PDA doesn’t bother me and the driver was out of line.
But to be honest, I think nudity should be legal and I’m not opposed to people having sex in public. So a few smooches won’t phase me.
The couple was just smooching.
Safety issue? I can’t imagine what kind of safety hazard a PDA could cause. The cooties? Wet spot?
So yeah…the couple’s actions as described were fine, and the driver was out of line.
I would cut the driver a lot of slack. I know there are activities that are generally quite acceptable, but which drive me bonkers. If someone else is doing it in public, well, I can deal, but if it was in my workplace, my office, I would put a stop to it.
In general, I think that bus driver’s have a pretty shitty job, have to deal with a lot of shit from their riders, and yet still, by and large, do a pretty good job. I am quite willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
The bus driver’s nagging, let alone yelling, would have annoyed me. The couple’s actions would not have. If I’d even noticed them without the driver calling attention to them, I probably would have smiled. I like seeing people being happy, and it sounds like they were.
Now, if one or more other passengers had gone to the driver to complain, I could see where he’d have reason to take some sort of action. That would constitute a disruption, if only in that he was being distracted by the complainants. His behavior as described in the OP would still have been an overreaction (and not a good approach, anyway, as phouka said), but I’d have been more annoyed by the people who complained than anyone else.
After 25 years of living in Japan where there is very little PDA, coming to Taiwan was a bit different. They are more affectionate, although out of hand.
I can’t see it bothering me, especially if I’ve got the Internet to surf.
I wondered if the company/ the driver had a Public Relations problem previously with a gay couple, and had decided that a strict rule was the solution.
Generally I don’t want to see PDA, personally it’s a sight that turns my stomach. Not sure why, but I’ve always felt that way about it.
But I don’t expect anyone to not do it, and nobody should be policing it.
More likely, he thought the kissing would lead to more in-depth kissing and petting level displays of affection that would have been out of place in public and that he would have to stop, so he decided to say something early. The bus driver probably deals with enough amorous couples to no longer think their behavior is cute or anything other than one more hassle he has do deal with on the job.
Some PDAs annoy me but I don’t think anyone died and made me the judge of what’s right. As long as they don’t start vocalising their arousal, I wouldn’t think they needed to stop. In the absence of a posted rule, why is the driver’s opinion any more valid than anyone elses?
He probably has discretion to censure offensive behaviour, but unless the company has a public policy, how are passengers to know what that is?
I’m all in favor of filet mignon so long as nobody tries to cutesy it. Not much in favor of PDAs, but I think the driver is like that friend of mine who says “XYZ bothers people” when she actually should say “XYZ bothers me”. Most of the time, when she claims that something “bothers people”, she’s jealous…
Did he, though? Are PDAs officially against bus company policy, and posted as such (the way no eating/drinking/smoking notices doubtless are?) Are PDAs otherwise illegal?
The bus driver was an ass, and I wouldn’t be bothered by the level of PDA described in the OP.
I thought bus drivers were paid functionaries of larger transit authorities, who do not have a rule against this sort of thing. It is not “his bus”, it’s MATA’s bus, and arbitrary ad hoc rules are not rules at all. I’d be reporting him to his supers as soon as I got off his bus.
The driver should have been keeping his eyes on the road.
What is it that so upsets some people about two lovers kissing? (Whether it be the driver himself, or whoever he thinks he is “protecting”.) If anything, it is sweet and heart-warming. The only half-way reasonable explanation I can think of is envy because you are not getting any, and they are, but I have spent large portions of my life not getting any and I never found the sight of others kissing, of others happy together, at all upsetting. I am not so much of an asshole that I think that if I am miserable everyone else should be too. Is it the same sort of exaggerated anti-sex prudery that that causes the Taliban to make women wear burqas? Do people think children will be traumatized by seeing adults kissing (like kids know nothing of kisses :rolleyes:)?
I think anyone grinchy enough to find two lovers kissing an offensive sight, must have something badly wrong with them. :mad:
Plot twist: It was the bus driver’s daughter.
Teens will smooch inappropriately. I’m not thrilled with that, but the only reason is one of jealousy: as a gay person, I’m not allowed to do that without compromising my personal safety. If I can’t, other people can’t. Fair is fair. And as annoying teen behavior goes, it’s MUCH less annoying than blasting music at me.
On the other hand, I’d like to live in a world where kissing, even if it’s a bit of an inappropriate PDA, gets a raised eyebrow or rolled eyes, and nothing more. So I said the bus driver was out of line. I would have been fine with the driver making a “that’s not appropriate here” comment so long as it wasn’t designed to shame or embarrass them, but that’s it.
I think that the bus driver did things inappropriately no matter the rules or his captaincy.
As to the act it self, were there 23 little kids watching? Were they looking in horror or giggling?
I think the kissers are fair game for media picture posting for IMO, a bus is not a private place. They should be aware of that.
I am also terribly afraid that they may grow up, have children & let them see mommy & daddy kiss. That must be prevented at all costs.
Or hand shaking.
As driver he has to watch the passengers on the bus, which is something none of the passengers have to do. So I don’t think that the question of if you, idividually, would be bothered is a relevant to the question of whether he is an ass.
But, drivers are required to be people who don’t get bothered and vexed. It’s a requirement for driving through traffic while responsible for public passengers, and, IMHO, one of the more difficult requirements for being a bus driver.
So my take on this is that the driver is a normal person, in a vexing situation, but not entitled to a normal vexed response (unless there is an explicit policy).
It isn’t. But it is relevant to the OP, since that’s one of the questions that was asked of me.
May I ask why it would be vexing? I really don’t get why it would bother him. If clothes were starting to come off, maybe. But, otherwise?