Shut that bitch up!

Passenger removed from train after talking on her cell phone for 16 hours.

<a class="postlink" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110518/us_yblog_thelookout/loud-cell-phone-talker-removed-from-quiet-car-by-police" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookou ... -by-police</a>

A woman who was escorted off an Amtrak train by police this weekend after she allegedly refused to stop talking loudly on her cell-phone has the Internet cheering her fate.

Civilians and quiet-car champions are supporting her ejection for violating policy at high volume during the 16-hour journey. It doesn't help her cause that she became belligerent when confronted about it by one of her fellow passengers.


KOMO News reports that Lakeysha Beard says she felt "disrespected" by the incident, though passengers said it was Beard who was being rude by refusing to stop yapping while sitting in one of the train's designated quiet cars. She had not stopped talking since the train pulled out of Oakland, California, 16 hours before it reached Salem, Oregon, when a passenger confronted her about the talking. That's when Beard got "aggressive," KATU reports, and conductors stopped the train so that police could remove her and charge her with disorderly conduct.

It wouldn't have taken me 16 hours to tell her to shut up and take her phone, especially in the reserved quiet car.


Focus What social more offenders bother you the most? Have you ever confronted someone?


Continous talking in theaters during a movie is completely unacceptable. After more than a couple times, I'll turn around and make eye contact with them. That usually stops it.

If I'm behind them, I've been known to throw popcorn.

 

A very good friend of mine in High School had Tourette's syndrome (no shit), but it was mostly well-managed with medication. Mostly.

Once, we went to see a movie and he was off his schedule or something and the meds weren't working 100%. He didn't have any physical tics or anything (well, nothing too bad) and he didn't yell out expletives, but it was like he had ants in his pants and he kept making louder-than-you-should comments throughout the trailers and into the start of the movie. I kept giving him the eye but it wasn't working. A lady in front of me turns around, looks straight at me, and goes "will you shut your friend up?" That's the ultimate in passive-aggressive.

Anyway he finally was able to calm down and sit through the movie, but it was dicey there for a minute.

As for the FOCUS, I'm usually pretty mellow about annoying people, because they're just a part of life. If I'm having a bad day, then everything bothers me. But there are two things that will bother me no matter what:

1. When you are buying groceries, there is no bagger, and you watch the checker check all your shit without helping bag at all, then watch while the checker goes to the end of the aisle to bag your shit.

2. Stealing a parking spot from someone who clearly had it staked out (or worse, who was clearly waiting for you to drive by going the other way).

#2 is so rare and so egregious that I've only had it happen a handful of times. I would gladly vote for a law criminalizing such behavior, with capital punishment.

 

I'm a stickler for transporting-yourself-etiquette in cities.

When you're walking on the sidewalk:
-do not waver all over the place
-keep to the fucking right, especially on staircases and escalators
-do not move at a glacial pace
-if you're walking in a group, do not take up the entire width of the sidewalk

When you're on the subway:
-do not stand right in the doorway. Oh my god, DO NOT STAND IN THE DOORWAY.
-do not hug the pole
-give your seat up for old people, pregnant ladies, and mothers and/or their kids
-I understand that your dick is HUGE and needs breathing room, but I also appreciate you not spreading your legs so wide that no one else can fit in your row comfortably
-do not give your bag a seat
-do not listen to your music on your smartphone with the speakers instead of your headphones

These things drive me INSANE, and I'm sure I could come up with a dozen more if I put any more thought into this. It just seems like common sense/decency to me but they happen all the fucking time. The only time I've ever gotten into an altercation was when this punk high school kid was standing in the doorway and I had to push past him to get out and he yelled and I yelled and that was it. But, trust me, if I'm watching you do any of these, especially if it's impeding my rushing around, I am fantasizing about at least punching you in the face.

 

If I can hear you chew your meal, I believe that a KO punch to stop the sound is justified.

Take smaller bites, learn how to manipulate your chow to the side, or wash it down with your drink. That smacking sound means you have no class or courtesy and therefor sympathy/empathy doesn't apply.

