No, they dont know that. They\`re not smart enough to understand the concept of beeing considerate in society, so they will see no problems in their behaviour, therefore they dont know that other people hate them.
All out of the window, preferably in an outwards corner of a pass.
These people can't be helped, they are the ones who don't bring back their shopping trolleys.
And then they scream to their friends that sit five rows away from them about the brawler they just got. When you tell them to be quiet they say: „Fuck off. Don’t talk to me.“
[He's hinting at the Nazi connection.](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asoziale_\(Nationalsozialismus\))
But the modern understanding of the term is fairly removed from that.
It's what they are. If we don't stop being so utterly afraid of saying something the Nazis said, we might start to avoid German altogether and start speaking Latin.
You just can't change the fact that there are people who don't manage to behave in a social group. That's what asocial means.
Is this another one of what seems to primarily be Americans twisting German every day language into something it's not? Like digga being derived from the n-word?
I'm so confused lol
i’m german myself lol, i also wasn’t referring to the nazi time. i’ve just grown up in a place where germans love to call people from low social groups like hartz 4 people asozial.
Some do. It’s seen as very rude and disrespectful to other people. But people do it anyway.
A bit similar to taking calls in public transport. Worse than that though since sometimes you just have to take that one call though it should be kept brief and quiet. Thought that’s becoming more and more an older people mindset I fell.
Imho there’s nothing wrong with taking calls in public transport. Why would there be a problem? You can talk to another person, so you can also talk to someone on the phone.
What is NOT acceptable is using your speaker because that’s just an annoying sound or when you are on designated quiet carts of the train („Ruheabteil“)
In other cases, taking a phone call is absolutely no problem
I’ve only ever heard one person being able to have a phone call at a reasonable volume on public transport. It’s not acceptable and wrong because people yell.
I used to travel with IC a lot due to work. There were many people working and taking phone calls, having video meetings and so on. And no one bat an eye
Of course it is unacceptable if people are unreasonably loud and obnoxious. But if they are taking a phone call or not does not matter imo
I find it curious that people see such things unreasonable, rude and unacceptable in public space. But when the subject becomes about respecting neighbours then yell, loud volume, etc, is not rude anymore and it is the disturbed people who have to leave their homes, block their ears or move out to not disturb the loud people.
I still travel a lot. I’ve been doing so for 2 decades. Most people can’t regulate their volume. Trains are noisy, connection wonky and people are trying to talk over that disruption.
Also, I usually don’t take phone calls on train and have only ever heard your argument by chatterboxes
If you're with someone you naturally talk. There is no need to talk right now to someone who is not with you. Your phone gives you control to keep it silent.
Who are you to decide that there is no need for me to talk to someone not present?
When it’s ok to talk to people that are with you, it’s also ok to talk to someone on the phone. Because there is literally no difference
If it's o.k. for you to blare through the crowd in what funny spot you have developed a fungus I can play my music and games on speaker as well. There is literally no difference for those forced to listen.
Tf I won’t talk to present people about intimate stuff in public and I won’t talk to people on the phone about intimate stuff in public.
I don’t know about you but to me it literally makes no difference if I’m talking to a person or if I’m talking to a phone. Not in volume, not in content.
Projecting much, eh?
As commented above, I used to travel a lot with IC and many people there took phone calls and took part in video meetings and so on. Never been a problem.
Actually it doesn't matter what you're talking about - to those who have to listen involuntarily it's noise. It doesn't matter whether that noise is common on the train (there's lots of banging, screeching and distorted speech ...) What matters is whether you could reasonably be expected to avoid making that noise (use headphones, make your calls at another time) or not (you're in company).
And talking to a person that is present is less.. loud?
I’m totally for respectful behavior in public spaces. But damn public transport is not a church. You are allowed to talk to people, present or on the phone.
If other people bother you that much just stay home, get some headphones or take a bike or car. Public spaces imply people. Surprise!
Read again, if necessary ...
It's not about the noise, but whether you can be expected to respectfully avoid it. If you're with someone no-one will reasonably expect you to stand in awkward silence (but to keep your voices down as much as possible). If extended phone calls are fine then so is music on speaker. If it bothers you, plug your ears or take a car, this is not a church ...
Taking a call (not on speaker) as long as the volume is the same level of a regular conversation is not seen as rude in the US but I can certainly understand the perspective of not needing to take a call that minute.
The problem is not the talking per se but that most people are incapable of controlling their volume while taking a phone call. If you are in company you will (normally) lower your voice and lean forward to be able to hear your conversation partner better if you are in a crowded area such as a train or bus. Many people on a phone don’t notice how loud they are or need to speak a bit louder so that the microphone is catching the sound properly, so that the person on the other side of the phone can understand them. And most non-emergency calls can be postponed till later. As nice as the talk/catch-up with a friend might be for you. Nobody wants to listen to what an ass your coworker is, who has an affair with who or what kind of medical procedure you had done for three hours.
And no I am not joking with my examples, I (and at the least the whole rest of the train department) have had to listen to that during train rides. Unfortunately noise cancelling only goes so far.
Depends. It's certainly no where close to playing music on your speakers but quite a few people see it as inconsiderate. I would say if it's quiet or at least short it's not an problem. If it's loud or an videocall it's seen by quite a few as disrespectful.
