Rude woman on the bus, WWYD?

[DontReinMeIn]

Last night I got on the bus like normal, there was a guy watching the news out loud without headphones on. It was annoying but it is what it is, you can’t force someone to put headphones on, so I put my AirPods in and that was that.

a couple of stops later an older woman (probably 50-ish?), got on and goes straight up to the man, starts jabbing him and shouting at him to turn it off, because the news was now about Trump and a speech he made and the woman “can’t bear to listen to it”. The man said no and turned back to his phone. She started screaming hysterically about the fact she can’t stand Trump, shouldn’t be subjected to listening to him in a public place, and demanding that the bus driver remove him from the bus.

The driver refused and told her that she needed to sit down or get off, as he couldn’t continue his route with her being disruptive. She sat down, but was crying loudly and told every single person that got on about what had happened, how she was so much better than that man and criticising everyone else on the bus for not “speaking up” about him listening to it.

AIBU to think I should’ve just told her to shut up? Looking back I regret it because as much as I dislike Trump (and people not using headphones on public transport), the man wasn’t actually doing anything wrong and shouldn’t have been attacked like he was.

How would it be if everyone listened to stuff on their phone without headphones on - not everyone has ear buds. There are signs on our buses that say get your headphones on but its not law.
She may have over reacted but he was a selfish prick.
I'd of sat next to him and put some death metal on - full blast 😁

Yes he did! His behaviour was antisocial to start with.
Of course it doesn’t mean people should scream at him but he was in the wrong at the beginning. It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t bother you that much, listening to a video out loud (or having a phone on loudspeaker) in public transport is antisocial.

It is much worse these days, it wasn’t norm 5 years ago to listen without headphones and should not be acceptable now.

The same for hospital wards where it is really bad. Having been a frequent visitor to 2 hospitals recently, the sound levels from multiple personal devices on the wards was awful. Luckily the person I was visiting is deaf otherwise i truly think it would hamper recovery.

I'm telling you the truth. The things you're saying about older women now will be said about you before you know it. If you don't want the next generation of young people to be belittling you, then don't perpetuate ageism now, and attitudes may be better when your time comes.

Errr no

Assaults are bad.

However

The noise polution offender can bring headphones or switch on the caption option not impose his or her personal media choices on others in public spaces.

And what am I saying?

I personally don’t enjoy listening to chatter on the bus (so I take headphones)? That I live in an area with older people? That I think in general there’s a generational difference in how my generation views it against how older generations view it?

None of that is exactly offensive, is it?

And expecting people to sit in silence is antisocial!

The man is a twat. And so would you have been if you’d started on the woman.

He (you) behaved like an idiot and got told
off, by someone who is either not very well
or had had a terrible day. Hopefully you won’t be inconsiderate on public transport in future.

Oh Jackie.

I am a 26 year old woman, who is currently on the bus with her AirPods in (listening to Olivia dean, if you must know!), I am very vocal about my downright hatred for Trump and everything he stands for. I was not listening to a press conference by him!

I just don’t care if other people listen to things out loud - for all I know, it might be the only way they can get through a bus journey.

So how do the others get through their bus journey? Why do his needs trump? (scuse pun)

What country do you live in?
It most likely does have anti-social behavior and noise regulation laws.

Even if it doesn't I doubt it has a law preventing a bus driver/company from kicking off anyone engaging in anti-social behavior.

This is crazy. So everyone has to wear airpods or similar because of some selfish twats. Ok…

Oh, such a grown up, wow 26! I’m not sure the point of your post, although I’ll give you some advice; next time you should definitely get involved, think that’ll work out well for you.

I don't understand when people say things like this: 'it's not an excuse'. No one is saying it's an excuse. It's an explanation, and it also means that telling her to shut up wouldn't have helped at all, because her problem is clearly deeper and not going to be addressed by being told off on a bus.

Personally, I dislike the general background noise of a bus - the engine, the chat, the kids crying etc. so I take AirPods with me. I could also take my loop earplugs if I wanted. I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of sensibility to say that if you struggle with the noise levels, you need to mitigate them, because we don’t live in a society where public transport is entirely silent

But this thread is not about general background noise. It's about someone blasting out noise from their phone.

OP the issue is you downplayed his antisocial behaviour but are making a big deal about hers

You would have told her to shut up but not him

Then you say it's ok to play music but "old ladies chatting" annoys you. Which is pretty fucking rude and ageist

Headphones don't mean you sit in silence. They just mean you don't inflict your music/podcast/TV habits on others

So everyone on the bus can play their music or podcasts or whatever out loud? Through their shitty phone speaker, turning it up to outdo the person next to them. Would that still be ok?

Sigh. Do you really not understand the meaning of "anti-social" behaviour? 🙄

thats part of the background noise though

"old women chatting". You really can't help yourself, can you?

I would have thought out of all the different ages of women, the ooder ones are the quietest

Not a "woman hater", no - an old woman hater.

The basis of your whole thread is a stereotype - an ageist one,