# Is this rude phone behavior, or am I too sensitive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 14, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657 "2021-09-14T17:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/1 "2021-09-14T17:00:26Z")
I drove my parents to a hospital today for a consultation, and had to wait two hours. So I found a rather quiet place besides the hospital with some benches, it was a beautiful late summer morning and I decided to wait there. During this, several people came and went and sat on the benches, some the whole time who were obviously also waiting on someone. Now some of them had calls on speakerphone, so that all people in the vicinity clearly could hear all their calls, and one guy even watched a TV show on full volume over the speaker, a silly show I must say that mostly consisted of laughter and giggles. I’m really not anti-smartphone, in fact it mostly bothered me because I was quietly browsing the Dope on _my_ phone, but isn’t that antisocial behavior? I’m not bothered by people making calls on speakerphone walking in the street, but in a rest area near a hospital? This even isn’t a get-off-my-lawn matter, the worst offender was a guy about twenty years older than me. So what say you? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/2 "2021-09-14T17:10:08Z")
Yes it’s rude. And I’m pretty passive on this issue. Some guy sitting next to me on the bench talking on the phone through the ear piece, I don’t consider rude. But a loud speaker phone is a different story. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/3 "2021-09-14T17:10:10Z")
Yes it is. The program, excuse me, TV SHOW watchers should use their damn earbuds. People who use speaker phone in public, especially whilst holding the phone like a serving tray, should have their phone rights taken away. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/4 "2021-09-14T17:11:22Z")
Solution: [phone crash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA1J-raGinQ) them. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/5 "2021-09-14T17:13:54Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I’m not bothered by people making calls on speakerphone walking in the street, but in a rest area near a hospital? Why, exactly, is an audible conversation where one person is talking from a distance through a device different or worse than an audible conversation where both people are physically present? Would you consider two people talking together in a rest area to be rude? ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/6 "2021-09-14T17:14:59Z")
I agree. It’s rude. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/7 "2021-09-14T17:17:11Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Why, exactly, is an audible conversation where one person is talking from a distance through a device different or worse than an audible conversation where both people are physically present? Would you consider two people talking together in a rest area to be rude? Because: A: it’s usually louder. The callers mostly scream into their phones when on speakerphone. B: the sound over the speaker sounds tinny, shitty and annoying, like no natural voice. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/8 "2021-09-14T17:18:34Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Why, exactly, is an audible conversation where one person is talking from a distance through a device different or worse than an audible conversation where both people are physically present? Would you consider two people talking together in a rest area to be rude? If two people are conversing in person in a place where other people are all being quiet, they tend to keep their voices down. A person on the phone does not, and the person on the other end of the line (speaking through the loudspeaker) definitely does not. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/9 "2021-09-14T17:19:53Z")
I work from home now and there is a walking trail across the street that my window overlooks. There are many people walking alone, yet I can hear their damn phone conversations all the way over here. I feel like yelling out the window “INSIDE VOICE!”, like you would do for a toddler. Yes, blathering openly to the entire world your self-important phone call is rude. STFU! Another thing that has emerged during the pandemic is people using Bluetooth speakers out in the open, like in their backpack while they are walking or hiking, and skiing. Especially annoying is people who use them on their bike (the speakers are about the size of a water bottle, so fit perfectly into water bottle cages on bikes). WTF? I have been saying to these people “EARBUDS!”. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/10 "2021-09-14T17:20:56Z")
Okay, so it is a half-deaf elderly couple and one is using an electrolarynx. Are they being rude? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/11 "2021-09-14T17:25:45Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > WTF? I have been saying to these people “EARBUDS!”. No, not the evil, culture destroying earbuds! > **[A quote by Ray Bradbury](https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/530238-in-writing-the-short-novel-fahrenheit-451-i-thought-i)** > > In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beve... (Although, with the music playing they probably thought you were yelling _Airbud_ and were making a movie recommendation.) ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/12 "2021-09-14T17:25:53Z")
Private conversations are supposed to be just that–private. If you must have a private conversation in public, it should be quiet. Cell phone conversations are not. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/13 "2021-09-14T17:27:48Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Okay, so it is a half-deaf elderly couple and one is using an electrolarynx. Are they being rude? In the very very improbable case that I met such a couple, I would cut them some slack. ETA: you’re not serious, are you? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/14 "2021-09-14T17:30:33Z")
Lol, please tell me you’re not seriously trying to make the argument that if it’s not rude for the old couple it shouldn’t be rude for the other able bodied people. Bc that would be ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/15 "2021-09-14T17:31:50Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Lol, please tell me you’re not seriously trying to make the argument that if it’s not rude for the old couple it shouldn’t be rude for the other able bodied people. Why not? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/16 "2021-09-14T17:33:39Z")
If you really want to know the answer to that question I would suggest you take a class in empathy 101. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/17 "2021-09-14T17:34:21Z")
I think it’s pretty narcissistic behavior, _particularly_ when you describe the circumstance. Anything within a stone’s throw of a hospital is subject to additional consideration. Things aren’t always going so well for somebody waiting on their loved one – a patient _in_ that hospital. It’s a really good time to be particularly considerate of what those around you might be going through. IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/18 "2021-09-14T17:36:52Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > If you really want to know the answer to that question I would suggest you take a class in empathy 101. And you should take a class in remedial “the world doesn’t revolve around you”. Who are you to judge which people are worthy to have conversations and which aren’t? ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/19 "2021-09-14T17:36:55Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > considerate of what those around you might be going through It’s the last thing on their tiny, inconsiderate minds. If it’s loud in an otherwise quiet space, it’s rude. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2021, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657/20 "2021-09-14T17:38:50Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Things aren’t always going so well for somebody waiting on their loved one – a patient _in_ that hospital. And the people on the phone are what–just visiting the hospital on a lark? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-rude-phone-behavior-or-am-i-too-sensitive/950657.md?page=2)