Small things that have left you SPEECHLESS

[Theda Baratheon]

OK - I’m on about things that are just...not really done. Someone’s done or said something and you honestly, genuinely couldn’t believe they just did/said that. Social faux pa or just plain strange. 

OK so I work in a store atm - bags are 5p. They’ve been 5p for years and a gentleman asked for a bag but then didn’t have the correct change for one and told me to “not worry about it” so I took the item out of the bag and took the bag off the price and handed him his 1p change. He took the item, took the change and then after a split second like...reached right over the counter, grabbed the bag and just walked out. 

I couldn’t believe it! We’re  living in a society! You don’t just walk into shops and stea bags! The AUDACITY! I found it HILARIOUS but I honestly still can’t quite believe it happened. Very surreal - left me speechless. 

So what little mundane things have left you without words? 

[maarsen]

Theda I have been around long enough that I could write a book about stuff that left me speechless. Dealing with management and workers as a union exec gives me more than enough material. Working as a millwright, fixing other people's problems and screw ups gives me even more. I once found a problem with a machine that needed a new part, only to be told that since they did not have that part, something else needed to be wrong and go find and fix that instead. 

[BigFatCoward]

Someone sparked up a cigarette in my local supermarket in London, that's when i knew it was time to move. 

[mankytoes]

3 hours ago, Leap said:

I could go on at length about train etiquette, but I'll try to limit it to just one anecdote. 

Often the train I get is packed to the rafters. I hate being stood in the centre of a writhing mass of arms, bags, arses and phones, so I always try to get down the aisle if I can. The other day I'd got lucky and managed to get right down to where the carriage meets the next one. That's the best spot if you're standing.

Next to me was another person, and then there was a huge gap - space for a good 3 people. Then there was the woman causing the block. She was staring vaguely towards the window, completely oblivious to the 30 people pressed up against each other. If she'd just moved down, they would all have had a little more breathing room. But she didn't even think to look. 

That sort of thing drives me fucking potty. It's kind of astounding how people behave on trains.

The most amazing example of bad train etiquette I've ever seen was in Malaysia (not meaning to imply that Britain doesn't have plenty of problems in this area). The train was pretty busy, with all seats taken and quite a few standing. A lot of people got up opposite me, and three middle aged women quickly sprung into action, claiming every other seat while putting their handbags in between. This is with other people still standing, and this was quite a long train ride, about an hour. Other people were sitting on the floor. 

I have no idea what the general rules are in Malaysia, but I really did feel speechless, just trying to imagine how they could justify their behaviour. I did wonder if they had friends they were saving seats for, but no, we went right to the end and they just wanted their bags to have their own seats. 

[Theda Baratheon]

4 hours ago, Leap said:

I could go on at length about train etiquette, but I'll try to limit it to just one anecdote. 

Often the train I get is packed to the rafters. I hate being stood in the centre of a writhing mass of arms, bags, arses and phones, so I always try to get down the aisle if I can. The other day I'd got lucky and managed to get right down to where the carriage meets the next one. That's the best spot if you're standing.

Next to me was another person, and then there was a huge gap - space for a good 3 people. Then there was the woman causing the block. She was staring vaguely towards the window, completely oblivious to the 30 people pressed up against each other. If she'd just moved down, they would all have had a little more breathing room. But she didn't even think to look. 

That sort of thing drives me fucking potty. It's kind of astounding how people behave on trains.

 

41 minutes ago, mankytoes said:

The most amazing example of bad train etiquette I've ever seen was in Malaysia (not meaning to imply that Britain doesn't have plenty of problems in this area). The train was pretty busy, with all seats taken and quite a few standing. A lot of people got up opposite me, and three middle aged women quickly sprung into action, claiming every other seat while putting their handbags in between. This is with other people still standing, and this was quite a long train ride, about an hour. Other people were sitting on the floor. 

I have no idea what the general rules are in Malaysia, but I really did feel speechless, just trying to imagine how they could justify their behaviour. I did wonder if they had friends they were saving seats for, but no, we went right to the end and they just wanted their bags to have their own seats. 

Oh don’t get me started on trains - people just putting their bags on seats in ridiculously busy carriages is the worst. 

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

Someone sparked up a cigarette in my local supermarket in London, that's when i knew it was time to move. 

People who in this day and age attempt to smoke inside public places really are jackasses

[Jo498]

I remember quite well when people used to smoke almost everywhere (in 1980s Germany) so I often feel both old and amused when young people from overseas are surprised at "how much" smoking there is in Germany or France 2018 but even back then it would have been against any rules or customs for a supermarket customer to smoke inside.

Re: bags on seats. I am not surprised that someone tries it but that they get away with it in a crowded train. Why did the other passengers not ask them to remove the bags?

 

[mankytoes]

21 minutes ago, Jo498 said:

I remember quite well when people used to smoke almost everywhere (in 1980s Germany) so I often feel both old and amused when young people from overseas are surprised at "how much" smoking there is in Germany or France 2018 but even back then it would have been against any rules or customs for a supermarket customer to smoke inside.

Re: bags on seats. I am not surprised that someone tries it but that they get away with it in a crowded train. Why did the other passengers not ask them to remove the bags?

 

I've gotta say, I've always hated cigarettes, I never enjoyed smoking and the smell is gross. But when I go somewhere where lots of people smoke or you can smoke inside, I feel kinda nostalgic. Probably a childhood in smokey pubs (hey, at least my dad was spending time with me). I also have a bit of a reflex against rules, even though I definitely support this rule. 

In my story, I'm guessing because they were middle aged women. In England, we usually prefer tutting, glancing and other passive aggression to directly asking. If I was feeling very bold I might say "sorry, is this seat taken? Oh, thank you!". 

