Wouldn’t a better question be, “When did we become so insensitive?” As in, why do people not even seem to care about other people’s comfort whatsoever? People who continuously talk or laugh very loud on public transportation are self-centered pricks. If they want to be noisy they can wait until they’re at home or at some other appropriate venue for being noisy.
Noisy people are extremely annoying and have an enormous sense of entitlement.
Take comfort that they are laughing too loud, when they grow quiet, they’re plotting some outrage.
The driver is Supposed to tell them to be quiet!
If you’re several cars back and the driver can hear it, you know they’re too loud.
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip]
Sorry, but those of you shedding crystal tears over the Loss of Laughter from Life™ clearly don’t comprehend the type of “laughter” the OP is describing, but I know precisely what he’s talking about. QUOTE]
Well sign me up for the Loss of Laughter from Life newsletter. Because when the laughter of children is a reason to get genuinely upset, that is a shame.
The fact that the girls are considered fat and ugly by those that want them to shut the fuck up, but are still able to laugh together and have fun is great. I am willing to bet that if Larry Mudd considers them fat and ugly, then they have heard this sentiment from others like him. I’m glad it hasn’t turned them into a bunch of depressed sour pusses.
And what is up with the charges of ‘fake laugher’? Why would they ‘fake’ laugh?
I heart the bus.
Halfway home last night our bus stopped in Peckham (not the greatest neighbourhood). We could hear yelling and no one wanted to go down and see what was happening (not even the men) for fear of being stabbed or something. The driver, in all his wisdom, then turned the lights off. He was obviously meaning for everyone to get off the bus but now we were all twice as wary so we stayed put. The yelling continued and a woman and small child ran up the stairs and sat down, muttering about how ignorant the driver was. My friends and I (all girls) timidly headed downstairs and learned that the woman with the child hadn’t paid and the driver was standing firm, waiting for the police to come and kick her off. In the meantime, all of us who had PAID were screwed out of our fares and had to pay again for the next bus.
Still, I prefer an extra 20 min on the bus in the morning than cramming onto the tube.
I too get annoyed by loud chilluns, but one thing I’ve noticed is that it really isn’t that hard to be loud on a bus. The close quarters thing can amplifiy one’s voice a lot, particularly if you’re sitting in the back.
Another thing I’ve noticed: even the quiestest youthful laughter can be hella annoying at the end of a grown-up’s work day. Kids are hopped up on giggly fun while all the adults are busy thinking about their sore feet, the dinner plans they don’t feel like committing to, and that astronomical cell phone bill they keep putting off paying. When I get into one of my moods, any laughing makes me want to kill.
The unfortunate thing is that these kids won’t know that they were being disruptive, because no one had the guts to tell them.
Frankly I don’t care whether it’s laughter, conversation, sobs, or throat-singing— if it’s going on right next to me in an enclosed space, and is so loud as to cause ear pain and synaesthetic lightning bolts to flash across my field of vision, it’s a problem.
Rest assured, if I could I would wave a magic wand and ensure that every bus and train I ride from now on was peopled by adults talking quietly, leaving you to ride with hordes of joyous “children” screaming into your ear, so we could both live out our remaining years in bliss.
I crank up the daft punk to keep the kids off my lawn.
Larry Mudd, I am “A Certain Age.” I left my teen years behind a long time ago.
But if someone is annoying you, either make an effort to stop them or grin and bear it.
Had you gotten off the bus, come home, and MPSIMSed them, I’d have found it funny and probably laughed along with you. But you snarked at them on your way out and then came home and Pitted them, and I happened to read your thread and find what you did a little… well, less than worthy of commiseration.
I’m not actually worked up or pissed off. All I’m doing is what you wanted to do- confront something mildly annoying.
Well, I don’t actually find it bliss. But it certainly doesn’t make me truly upset. If it did, I would just get a car. As it is, I tolerate the joyous screaming. And why is the word children in quotes? Odd. The OP states that it was children.
The fact that the girls are considered fat and ugly by those that want them to shut the fuck up, but are still able to laugh together and have fun is great. I am willing to bet that if Larry Mudd considers them fat and ugly, then they have heard this sentiment from others like him. I’m glad it hasn’t turned them into a bunch of depressed sour pusses.
And what is up with the charges of ‘fake laugher’? Why would they ‘fake’ laugh?
