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Other people's noise

B

I am presently sitting in a hospital waiting room and am having to listen to a woman playing her phone out loud.

I have moved to the furthest away seat which is around a corner and I can still hear it!

As noise in the form of a TV or radio is often in waiting rooms anyway I am hesitant to ask her to turn it down or off.

It's talking rather than music.

I am super sensitive to noise so perhaps the problem lies with me.

What do you think?

What would you do in these circumstances? 

What is a reasonable response? 

  • I take my ear plugs everywhere, for situations just like yours. You could ask to maybe lower it a bit, but you need to prepared it the response is not a positive one. 

  • I'd probably seethe quietly then say something either to the woman herself or to staff, I might even feel I had to leave. I think it's really rude to inflict your noise on others, it's not like headphones or ear buds are novelty items, don't phones come with them? For me this sort of inconsiderate behaviour is why I'm far far less likely to go anywhere.

    I think it should be automatic that drivers dont' get charged when people are so focussed on thier phones that they don't looke where they're going and walk out into the road. It's Darwinism in action.

  • If I didn't have earplugs or headphones, I would probably do what you are doing and suffer in silence, while seething over how inconsiderate some people are.

  • I had a similar experience to you in the hospital Emergency Department recently. A man several seats up from me was watching and listening to a video on his phone and it really affected me so I put my ear plugs in. The TV was also on so it was very unpleasant. I ended up standing in the corridor to get away from him. 

    I don’t know what to do in these circumstances.  Hospitals should have signs telling people not to have audio playing or to use earphones. Years ago people would ask someone playing a video or music to turn it off or wear earphones. Nowadays that might cause a fight. 

  • in reply to LucyLandRover
    LucyLandRover said:
    ask for reasonable adjustments such as a quiet waiting room

    I didn't know you could do this, you hear a lot about 'reasonable adjustments', but it's hard to know what that means.

  • You can always ask for reasonable adjustments such as a quiet waiting room. I have this in my local GP's. You do not have to suffer. Failing that, how about headphones to cut down the noise?  

  • I hate this, phones are personal so they should stay that way. In public spaces the options should be mute or headphones. 

    I would dearly love them to turn it down/off, but would probably just suffer in the non-silence. 

    If I was with my children and it bothered them, I would be more inclined to ask. I can say things for others I can't ask for myself.

    More proactively, I would ask if the surgery could put a sign up requesting all phones on silent. At least it might help for next time. I keep earplugs on my keys now too.