Work calls on trains

[the7Vabo]

But of a rant but I’m sick of people using their commute time to do work calls.

I just moved location on a train as it looked like I was going to be subject to a call for almost the whole journey (an hour). He’s so loud I call still hear him from the other end of the carriage.

I also work in one of the largest organisations where I live and I regularly overhear calls relating to it.

The guy this morning had his laptop open, basically acting as if he was at a desk.

Is it unreasonable to expect that people consider that others may not want to be subject to the noise during their morning commute?

Huge bugbear of mine.

I'M ON A TRAIN. OH YOU CAN'T HEAR ME? I'M ABOUT TO LOSE SIGNAL.

SORRY I LOST SIGNAL. I'M ON A TRAIN.

Some sort of narrative to make it clear they're very important and delegate some work.

YANBU. And if they’re sharing work-sensitive information with the whole carriage, I’d take notes and report them.

…In that past I’ve tweeted the org they work for, and said “Interesting to find out X, Y and Z on my train journey this morning”

The was someone from a council one (had badge on), talking through Social Care stuff

It’s like people think they are in a bubble.

It doesn't bother me. I juts put headphones in and listen to a podcast or music while reading/getting on with my own work. I just consider myself lucky that I don't work crazy long hours that require me to be "on" all the time. Quiet carriages also exist.

If I was involved in industrial espionage ( I'm not) I would just spend my days on commuter trains. It's amazing what you find out...

Sounds like my last boss. Lovely bloke but... complete prawn when it came to work calls on trains. I'm surprised someone didn't thump him.

They are really irritating. No one’s that indispensable that they can’t switch their phone off for a train journey.

I refuse to work on the train. I work with sensitive information. I don't give a fuck that colleagues do it, I'm not prepared to deal with someone trying to read my screen or risk someone getting a photo of it. That could cost me my job, especially if it makes it to the newspapers as it's interesting to lots of people, especially criminals.

No one has complained about my lack of work while travelling since I put my foot down!

Not only is it truly annoying, but I'm sure must break confidentiality rules for lots of organisations.

Are you OK with people talking, or is it that you cant hear both sides of the conversation that annoys you? Surely you could go in the quiet carriage if you are that bothered.

Having 3 kids, doing a long commute and not wanting to work on urgent things when i got home, meant that i usually worked on the train. And had to put up with fat/smelly/farty etc etc people

Re the confidential information, same must be true of people who work in coffee shops.

My train journey is 40 minutes and about 60% of it is tunnel. Most days I quietly curse the shit WiFi and being in a tunnel which means I can't use the time for Duolingo (with headphones and skipping the speaking exercises of course) but whenever someone starts a work call I delight in knowing it can only last a few minutes and they'll be cut off.

4

Bob Mortimer has this summed up.

Why would I want to hear both sides of the conversation? I don’t want to even hear one side of it!!

I live in Ireland no such things as quiet carriages.

If you consistently work on the train and I mean loud calls not just going on your laptop, you are IMO prioritising your own quality of life over those travelling with you.

I don’t want to hear about your work on my commute.

I hate people on phones on trains and even worse people who watch things on their phones with no head phones. I think they must be missing some boundaries somewhere.

I had two blokes near me on a train having some kind of meeting but the amount of nonsense business jargon they kept coming out with and had to keep myself from laughing.
It was like a spoof scene from something like The Office.

I once overheard a call where someone was obviously taking a payment over the phone and repeated the person’s card details back to them so the whole carriage could hear! 🤦‍♀️

What I’ve had the last few weeks is people talking about property deals. One guy was ringing multiple people - “Need to ask Matthew about that”, makes next call “Hi Matthew…”, next call “so i asked Matthew” on so on.

The one this morning was deleting tasks on some sort of IT project.

I listen to this all day in work, I don’t want to listen to it to and from work.

And the ones who bang away really hard at their key boards, just type quietly

I think this thread must be a wind up. Who goes on a train and does not expect to here work calls or work related conversations going on? Public transport, cafes, park benches and all other spaces have been extensions of the workplace or even remote workplaces for a long time now.

@sosaad yes I "expect" it but it's still bloody annoying 😂

Oh noes, fat people.

Classy.

I expect to see people working on laptops, I do not expect them to be making calls. The one is far more disruptive than the other. Nobody should be on the phone at all on the train. It's just rude and antisocial.

There is a world of a difference between sitting quietly on a train on a laptop, and planning an entire property deal or a project so loudly that everyone else has to be subjected to it.

Its just people being inconsiderate and not caring if they infringe on other people.

Overheard phone conversations are much more irritating than overheard in-person conversations.