 

Since DrFrylock mentioned parking spot theives, I thought I should mention the ones I dealt with about 6 years ago. I went out to South Padre Island with my son and future ex-wife. It was a holiday weekend, and it was very crowded. We were cruising through a parking lot and saw a parking space that was taken up by a 55 gallon trash barrel, and nothing else. There was ample sidewalk space for the barrel, so my ex and I both thought we could just move the barrel out of the space and park in its place.
We turned the truck around and came back in the other direction, and then I got out to move the barrel.
THEN A BUNCH OF GIRLS CAME OUT OF NOWHERE WAVING THEIR HANDS, TELLING ME I COULDN'T PARK THERE. I figure it must have been designated by the county park as a space for trash cans. I got in my truck and started driving off when I saw the following insulting sight in my rearview mirror:
A brand new Chevy Suburban with huge chrome rims pulling into the same "forbidden" space, and the same girls who waved me off were pulling the trash barrel out of the way for it to park!
THOSE FUCKING CUNTS. It was on.
Luckily for me, that Suburban didn't move between the time that we found a parking space and the time that we left.
I cut all the valve stems off of their tires.
That is as bad as/easier than slashing thier tires.
There were people watching me do it, but no one said anything or tried to stop me. Maybe it was because of the box-cutter I was holding. I don't know.
But fuck those people.

 

I've been taking classes recently at a local community college to help supplement my degrees, and one day a women in my class literally started clipping her fingernails in class while the teacher was lecturing. It was appalling and disgusting. I can't understand how she had no comprehension that this was unacceptable or that she had no awareness to sense that it was making people uncomfortable.

So, due to this, I'd say the social offenders who bother me most are the people who do their personal grooming in public. That and blowing your nose in public, that shit grosses me out to no end. I cringe when I hear it. Whenever I'm sick, I always blow my nose in the bathroom. I wish people would return the favor.

 

I have a few but only one induces a rage in me that is hard to describe.

Littering.

Fascism doesn't have a whole lot going for it, but maybe...just maybe it would be effective in keeping assholes from throwing their god damn trash all over the place. It is such a selfish act.

The worst thing to pick up? Okay, second worst only to dirty diapers (I pick these up on the regular too). Cigarette butts. They are hard to pick up and frankly I don't want my fingers to be near anything that came in contact with your whore mouth. I would believe in any god if it/he/she decreed that for every single cigarette butt a person they shall be waterboarded for a period of 1 week.

And I have confronted people about this since it became my job to keep them picked up. I'm an unrepentant asshole about it. I banged on a door at 2:30 in the morning demanding some be picked up after I saw some guys stub some out and go inside. This will probably lead to me getting my ass beat or my tires getting slashed, but I will continue to do it because I can't stand to see it happen.

 

What annoys me even more than this (because it thoroughly confused me) si when you ARE in fact using headphones...but I can still hear your music. And hear it well enough that I not only know what song is playing, but can also make out the lyrics. Bonus points if you're doing this in a library.

It defeats the entire point of headphones. They were invented explicitly so I do not have to hear your music.

 

I'll second the chewing loudly thing. A swift kick to the nuts should teach you.

People who don't let others out of doors first. Like at an elevator or a subway, they try to squeeze in before people have the chance to get out. They should be forced to be trampled by the people in the subway car. I've yelled at a few people before who have done this, hopefully that taught them some manners.

Texting while someone is talking to you. Impossibly annoying and should result in your phone being slammed to the ground...c'mon show some respect or at least say 'hold on a sec' to the person you're talking to.

And I can't stand that fingernail clipping sound, its so grating and bothersome...go outside and do it.

And bad drivers go without saying. I mean, didn't we all have to take some classes and a couple tests to get our licences? Some form of common sense should be there.

 

People's classroom etiquette is really disappointing at times. You would think that by the time people reach an age where they are in graduate school, they would have learned some respect, especially for someone older, smarter, and more accomplished than they, but no. Things I've seen that drive me nuts:

-Talking: This is just basic. If the professor is lecturing, shut the fuck up. If you have a question, raise your hand, don't ask your neighbor. Two people talking makes it hard to focus on the person whose chatter actually matters.
-Cell Phones: Put that shit on silent. Every cell phone has an extremely simple way to stop it from making noise. Ok, maybe you forget one time, but if it goes off a second time, I find it perfectly acceptable for the professor to throw it out a window. And no, texting is not an appropriate solution.
-Sleeping: If you're that tired, go home or at least grab a cup of coffee. There is no penalty for not showing up. If you're going to snore and drool, go home or go get some coffee.
-Doing your makeup: You're in class, not a party.

I think the worst thing I saw was a kid dipping in class. Your water bottle is disgusting and so is the sound you make when you spit. Class is an hour and a half long. I'm a former smoker so I know all about how awful nicotine cravings can be but I never had one that I couldn't resist for a fucking hour and a half, especially when there is ample time between classes to get your fix.

It's amazing the amount of disrespect toward teachers and professors people get away with. They need to bring back the ruler smack.

