"Too educated" to be booted off a train? / MZ has a rant...

[MinionZombie]

Think again. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theloo...new-york-train Perhaps next time - don't be talking on your goddamned mobile phone, pissing everyone else off, and using profanity. Interesting to see there was another situation similar to that where a woman was booted after talking on her phone for the entire journey - in the QUIET car. That really pisses me off, actually. Like, last year I went on holiday by train, and specifically booked a seat in the quiet car to not be bothered by motherfuckers who are never off their fucking mobile phones because their boring lives are apparently immensely important and interesting (they can't possibly go a few hours without chatting inanely on a mobile, while EVERYONE ELSE CAN HEAR YOUR ENTIRE CONVERSATION) ... but, of course, you can't account for 'roamers' ... and 'roamers' who have no manners and fail to observe the basic rule of the QUIET part of the train. It's there as a refuge from morons on their phones and loud kids - yet on the way up there was some woman always on her phone (doubly annoying as my signal was constantly vanishing, making it ruddy hard for me to send a single ruddy text (with my phone specifically on silent), just so I could let who was meeting me at the terminus when I'd be there. Then on the way back there was some family - who proudly (in that thoroughly upper middle class, Guardian-reading, jokey-but-actually-still-serious manner) proclaimed "sorry, but our kids are very loud" ... well then FUCK OFF OUT OF THE QUIET COACH, YOU CRETIN! The entire journey there and back I just listened to my MP3 player - and making sure it wasn't loud either (if I can still hear the train, and every retarded non-important phone call surrounding me in the QUIET COACH, then you can't hear my SModcast podcasts) ... indeed I checked that there was no noise leaking from the earphones early in the trip, and indeed there was nothing ... ... in fact, strangely, I could hear the tinny leakage of some shit dance music coming from the earphones of some other muppet who didn't care for QUIET COACH rules, whilst I was listening to SModcast at a modest volume. Now, I don't mean everyone has to sit there in sombre silence - an occasional text (for an important reason, or for the purposes of scheduling your arrival with anyone meeting you at your stop) with your phone on silent/vibrate is tolerable for sure - and within reason in polite society - and if you've got an iPod or whatever, so what (who wants to listen to idle chit-chat from some chattering chumps three rows behind you that you don't know anyway, right?), just as long as it's at a modest volume whereby nobody in the carriage can hear any audio leaking out (besides, it's bad for your hearing, children ) ... but beyond that - FUCK OFF. Next time I use the train to go on holiday, I'm booking First Class. Five hours in the non-quiet "Quiet Coach" while a handful of chumps inflicted themselves upon those of us who observe the rules of the designated coach, was a form of torture in itself. The last hour - both ways - genuinely felt decidedly claustrophobic. I couldn't get off the train fast enough. Now, if I had money and a Sat-Nav/a sense of direction, I'd bloody well drive myself - because it's just you in your own personal cabin with your own music at whatever volume you want and you're in control ... but sod off am I spending a bunch on fuel and eight hours on motorways I've never driven before. ... What was the point of this? Oh yeah ... crazy "I'm very well educated" woman getting booted off a train ... it's funny really, it's like the Harvard version of "do you know who I am?!" Anyone else got any grievances from rail travel?

[Tricky]

ha ha go MZ!! To be honest I very, very rarely use public transport, choosing to drive pretty much everywhere I go within the UK even if its on the other side of the country! so I dont come into contact with this all that much. I do get irritated by people on mobile phones though, such as those in supermarkets who ignorantly walk around shopping one handed with the other hand pinning their phone to their ear, with that self important mobile phone speed walk that they all do! not even stopping to speak to the person on the checkout, they just stand there chatting to someone on the phone about crap while the poor person on the till is bagging their shopping for them & getting no response if they ask them any questions. And dont get me started on mobile phone/ipod zombies, those people who cant bear to not be plugged into music for more than 5 minutes at a time and seem to have no awareness of the world happening around them, they just blindly walk out in front of cars or dont even acknowledge other people around them, with those stupid fucking white wires hanging out of their ears "Instant ignorance - just add ipod" Don't get me wrong I love music myself & consider myself a bit of a muso with all the obscure stuff I listen to, but I dont have to be constantly plugged into it at the expense of good manners. I'm flying to Greece this coming monday, no doubt the plane will be full of those loudmouth types you speak of, but at least their phones will have to be switched off

