Talking loudly on your cellphone in public is just plain stupid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you were mildly annoyed. That justifies being a stalker? Because that's what you are.

Oh, please! Tell me you have never googled someone and found out more about them then you otherwise would know. I love the self-righteousness of DCUM.

Never Googled a complete stranger to find an address and spouse's name. No. Never.

Read the original post--she said that the woman announced her husband's name, place of work, etc. HERSELF. That was why this particular phone conversation was stupid and not merely obnoxious. Because people share too much without thinking of who is around them and whether they would want those people to know so many details. As for the home address, try Googling your close friends or even yourself--BlockShopper is usually one of the first links that pops up, whether you are explicitly looking for an address or not.

[Anonymous]

You can justify it six ways to Sunday, but anyone who feels that they have the right to "revenge" themselves for some sort of minor annoyance this way has an awfully low tolerance for minor social annoyances.

[Anonymous]

I think people are blowing this way out of proportion. If OP actually intends to act on this information she was able to track down, THEN I'd consider her a stalker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people are blowing this way out of proportion. If OP actually intends to act on this information she was able to track down, THEN I'd consider her a stalker.

+1

[Anonymous]

my feeling is the people who are indignant about what OP did are probably people who have had conversations in public places on their cell phones where people are trapped listening to them drone on and on for nearly half an hour who would be appalled by someone with the audacity to ask you to keep it down.

Cell Phone conversations in public places are NOT private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my feeling is the people who are indignant about what OP did are probably people who have had conversations in public places on their cell phones where people are trapped listening to them drone on and on for nearly half an hour who would be appalled by someone with the audacity to ask you to keep it down.

Cell Phone conversations in public places are NOT private.

No, I actually don't like to use my cell phone for talking at all.

I think most reasonable people are appalled at the OP's sense of entitlement and her attitude of "gee, I did this horrible thing, aren't I so special" and expecting her readership to go "amen sister"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my feeling is the people who are indignant about what OP did are probably people who have had conversations in public places on their cell phones where people are trapped listening to them drone on and on for nearly half an hour who would be appalled by someone with the audacity to ask you to keep it down.

Cell Phone conversations in public places are NOT private.

No. I'm one of posters who said what she did wasn't appropriate, and I avoid talking on my cell phone in public places. I don't because it's not considerate, and I value my privacy. And that's why I take issue with what OP did - she invaded someone's privacy. So what if the woman was over-the-top obnoxious. That has nothing to do with the OPs actions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, she behaved badly. She shouldn't have trampled on your boundaries, but then you indignantly responded by: trampling on her boundaries. More than she did yours, actually.

The difference is that OP was quietly minding her own business when her boundaries were trampled. Loud cell talker idiot was basically offering up her own boundaries for trampling and offering an incentive to do so.

[Anonymous]

Good for you, OP. I had to listen to endless blather on Amtrak and knew EVERYTHING about a woman within in hour. Her job, where she worked, co-workers, sales quotas,
dating life, mom's illness, etc. WTF?

[Anonymous]

OP trampled on the woman's boundaries?

She didn't have any boundaries or OP wouldn't have known so much info about her.

[Anonymous]

What boundaries? Anything you can find on Google is public information. It's not like she hired a PI to follow the woman around.

However we feel about it, the internet has changed the degree to which we can assume that people never see our public information. Yes, fifteen years ago if someone had trolled through phone books at the library or gone down to city hall to look up property records, we could say that behavior was weird. (Although still not really crossing boundaries, because it was all public then as well.) These days, it's become our responsibility to make sure that the public records are the only thing people will find, like it or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my feeling is the people who are indignant about what OP did are probably people who have had conversations in public places on their cell phones where people are trapped listening to them drone on and on for nearly half an hour who would be appalled by someone with the audacity to ask you to keep it down.

Cell Phone conversations in public places are NOT private.

I'm indignant and I don't talk on my phone in public unless it is to tell someone that I will be late. My cell phone is only for me and if I have an amergency.

[Anonymous]

Well, I'm often a loud cell phone talker who doesn't really know when else I can accomplish those personal calls. I save my weekly-ish call to my mother for when I'm on the bus or walking because it's the only time I have nothing more pressing I can accomplish and one of the few times I can talk candidly without husband and child around.

Sometimes dirty laundry gets aired, though hopefully not personal details it would benefit someone unscrupulous to know. Lately my kid has been struggling with a serious health problem and my husband has been losing his marbles in a mean and nasty way. And sometimes, while I'm telling my mom, I'm telling the whole bus. She complains she can't hear me when I lower my voice.

I can see how it is annoying but I can't please everyone and simply have much bigger problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, I'm often a loud cell phone talker who doesn't really know when else I can accomplish those personal calls. I save my weekly-ish call to my mother for when I'm on the bus or walking because it's the only time I have nothing more pressing I can accomplish and one of the few times I can talk candidly without husband and child around.

Sometimes dirty laundry gets aired, though hopefully not personal details it would benefit someone unscrupulous to know. Lately my kid has been struggling with a serious health problem and my husband has been losing his marbles in a mean and nasty way. And sometimes, while I'm telling my mom, I'm telling the whole bus. She complains she can't hear me when I lower my voice.

I can see how it is annoying but I can't please everyone and simply have much bigger problems.

This is what is wrong with society. You realize you are annoying an entire bus full of people, not to mention being disrespectful of your child and husband's right to privacy, but you can't be bothered to care. Talk about self-centered.

[Anonymous]

I once waited at a car wash standing next to 21:15, or someone exactly like her. She was talking, at length and with details, about her daughter's weight "problem". And I was thinking, if this is how she talks in a public place, how must she be in the privacy of her own home? That poor child.

I like how 21:15 even offers up the excuse "i'm just so busy and important that my desire to have a frank and personal conversation outweighs any normal respect and propriety concerns". Priceless.