 

Sometimes it's the little things that set me off more than anything else. Usually it's to do with self-centred assholes who have no common decency or respect for others or where they are. I'll usually brush them off, but when their actions greatly impact things or I'm just plain feeling like it I'll be direct. I always start courteous, if I can, and then respond accordingly to how much on an asshat they are.

The guaranteed to get me pissed off list, at this point in time:

- People who talk loudly in inappropriate places, on the phone or not - movies in particular. I've nearly been in a few fights telling dickheads to shut up after they didn't respond well to a "please be quiet".
- Parents who ignore screaming kids in public. I've got my own, I know what it's like. Ignore them in the comfort of your own home, not standing next to me in line. This is the one I often let slide, because a screaming, feral mother is not safe to deal with.
- People who drive right up my ass (we call them tailgaters, but I realise the different connotation in the US). Hey, you might be capable of mixing it in Formula 1, but we have to take into account a ton of other things and if I have to slam my brakes on I'd rather not have your front bumper trying to become a suppository.
- People who drive way too slow in a single lane. I had this this morning as I was on my way to pick up my dad for a medical appointment. I'm in a 50 (klm) zone and there's a taxi driver doing 20 and no one can get around him. So I sit on my horn until he pulls over and lets us pass. Get lost on your own time, some of us have things to do and you're causing a traffic jam.
- Queue jumpers. Fucking bane of my existence at Christmas, especially. I remember being in Toys R Us and a middle aged couple swept right around the line for the registers that I was at the head of and plonked their purchases down at the just vacated register. The dumbass mole at the checkout said nothing, so I loudly asked them if they had perhaps missed seeing the line the rest of us were in. They looked at me and ignored me, so I teed off on them until they walked away, unserved and trying to come up with an excuse.
- People who spit in public. What the fuck? Seriously. If it's so noxious that you're not willing to swallow it, don't put it on the environment. Dip is exceedingly rare here, but at least most are decent enough to have a spit cup from what I understand. It's exceedingly vile to be standing at a crosswalk and have some dickhead next to you casually spit on the ground at your feet (usually after a loud snort to chamber a massive nugget of snot). Hollywood tells me that that is a direct challenge and you're politely asking to have your head caved in.

I swear I'm not an angry person. They started it.

 

These people infuriate me as well, ill add:

- do not stop randomly in the middle of a busy sidewalk (fuck it, ANY sidewalk, i don't care if you are the only person for a hundred yards), if you must stop to get your bearings or gawk at some sight then step to the side or into a convenient doorway/alcove/alley.

I call these people Random Walkers and I want to punch them in the back of the head every time i come across one.

These idiots are particularly prevalent in touristy areas and i get they are probably lost in an unfamiliar city, but seriously have some consideration for those around you... I took the time to find out where i was going before i left, why cant you?

 

-Ignoring someone who holds a door for you. Maybe this is more a politeness thing than a more per se, and I know this has been beaten to death on this forum, but it makes me see red every time. If you do ignore me, don't give me a dirty look when I say "You're welcome asshole." You're an asshole, and you're being called on it. Stop being an asshole, and you won't have to deal with being called out on it. Funny how that works, yeah?

- Cigarette butt disposal. I smoke a pack a day, and I get rid of em responsibly. I keep a can in my car for the sole purpose of putting butts in there, and while I do on occasion forget that it's there, most of them go in. If I'm walking outside, I have no issue holding the dead butt for two minutes until I see a trash can ( assuming the cherry fell off, no arson here) or a butt disposal. I'll see coworkers go so far as to flick their butts at random parked cars, watching it bounce off the side panel and hit the sidewalk, and walk away. If I saw someone do that to my car, especially outside a business I just went into, I would raise unholy hell. Have some common decency.

 

"Hello? Oh, hi! No, not much. Just talking about how amazing and great cell phones are! The world is my phonebooth! I can use mine anywhere: on a crowded bus, in the movie theatre, church, even my cousin's funeral last week! Hello?....Can you...I can't hear...HELLO??!?...."

Enough with the cell phones, ESPECIALLY in the movie theatres. Seriously? IN this day and age you not only forget to turn off you phone before the movie, but you ANSWER IT and start talking during the film? People are yapping so loud in the theatre I can barely hear what the black people in front of me are yelling at the screen!

Another: If people are nice enough to let you into traffic, always give "The Wave". It isn't hard, and somebody just went out of their way for you.

 

It's hard to say 'people that' since I've only seen it once, but the guy in BJ's who waited until the people in front of him left to start putting his items on the belt made my fucking blood boil. Yes, I know you're on the phone due to your fucking wired headset (seriously? a wired headset in public? I think blue tooth sets are lame, but a wired fucking headset?) but for the love of god multi task and put your shit on the belt so we can all go home instead of waiting. The worst part is they don't bag at BJ's so they need your cart to put items in as they're ringing them up, so he had to empty his cart before the register girl could even start. AND during the checkout process he was trying to barter on prices like we were in some Turkish market or something, I almost lost it on him and the register girl didn't even pretend to hide her contempt for him after he left.

