Most Annoying Travel Habits

[David In Indy]

God! Any Borders Ive been to are always really noisy - what a dick.

Really!

I agree with Kelda. Border's is not a library. It's a bookstore! A book STORE! People talk in the bookstores around here all the time. But maybe that's because this is the Midwest, and Midwesterners love to talk a lot!

[ifyoucantfixit]

Here's a tale from the other side of a public-cell-phone-use conflict. About a year ago, I was in Border's bookstore when my brother called. In retrospect, I should have just asked to call him back, but I figured we could be done fairly quickly. Frankly, I hate having people call me on my cell phone, I hate even talking on the damn thing under any circumstances, and I just wanted to get it over with. I couldn't leave the store, because I'd already picked out a pile of books and, as it was, clerks kept attempting to reshelve them every time I turned my head.

So I took my books and moved over into the otherwise empty gift-card/picture-frame area -- about 10 feet from the nearest bookshelves -- and tried to speak in hushed tones. My bro had called about some stuff involving our mom, who was ailing (this was a few months before she died), including health-care and banking issues.

A few minutes in, I noticed this guy crouched over by a bookshelf, as I said about 10 feet away, giving me dirty looks. I lowered my voice further, turned and moved in the opposite direction. Then, a couple of minutes later, the guy suddenly loomed up about a foot in front of my face, and started loudly proclaiming in a sarcastic way: "Oh, gee, we're all just so interested in your bank accounts and all that stuff, so why don't you just tell us all about it and disturb everybody in the store while you're at it, and blah blah blah ..." He was talking really loud, right in my face, making it impossible to continue my conversation with my brother, though I could hear him on the other end laughing hysterically.

Finally, I managed to end the conversation with my brother. The guy meanwhile drifted away to the center of the store, and was examining a table of books. I went up to him and said, "You know, I'm sorry if my call disturbed you. But it was my brother, and he was calling to tell me some things about our mother, who is dying, so --" And he interrupted, "Oh, isn't that too bad? Well, gee, I have my problems too, but that doesn't mean I can just go into a bookstore and bother everybody in the place and blah blah blah ..."

I just looked at him and said, "You know what? You're a jerk," then turned and walked away.

So he literally YELLS after me, "Oh, isn't it nice to just walk away when you can't think of anything more to say blah blah blah ..." his voice echoing throughout the store.

I was kind of shaken, but afterward I had to agree with my brother that it was funny and ironic, especially the part about him shouting after me at the end. I'm sure the guy had been waiting for years for that kind of opportunity. And I have no doubt he wound up much more frustrated by the encounter than I was.

I haven't had a cell-phone conversation in a book store since then. But oddly, I have on at least two occasions heard other people talking on their cell phones in book stores -- including right among the book shelves. In both cases, I'm pretty sure I would have hardly noticed them at all if not for my previous experience, and neither one particularly bothered me. When I heard them, I just smiled.

      You could have just said to him,  "oh, I am so sorry, I didn't realize this was a library."  I didn't know you weren't allowed to talk in here.

           What a complete ass.

[David In Indy]

Quite frankly I couldn't care less if someone is talking on the cell phone within earshot of me. It's really no different than two people talking to each other in conversation except in this case somebody is talking into a phone. Big deal.

I DO find it rude though in those situations like the one Clarissa described - when someone in my group suddenly starts talking on their phone and everyone else is expected to remain quiet until the phone call is terminated. But someone talking on the phone inside a store or in a train carriage? That doesn't bother me at all.

[ifyoucantfixit]

     It doesnt bother me either, but in a movie theatre?  That is just plain rude.  Our theatres all have a message come up, to warn you to silence and
turn off all cell phones and pagers.  I think if you cant abide by that rule, maybe you should not be there.?

[David In Indy]

Yes, it's definately rude in a theatre. And other similar places.

[Front-Ranger]

Quite frankly I couldn't care less if someone is talking on the cell phone within earshot of me. It's really no different than two people talking to each other in conversation except in this case somebody is talking into a phone. Big deal.

I DO find it rude though in those situations like the one Clarissa described - when someone in my group suddenly starts talking on their phone and everyone else is expected to remain quiet until the phone call is terminated.

I agree. I have a freind who has that weakness. When he pulls his phone out of his pocket and starts talking, then we "dangling" friends start whispering together and concocting fun things to do, and then, if the phone conversation is protracted, the two of us go off together and leave him talking on the phone! That'll teach him!!

[Katie77]

I know we have gone off topic with this mobile phone thing....but I just wanted to tell you what happened with my nephew today.

He is a mechanic, and two days a week, he works behind the counter at the service centre of a car dealership.

Today, a bloke came in to pick his car up after a service, and Ryan was telling him what work they had done, and was explaining something to him, when the bloke's mobile phone rang, and the bloke answered it, and started talking on the phone, completely ignoring Ryan, who was only half way through talking to him about his car.

So, the phone on the desk rang, and Ryan answered it, and started taking details on phone from someone who wanted to book their car in.....Meanwhile, the bloke had finished his conversation on the mobile phone, and then stood there getting irritated because Ryan was now on the phone.

When Ryan hung up, the customer said he was rude, and had bad customer service..to which Ryan answsered, "well you were rude too, and I would not have taken phone call if you had not been on your mobile phone"......

These dam dang fangled things, they do create problems, thats for sure, and cause people who usually are not rude or ignorent to be so.

[LauraGigs]

These dam dang fangled things, they do create problems, thats for sure, and cause people who usually are not rude or ignorent to be so.

Totally!

[Kerry]

When I wasn't sardined into the 190 bus, the alternative city-bound commuter journey available to me was the equally crowded 150 bus to Manly wharf, from where I would make the half-hour ferry trip across Sydney Harbour to the city. I wish I had a hot dinner for every time I've had someone fall asleep on my shoulder on the ferry. I seemed to attract sleepers, like moths to a flame, on the ferry home at night.   

[Katie77]

Oh Kerry, that reminds me of a story of a woman I used to work with......

SHE fell asleep on a communter train one time, and woke up on someone's shoulder......

She woke up with a startle and apologised to the bloke, and then saw that she had dribbled on his suit....

She never travelled in that same train carriage again.