[MinionZombie]

Here's hoping there aren't any crying babies on your flight, Tricky. Speaking of which, on the train ride back (with the loud kid and arrogantly jokey/proud parents), there was another family - the kid was constantly standing on whatever seat they were in (clearly they hadn't booked tickets, they were just hopping around whenever someone came along with a booked seat) and gawping at whoever was on either side of it - and the parents did nothing about it, and the bloke was constantly getting out of his seat elsewhere to stand over his wife sat elsewhere - with his arse thrust into the face of whichever poor soul happened to be in the vicinity of his seat-hopping family. A couple of times for something, yeah sure, but this dude was up and down like a ruddy bouncy ball for five hours! And another thing that annoyed me about that trip down - someone had booked the window seat (I wasn't able to book a window seat), and they just read the whole way - fuck off - it should be a law that if you book the window seat, you stare out of it the entire bloody way, not read a shit magazine. I mean for crying out loud - some of the scenery she was missing was ridiculously beautiful. If I'd been in there I'd have almost never looked away from the window as there's always something new coming along and you get to see so much of the country on the journey ... but no - sat there reading a gossip magazine, ugh. Some might say that MZ's Britain would be a bit of a dictatorship, but I'd disagree - clearly it'd be a paragon of Quiet Coach rule-following and respect for views-out-windows.

[shootemindehead]

Ahem... If she did this on an Irish train, she would be killed. "Do you know how educated I am?" Bloody hell.

[SymphonicX]

I guess quiet carriages are meant for just that...Society wouldn't require quiet carriages if the annoyance of a mobile phone user blurting out a conversation or music was tolerable or even remotely accepted. It isn't. I don't really care about people using their phones on the train - I do care HOW they use their phones. It's all about moderation, and respect. I'm not going to get huffy with a 60 year old man speaking to his wife on his way home about what to have for dinner - when said man is keeping his voice down, cradling the phone away from other passengers as to not direct his words into other's faces, and basically keeping it as short and sweet as he can without being rude. Where's the problem in that? That, to me, is a reasonable way to use a phone. Now when same said man is speaking in his outdoor voice, sharing trivial jokes and pointless anecdotes, with said wife, and aiming his face, voice and rancid breath at other passengers, - I start to feel that person is an obnoxious cnut. If a person is playing music on their mobile phone, then you basically deserve a slow and painful death. These devices should be outright BANNED. I've oft heard the excuse that a lone teenage girl will play music on the bus on her phone "to feel safe" - however they do not realise that by doing so, they put themselves in far more danger. Especially if I'm on the bus. Other things that annoy me but are unavoidable on public transport is getting caught up in the school run - where every stupid moment from a kid's weekend is screamed out loud on the train at full whack only to be met back with more bleating, screaming idiot kids. Goddamn their energy and ability to socialise and enjoy themselves at that time of the morning.

[MinionZombie]

How on earth does a girl on her own playing music on her phone make her feel safe?! Surely that just draws attention to them! I've never heard that said myself, but wow ... that makes naff all sense.

[SymphonicX]

How on earth does a girl on her own playing music on her phone make her feel safe?! Surely that just draws attention to them! I've never heard that said myself, but wow ... that makes naff all sense. Yep, couple of times I've seen it written over the web and in newspapers....I agree, it certainly draws unnecessary attention to the person playing the music. Usually followed by "turn that fucking shit off before I chuck you out the window"