Also on holding the line, I think people who pay for groceries with checks are useless, but they don't bother me TOO much unless they are the type that wait until all their groceries are rung in and the cashier gives them the total before they even pull out their checkbook. Really? You were in line for five minutes waiting and you couldn't be bothered to start writing a check until just now? Pull out the wood chipper, this person isn't going to contribute to so society in a positive way.

So this actually happens? I've seen it on TV but it just seems so outlandish that I find it hard to believe. Maybe it's because I'm a big guy, but nobody has ever even attempted something that I would consider parking spot thievery on me, and I've lived in Boston.

 

I'll bring up airplane etiquette. Flying is a miserable experience, so why don't people at least try to make it more tolerable. In a nutshell, here are the things that drive me crazy:
*now that they charge for luggage, the people who try to pack for their 5 week trip to the Artic tundra without checking a bag. This is particularly bothersome when they are trying to get through security in front of you and takes them 20 minutes to remove, disassemble, etc all of their belongings. This is double if they have young children and turn them into pack mules.
*men who think it is their god giving right to the arm rest.
*people who probably pick the window seat but then have to get up to pee every 15 minutes. I know that I have a small bladder, but I select the aisle seat so I don't have to wake you up to get out just as you are starting to doze off.
*people who don't bother showering or freshening up before being in really close quarters with hundreds of other people for hours on end
*parents who allow their kids to kick the shit out of the back of your chair.
*and of course the typical people who are so fat that they don't really fit into a standard size seat but will scream discrimination if you dare bring it up rant.

 

Admittedly, I've been the asshole to queue up in a new line as soon as the cashier flagged one of us over. I didn't even think about the assholery until now, instead believing that the person behind the patron checking out would rather just stick it out with their groceries on the conveyor belt. Consequently, I'm a firm believer that people need to be told they're being an offending jerk so that they can be corrected on their behavior.

On the topic of other social offenders, my old roommate quickly rubbed out the old line and drew new ones. Somehow, he rationalized that pawing at his genitals in public wasn't a cause for concern. Be it among all guys, girls or a mix. I once loudly speculated at the possibility of going to a free clinic to get that shit treated. That wasn't all. Deciding to take it a step further, he also rationalized that showering after drenching his clothes in sweat was optional. Instead, he'd plunk down on the couch and relax for a few hours. But wait! There's more! Rather than refill his squirt bottle like a human being, he'd point the tip at someone and blast them with the compressed air and backwash, giggling all of the way. We don't talk much anymore.

 

Agreed. People are going to talk. That's understandable. Hell... I talk to my wife when we're at a theatre, but I do so QUIETLY. I lean in and I whisper.

I've only felt the need to call someone on it once. We were seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and let's face it... That movie was offensive enough without having my fellow moviegoers talking loudly. There was a group of 5 or 6 teenage girls to our right and they absolutely wouldn't shut up. Half of them weren't even watching the fucking movie. So... I leaned over and very politely asked them to keep it down. While they didn't shut up entirely, they did tone it down. The best part was the one girl who gave me a sassy "you did NOT just tell me to be quiet" look. She was absolutely appalled that I took exception to her bullshit.

And to this I'll add people who just let their headphones hang around their neck. I can still clearly hear your music, asshole.

My biggest complaint, though, is people who don't clean up after their dogs. I don't care who you are or where your dog shits. Fucking pick it up because it's your responsibility as a dog owner.

I called a woman on that about 2 weeks ago. I was about a minute away from my building's front door and a woman was walking towards me with a stroller and what appeared to be a Puggle. The dog started to do its business, so she stopped and had a sip of her coffee. When the dog had finished, she just started walking. I was about 15 feet away from her at this point. I looked directly at her and my exact words were:

"Not gonna pick that up?"

She started huffing and whining about how she needed to go get a bag and this was the fourth time that her dog had shit since she'd been outside and so on. She then followed me into the building. But... Here's the thing... My building actually has a bag dispenser near the front door for the sole purpose of giving tenants a way to clean up after their dog. She completely disregarded it and went on with her life. I came back outside right away with Bowser, so I know she didn't come back out to clean up her dog's shit.

So... Congratulations, lady. You live in my building and every goddamn time I see you, you're that inconsiderate bitch who's too prissy to clean up after her dog.