A woman on a train journey booked a quiet section to work on her laptop but was disturbed by a man next to her watching Friends on his iPad without headphones. After politely asking him to lower the volume, which he refused, she decides to annoy him back by watching and commenting on the show with him until he eventually leaves.
Source: Reddit
Not a serious or life altering situation. For context, I (33f) live in the UK. We have quiet sections on trains and I booked my ticket specifically so I could do work on a table in the quiet section on my laptop. My friend Lea (34f) sat opposite me.
A man (40s/50s) was sat next to me and about 15 minutes into the journey, starts watching Friends out loud on his iPad. I put my headphones in but it was loud enough that I could still hear it. My friend and the person sat next to her were just giving him dirty looks, but he was oblivious and munching away on his sandwich.
So I said: “excuse me, would you mind turning that down just a little bit please?” He said no. Literally one word, no. Then I mentioned that it was the quiet section of the train and he laughed at me and said “are you go gonna tell on me?”
It was so bizarre and annoying, but my friend just gestured for me to stay calm and leave it. So I closed my laptop and started watching with him. And commenting.
“Omg I love this bit!” “Watch the next part, it’s soooooo funny.” “Oh, is this the one where X happens?” I’m not a massive friends fan but I know enough to get by.
He didn’t respond, just kept giving me irritated looks but I kept going. He moved the iPad from the table to his lap, without turning the volume lower at any point. So I just carried on peering over his shoulder and commenting. He finally slammed the iPad case shut, grabbed his backpack and walked off, presumably to find another seat on the train.
I opened my laptop and carried on working. After we got off, Lea said I should’ve just left it and not reacted to him, but it was a 4hr journey and I had a lot to do. I paid extra to get a table seat, that too in the quiet section. She said I could have offered him my headphones. Maybe if they were over-ear, but they’re in-ear and he’s a stranger so, no.
She said I kind of invaded his personal space – I didn’t touch him or move from the confines of my seat at any point and she was like no but watching someone’s iPad is an a**hole move. We’re not in a fight, just a lighthearted debate on whether or not I’m TA here for how I went about it.
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