensitive. People eat and drink all sorts on trains, it’s not unusual. So long as they’re not throwing it at you or spitting it at you then it’s something you just have to accept.

Also, the plug socket doesn’t belong to the window seat. It’s for anyone to use.

@leachesleachesleachesleachesleaches 😂😂

He had a napkin the lot as I recall, all very smart, now I'm only gonna remember him as Mr Bean

Bizzare to eat cereal w milk on the train and I hate the crunching too so ynbu!

Someone eating cereal wouldn't bother me at all, except I would be nervous about milk sloshing over us both if he's careless.

I have previously seen a guy clip his nails on the train - bits flying everywhere.

So true! Sometimes I have to catch a train at 5.45am which means the time I get up it is far too early for breakfast and so I usually eat something on the train around 6.30am. The op does not know that man’s situation, what time he was up, what time he boarded the train or anything yet chooses to selfishly be rude to him because it doesn’t suit her and she gets the ‘ick’ from hearing crunching noises! I would not begrudge someone eating their breakfast on the train, if someone needs to eat, let them eat!

an ironic overstatement makes something insignificant sound like a bigger deal than it is to highlight how minor it is.

@capermum 😂😂 no it doesn’t 😂😂 that isn’t what irony means at all. The word you’re after is EXAGGERATION. You are exaggerating how bad it was.

YABU

Eating on a train - normal
Eating cereal - normal
Eating cereal on a train - at worst very slightly odd as a hand food is generally more convenient.
Bringing your own food, cutlery and crockery - sensible, organised and farsighted.
Not being able to sit next to your own husband while he eats cereal - odd
Stating - “You have to let me out! I have to move while you eat, this is so antisocial and I can’t bear it” and “But I can’t bear to listen to another mouthful!” - fucking weird.

Try the Megabus next time, you’ll LOVE it

Yes! That’s bothering me too so thanks for pointing that out @SkySecret

Exaggerating something isn’t irony-it’s hyperbole.
Possibly the most irritating thing about this thread is insisting you’re being ironic 🤣

Irony would be (eg) if the cereal eating guy had just mentioned he was on his way to a misophonia support group before tucking into his crunchy breakfast at full volume.

Well said! I get that people have certain conditions which means the sound of someone crunching can be very loud and ‘unbearable’ to them but then they need to wear ear plugs or similar. It’s not fair to expect everyone else on the train not to eat or worse, create a huge drama and call them out and embarrass them on the train in front of everyone!

people have certain conditions

I agree- if people want everyone else to accommodate their neuroses- for example being mindful of misophonia then the same courtesy needs to be extended to other people’s “madness”
For example, someone not behaving within your societal norms or making the slightly eccentric decision to take a bowl and cornflakes on a train, shouldn’t be pointed and jeered at.

It's no more antisocial than eating anything else on a train. It's not his fault you have a particular aversion to hearing people eat. You're a lot weirder than him.

If you're really looking for tales of the worst antisocial behaviour people have witnessed on a train, then I'll be delighted to tell you about the time I witnessed a man beat the shit out of another man by repeatedly smacking him the face with a unopened beer can, or the time my friend and I were sitting opposite a man who got his dick out and started having a wank.

Why can't he just get up earlier

Probably because his commute is 'dead' time so a sensible option is to use it so you don't have to get up earlier.

I find the obsession with other people eating far weirder than people eating.

Well quite @MySugarBabyLove To find eating offensive is the weird thing, not eating.

Actually, it’s bathos.

What's missing in a lot of these comments is any sort of consideration for other passengers. I'd never eat anything smelly or noisy on public transport. Sign of the times.