 

[HexMachina]

2 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said:

 

Oh don’t get me started on trains - people just putting their bags on seats in ridiculously busy carriages is the worst. 

 

THis happened to  on  the bus this week. Got up to the top deck, wearing a heavy backpack and carrying a file. Looked very full, but I saw a seat near the back, tottered along and the guy had a bag on the seat. I said excuse me and he glared at me for daring to be so forward. He kept loudly huffing for the remainders of the 40 minute journey

[A True Kaniggit]

I remember one time in elementary school I was choking on a nickel. Couldn't say anything for like the 10 seconds it took me to cough it up.

[Theda Baratheon]

19 hours ago, Jo498 said:

I remember quite well when people used to smoke almost everywhere (in 1980s Germany) so I often feel both old and amused when young people from overseas are surprised at "how much" smoking there is in Germany or France 2018 but even back then it would have been against any rules or customs for a supermarket customer to smoke inside.

Re: bags on seats. I am not surprised that someone tries it but that they get away with it in a crowded train. Why did the other passengers not ask them to remove the bags?

 

 

18 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

THis happened to  on  the bus this week. Got up to the top deck, wearing a heavy backpack and carrying a file. Looked very full, but I saw a seat near the back, tottered along and the guy had a bag on the seat. I said excuse me and he glared at me for daring to be so forward. He kept loudly huffing for the remainders of the 40 minute journey

Hahahah maybe this will answer the question above. I sometimes ask people to move their bags or will just put on my absolute best resting bitch face and glare. 

 

[Theda Baratheon]

4 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

I remember one time in elementary school I was choking on a nickel. Couldn't say anything for like the 10 seconds it took me to cough it up.

I did lol at this  

[maarsen]

8 hours ago, A True Kaniggit said:

I remember one time in elementary school I was choking on a nickel. Couldn't say anything for like the 10 seconds it took me to cough it up.

That reminds me of the time in elementary school when I was chewing on a pen and somehow inhaled a mouthful of ballpoint pen ink. Speechlessness was the least of my worries then. I could not even ask to leave the room to spit the stuff out. I just waved my hand frantically and ran for the washroom.

[Isis]

On 9/16/2018 at 9:52 PM, mankytoes said:

In my story, I'm guessing because they were middle aged women. In England, we usually prefer tutting, glancing and other passive aggression to directly asking. If I was feeling very bold I might say "sorry, is this seat taken? Oh, thank you!". 

 

Heh. This shit just doesn't fly in rush hour in central London. Bus, tube, train, whatever, if it's full up the guilty person will be asked to move their stuff off the seat. And quite right too. Nobody is entitled to two or more seats. 

[Rippounet]

1 hour ago, maarsen said:

That reminds me of the time in elementary school when I was chewing on a pen and somehow inhaled a mouthful of ballpoint pen ink. Speechlessness was the least of my worries then. I could not even ask to leave the room to spit the stuff out. I just waved my hand frantically and ran for the washroom.

I stapled my thumb in elementary school and was so shocked that it was possible that I was unable to say anything, merely showing the thumb to everyone, until the teacher realized that she had to take the staple out if she wanted to keep teaching us German.

To this day I still don't know how I did it.

[BigFatCoward]

My wife puts her bag on seats, it makes me hate her. 

[Isis]

2 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

My wife puts her bag on seats, it makes me hate her. 

It's fine to do it! So long as you accept that you'll have to move your stuff if you are asked to. 

[Jo498]

On 9/16/2018 at 10:52 PM, mankytoes said:

I've gotta say, I've always hated cigarettes, I never enjoyed smoking and the smell is gross. But when I go somewhere where lots of people smoke or you can smoke inside, I feel kinda nostalgic.

I feel similarly. I really applaud the smoking bans but I sometimes think one could be slightly more relaxed and I find it amusing that some people from the US (or other countries that had bans for ages) are so shocked by the smoking in lots of continental Europe (partly because it was so much worse 30 years ago and partly because it seems over-excitable to get shocked so deeply by something like that). And even I am too young to remember that people smoked in cinemas, on planes or that there were cigarette commercials on TV (in Germany). All this overlapped with my lifetime but I was a small child so I did neither fly nor go to the movies and watched very little TV.

[BigFatCoward]

It wasn't until the changeover from smoking to non smoking that I realised how disgusting most pub carpets stink.

1 hour ago, Isis said:

It's fine to do it! So long as you accept that you'll have to move your stuff if you are asked to. 

Nah, its evil.

[mankytoes]

1 hour ago, Jo498 said:

I feel similarly. I really applaud the smoking bans but I sometimes think one could be slightly more relaxed and I find it amusing that some people from the US (or other countries that had bans for ages) are so shocked by the smoking in lots of continental Europe (partly because it was so much worse 30 years ago and partly because it seems over-excitable to get shocked so deeply by something like that). And even I am too young to remember that people smoked in cinemas, on planes or that there were cigarette commercials on TV (in Germany). All this overlapped with my lifetime but I was a small child so I did neither fly nor go to the movies and watched very little TV.

I was in Japan recently, and they are pretty lax on smoking, you can smoke in bars, some cafes, and other cafes have smoking areas. That felt really odd, because the whole country has such a clean vibe. The smell is nasty though, and I've got big, thick hair which is unfortunately really smell absorbent. 

 

1 hour ago, Isis said:

It's fine to do it! So long as you accept that you'll have to move your stuff if you are asked to. 

Noooooo. Unless there are loads of seats available. Waiting for someone to ask on a busy train is very rude.