To think that in certain professions, you shouldn’t be openly discussing work in public?

[gfv12]

Trying to keep the title concise but here’s the scenario:

On a fairly busy train. Two women loudly discussing a child services related case / tribunal. No names disclosed of course, but what he said, she said, the next bit of the process, etc. Some whispered phrases (probably the identifiable information).

Now I’m usually a mind your own business person but my headphones died and it was loud enough to be the verbal equivalent of reading an article in the Metro.

I know the chances of figuring out who this is about or anyone of relevance overhearing are slim, but I can’t help feel there are some professions in which you’re bound by confidentiality and you apply common sense and not discuss such things in public.

YANBU - plenty of more appropriate places to discuss (go to your office)
YABU - mind your own business

We’re literally taught this at work, not to talk about sensitive information in public. I’m sure most companies teach the same!

Sometimes I think people are doing it for attention, sometimes I think they’re just stupid and don’t realise that everyone can hear. Also how boring that people can’t think of anything else to talk about whilst commuting!

@NewYearNewMee same! I think maybe that’s why I’ve sat there thinking WHY

You are bound by confidentiality in regards to identifiable information. If the individuals are not identifiable, the case can be discussed.

Many people in those confidential professions need to vent to friends and family about what they have experienced at work, for their sanity.

And of you've had a funny medical issue, chances are good your story has been told at dinner parties by doctors and nurses. Not identifiable, of course.

@Agix agree, but that’s a little different. Privacy of your own home, in person with someone you trust. In public though? If anyone reported me for discussing a disciplinary process on the train I’d be sacked!

No. You are allowed to discuss work/cases as long as it's anoymised. If its identifyable then no obviously.

Just before Christmas I sat behind someone with a whole lot of documents open relating to the security for her organisation. I could see the details very clearly as I put down my table and adjusted my iPad to read my book. If I’d been interested I could have photographed shift timings and number of security guards etc. I didn’t say anything. I find the boggling stupidity of people on public transport too exhausting. I had already told a man to turn the volume down on his music or wear headphones.

If it was totally anonymised and no one, not even the parties themselves, could have identified the people involved, then it wouldn't be a breach of confidentiality. But that seems unlikely unless it was all so vague as to become meaningless.

A lot of people seem to think that if you just don't mention names, you've magically protected their personal data. But if you're talking about an 8yo child from so-and-so school who's mum has XYZ medical condition and a new baby, there are a bunch of people who would know exactly who that is.

YANBU. It isn't even a question. Some people are stupid.

Totally inappropriate in my book. I’m in HR, you do not discuss work in public, lol, it’s just fucking common sense.

My NDN works for the police and he will walk around his garden, with his phone on loudspeaker, discussing cases and members of staff.
I work as a childminder and never discuss my families with anyone- but I've heard others that do. One of them ( who I know) was openly, and quite loudly, discussing one of her children with another minder at a Stay and Play group. Just so happened that someone else at the group realised who she was talking about, told the child's parent and the child was taken out of her care that day.
Obviously never heard of GDPR...

I had similar a few years ago on a train. There were no names mention but the circumstances were quite unique and I knew one of the parties involved. The changes of me sitting across from the people discussing it was pretty much zero but it happened. I whispered to them when I was getting off the train the first names of the people involved and they both went pale.

A while back I was sat next to a guy on a train that worked for the regulator of the sector I work in, for 3 hours I sat and read the confidential internal policy document he was commenting on whilst he manspread his laptop and other crap onto my side of the table. I've never said a word to anyone about it but it was a very useful insight for me!

exactly this.
It is only anonymous if you don't know them.
As soon as you know the person they are talking about the details of where, what, job, age, no of siblings or whatever can very quickly become idenitifiable.

On a train, there could be anyone listening, including one of the parties involved.

I regularly commute all over the country on trains and some of the things I have seen and heard.... some mundane others could be useful if I was a competitor
Fast food companies full festive marketing campaign
TV staff going from Salford to London for an awards- discussing who got upto what last time 😅
Better than a podcast sometimes!

You are allowed to discuss work/cases as long as it's anoymised. If its identifyable then no obviously.

But you don't know whether anyone sitting nearby knows the people involved and will recognise them from what you've said, even if you don't mention names.

My mother was once in a part of London she didn't normally go to, and realised two girls behind her in the bus queue were talking about one of her sisters.

I once overheard a group of people on a train talking about a court case they had just been attending which involved a teenage girl. I knew which town they had come from; if I'd known the girl in question, I would have recognised her from what was said.

I sat behind 2 women on a bus in London, one was a receptionist at a GP practice and told the her friend she'd looked up the records of the daughter of a woman they knew and read she'd been discussing contraception as she was sleeping with her boyfriend!! I was absolutely horrified, especially as she was doing it in a gossipy way and she said she'd waited till everyone else had gone home to look. I know it's illegal but I wasn't sure how to report it.

This!!!

That’s AWFUL

True, and I'm more bothered by the fact that there's so much emphasis on policies, not the reality. In an overcrowded 48 hour wait AE, my relative's private information was overheard by all. I knew all about the private birth details of all the women on my maternity wards because curtains aren't sound proof.
As long as personal information genuinely isn't revealed, there's no moral difference in doctors/social workers talking about their cases on the train, and my friends talking about medical/social work issues they saw on TV.

I think this is an interesting point. Policies are in place to protect either a process or person. It’s ok for some to feel that personally it wouldn’t bother them, but for others it may be a compromising position. Some upthread have mentioned how they’ve identified situations in the past and that’s why those policies are in place.

You inform the practice manager at the surgery by phone and follow up in writing. That is a sackable offence and there will be an audit trail of who has accessed patients' records.

Unless, of course, you don't know which practice. People like that shouldn't be in the job.

I agree, and perhaps you could have just mentioned whilst leaving (if before them) that you could overhear them.

Well, I worked for the DWP, and then Child Ptotection. So, no, I wouldn’t have talked about work. Depends on the job.

I’ve heard conversations from people working in the cafe at the health club near me. They talk loudly, with headphones in, ask for addresses, phone numbers and email addresses which they repeat OUT LOUD! I am amazed at how unprofessional they are. It’s happened on a lot of occasions with various people. I sit reading and hear everything. Haven’t approached any of them yet but it has made me aware and I always ask people who I phone, whether they are in a private place if I have to give them any of my personal details.