[/QUOTE]
Is this really so foreign to you? I’m envious, frankly. Genuine laughter is almost universally a pleasant sound. That’s that noise that comes, unbidden, when someone truly finds something strikingly witty or humourous. There is another kind of laughter, usually grating as hell, which is a forced noise used by someone in an attempt to convince those around them that the foregoing was actually really really amusing.
It goes like this:
“She was all ‘Don’t think I’m giving you your allowance unless you do better in summer-school,’ and I was all like ‘Whatever, I’ll take what I want!’ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“At Brandon’s birthday party, Julie let him finger her in the bathroom, and then she spent the rest of the night with Steve! What a slut! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“Did you see Vikram’s cell? Ghetto! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
I didn’t really snark at them, more about them. It’s a form of commiseration, a continuation of a running joke I have with my GF dating back to when she worked customer service, and would sometimes complain about stand-out assholes: “If it makes you feel any better, just remember that studies have shown that being rude to customer service people is a leading cause of ass cancer.”
As I said, this is basically just a vent - something that rattled around in my head until I thought I’d better just set it down. I’m sure if you thought about it you might see that there’s no reason for a strict dichotomy of “make an effort to stop them or grin and bear it.” Neither option really applies in this case. Trying to make a personal stand against teenaged girls being annoying in public is a little like Xerxes having the sea flogged. “People always complain about the weather, but they never do anything about it.”
Sometimes it’s just good to bitch a little.
I enquoted “children” because while the same term is used to apply to a wide range of ages, there is (or at least there ought to be) a difference between what’s considered acceptable behavior for five-year-olds on a playground and for, say, fourteen- or fifteen-year-olds on a public bus.
what, no racist, sexist, religiousist angle to the rant? were they all of the same colour, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, caf-decaf preference or something? c’mon, let’s try a broader brush.
Leave the Constitution out of this!
Do you want to hear a really annoying symphony of caterwauling children, shrieking teenagers, and belligerent drunks? Try riding mass transit anywhere in the Chicago area during “Taste of Chicago” week.
No, I think “When did we become so sensitive?” is exactly the question that needs to be asked. Why do you think there are so many rants on here lately about loud cellphone users and noisy people in movie theaters? It’s because we’ve become so increasingly isolated that anyone who dares make any noise in a public setting is automatically someone worthy of being pitted.
Quite frankly, I find the “enormous sense of entitlement” shown by people who expect everyone to be quiet in public to be much more annoying.
Huh? This makes no sense at all - nearly everyone one is “quiet” in public - in so far as that when they are in an enclosed space with other people, they have the sense not to scream at the top of their lungs. Your friends are all a few feet from you - it’s possible to communicate with them without imposing on every single other person in the space.
I don’t think it’s an unreasonable expectation to have to be able to carry on your own conversation without having to shout so that the person sitting next to you can hear you over someone several seats away.
Nobody’s asking everyone to Preserve a Druid Silence when out and about - but totally disruptive behaviour is something else again. I have nothing against laughter - I’ve been known to (gasp!) laugh in public myself. Even in restaurants. It’s that “too loud” qualifier. I have shared many rides with après-party youth, having a good time, without having a hair up my ass. There is a space between sitting with folded hands, and reproducing the effect of an invasion of a dozen methamphetamine-fueled baboons.
Obviously, instead of composing an amusing message board rant to blow off a little steam, Larry Mudd should have been man enough to confront those screeching girls and say “You’re all fat, homely and manifestly stupid. SHUT THE FUCK UP or I will pound you into hamburger.” Then there could have been an incident with police called, an amusing courtroom tale and we all could have had a big HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
But I think he handled it well.
You miss the point. The cellphone users, and in this particular case the Screechy Teens have become so isolated, so intent on themselves that they are oblivious (purposely or not) to everyone else around them.
And why are you so sensitive to the sensitivity of others? Grow a thicker skin. 
I’m guessing this might be a cultural thing. People here in Canada are just so POLITE…
Is transit in Vancouver the same as transit in Toronto? I swear no-one talks above a whisper normally when I take a streetcar or subway.
When I used to take MUNI or BART in the Bay Area, I was used to people talking LOUD. But it seems there are different rules in Canada - most people know to use their “inside voices” on transit. It always amazes me that I can be on a streetcar with 100 people, and you could almost hear a pin drop!
Actually, now that I think of it, people here seem to use their “funeral home voices”. So I can imagine a gaggle of girls laughing and being loud would stick out like a sore thumb.