"Personal" stereos

bargainbetty

Years ago, in the days of slam door trains and small seating compartments, a group of friends used to all get the same train home every night. We always clustered into this one little compartment, overstocking it, but sitting on each other's laps if need be, for a good laugh after a long day.

One night, a lad got into 'our' compartment, and put on his headphones. He started playing extremely loud tinny rattles, winding everyone up. I leaned over, touched him gently on the hand to get his attention and asked him to turn it down a bit. He told me to 'F**k off'. My friend then put her hand on his arm, and explained that although he had been extremely rude, and we would appreciate an apology, we were asking him nicely to turn his music down. He gave her the same advice, except he called her a rude name too.

Our friend Paul, in true chivalrous fashion, leant forward and gently tugged the headphone cord, popping them out of the lad's ears. He reached into the kid's pocket, removed the walkman (years ago, remember) and switched it off, then neatly coiled the cable around the machine, tucking the headphones in neatly at the end. He smiled at the lad, and then threw the walkman out of the window. When the youth started to complain about it, we all denied anything of the kind had just happened.

Ah, the days of old, when you didn't have to think so carefully about concealed weaponry.

PinkLipgloss

I was on the train a few weeks ago and two male 'neds' were sitting behind me were playing "progressive dance music" on one of their mobile phones.

It was extremely loud and sounded awful. The conductor approached them and said, "Do you have earphones for that?" to which one of them replied "No!" in challenging tone and the conductor just walked away!

heretolearn_2

I ask people to turn it down a bit and they usually do ok.

The awkward ones I never quite know what to do, so I do that tutting and dirty looks thing, which has no effect of course. Oh, I know what I'd LIKE to do but I'm scared of releasing the mad shouty fishwife chavette I keep hidden inside for argumentative purposes (I used to live on a very rough estate, the only defence sometimes was to join in).

Actually, I wish I could fart on cue and go and sit next to them and keep going until they shut up! Stop polluting my ears and I'll stop polluting your air :-)

pimento

It annoys me that you can pay upwards of £100 for an iPod yet they are supplied with the cheapest, crappiest earphones.

I bought a pair of memory foam in the ear earphones that don't leak noise (according to my sister who travels in with me).

qetu1357

heretolearn wrote: »

I ask people to turn it down a bit and they usually do ok.

The awkward ones I never quite know what to do, so I do that tutting and dirty looks thing, which has no effect of course. Oh, I know what I'd LIKE to do but I'm scared of releasing the mad shouty fishwife chavette I keep hidden inside for argumentative purposes (I used to live on a very rough estate, the only defence sometimes was to join in).

Actually, I wish I could fart on cue and go and sit next to them and keep going until they shut up! Stop polluting my ears and I'll stop polluting your air :-)

Tutting and dirty looks certainly had an effect on the bus I was on once.

The yoof threatened to stab the person doing the tutting.

Thank god I can drive to work.

preciousillusions

Didn't that train have a 'quiet' carriage?

The_One_Who

preciousillusions wrote: »

Didn't that train have a 'quiet' carriage?

At least in this part of Scotland, no 'normal' commuting train (ie, not a long-distance train like Virgin) has a quiet carriage. In fact, at rush hour Scotrail only put on a three-carriage train instead of a six and cram everyone in to unsafe levels.

DCFC79

Why do people play music on they're phones, ive experienced it and found most of the time its young girls playing r n b rubbish,

heretolearn_2

Oh I LOVE the quiet carriages on trains!

fluffnutter

heretolearn wrote: »

Oh I LOVE the quiet carriages on trains!

They are great but it doesn't go far enough. People assume that headphones are fine to use in a quiet carriage and don't consider that, if their headphones leak noise, it's still an irritation. I've also seen people who use their phones quite happily in the quiet carriages; sure they turn off the ring and have it on vibrate or whatever, but they're still happy to shout into it when anyone calls. People also don't realise that quiet means quiet generally, so a group of four shrieking teenagers are more than happy to sit in the carriage and make loads of racket. If challenged they'll look a bit blank, because they're not listening to music, nor using their phones so what's the problem.

A great idea in theory, but they need better policing. Something that, in my experience, the guards can be reluctant to do. The best option, of course, is to ask someone politely yourself to make less noise. Sometimes that's not as straightforward as it seems.