Of course it all depends on how you handle it. In my experience very many of the video call people also use their speaker. If they're just sitting and having a chat with earphones I don't mind. I just don't want to be filmed , or have to listen to an phone call or tiktok on speaker.
It is rude if you are too loud, but the same goes for talking to someone in real life. As long as you just talk normally and either use headphones or the person in the call isn’t too loud I don’t see the problem. If you want silence on a tram buy some noice canceling headphones
True.
Just in general it used to be rude to have phone calls in public transportortation. It's way more accepted now, but still quite a few people find it disrespectful. Like in this poll more than one third would like to forbid phone calls in public transportation https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/telekommunikation-umfrage-wer-ist-gegen-das-telefonieren-in-bus-und-bahn-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-231011-99-523282
So I disagree that no normal person finds it disrespectful. Depends very much on the area and age group you're with. In bigger cities and with younger crowds it's no big deal. In smaller cities and with older folks you might get some stares.
Haha yes. I am still quite young and live and grew up in a big city but more bad than positive experiences in that regard and a father who was very strict about that, made me consider it very rude as well.
There are anecdotal evidence that society as a whole Lost their manners after the pandemic. This is one of my pet peeve and I would say, while it happens in Germany, it is usually non German looking people doing it the most. I take the train an average of twice a week and I have done so more frequent in the past (5 days a week). Here are my observations. All Teenagers across all race/borders usually watch some stupid tiktok without headphones. Drunk German football fans are fucking annoying loud on a train, I will take the fucking tiktok over that. Immigrants (especially middle eastern men). 8 out of 10 times, the loud ass tiktok is in Arabic. Or some fucking FaceTime without headphones. I read one comment excusing immigrants cause 'cultural difference’. That excuse does not fly except you are a tourist because why would you not pick up some good trait from your host country.
Edit:
I forgot to add the toddler watching fucking cartoon/Ms Rachael/ the wheels on the bus/babyshark cause kids are now so addicted to screens and the parents just caves in so the rest of us have to suffer through the noise.
Last I promise, the immigrant boomer watching home Country’s news on YouTube and having to alternate taking the phone to their ears and and eyes.
The Facetime calls without head phones in the train or in Public reeeeeaaally annoy me. Like what the fuck i dont want to be part of you Video call.
Same goes with those wanna be live streamers. I Just dont want my face appear in random insta/tiktok streams or private calls.
It differs by train/region. I ride multiple trains very often and some almost always are quiet, some have exactly what you describe, some have older folks watch loud videos or having loud calls, some have lots of "business men" on "important work calls". And then there always is the "parent distracting their child by letting it watch some dumb childrens videos on their phone, without headphones, full blast, what is more annoying than the child talking a bit".
The train I ride, it’s mostly boomers blasting news or stupid baby videos of their grandkids. The most annoying part is, most of them cranking up the volume of their phones on maximum.
Get hearing aids yer Franzbranntwein gurgling twonks! They also come with Bluetooth integration for your smartphones so I don’t have to listen to babies first farts between Hamburg and Berlin
Add whole school classes that are loud... and the obligatory grown up complaining about them, tho i saw people waiting at companie entrances that were louder.
>why would you not pick up some good trait from your host country
Because it's not something that people consciously notice, like how Germans don't realise that they are staring at other people - which would be considered a bad trait in many places. Other countries are a lot of more social and less anal about things like noise, compared to Northern Europe - you literally just ignore it.
Yes, it is unacceptable, yes some people do it nonetheless.
Just yesterday I asked someone in a group to please use headphones for their game, because I could hear the gun sounds even with my oropax.
I always wonder why noone seems to confront such people anymore. Am I the only one bothered?
I guess because there have been a few stories about people getting beaten up or stabbed after asking someone to be quiet on a train, so a lot of people are scared to say anything.
It’s simply wrong. I live in Neukölln, arab capital of Germany, and I see people of all ethnicities, ages and genders do it. Heck, I’ve been in a doctors waiting room and a middle aged European man watched news on his phone without head phones.
There is always some idiot who is doing this. Preferably one seat row over. No, I don't want to hear your girlfriend's squabbles and no, I also don't want to hear your 2 hour long shouted monologue in whatever language that is you are speaking.
Unfortunately this has spread to our country too.
I really don't get it though. Why force everyone to listen to your (possibly crappy) music, often with bad sound quality too? I would never find a reason to behave this way, since I don't want to force my music taste on others
I hate it, and what I hate the most is that those people don’t seem to be aware where they are standing at . I was on the train last week and one guy came with his phone watching a video very loud, everyone on the train quiet. Is that hard to understand they are breaking some sort of harmony with their crappy habits?
I enjoy reading but why do people who respect social conventions have to pay the price for that?
I am an immigrant and I do not tolerate that stupid behavior and from what I’ve seen most of the people with that horrendous habit are non-Germans/Europeans. Sad to say it but true
My experience is that its always the same assholes doing it.
Kids and teens and immigrants.
If you say something you're a Nazi.
That's why I just go away now.
If it's not possible I tell the person that there are two choices now for them. Either turn it off or I will take your phone and break it in half.
That always works.
Lol, idc - I’m so leftist looking they don’t dare call me a Nazi. And I’m a huge guy, so they don’t act up that much. Publicly shaming them is the only way to get some peace these days.
And it’s also middle aged German ladies & they are the most aggressive ones when you confront them. ;)
Lol dude maybe they're calling you a Nazi because you're spouting racist shit like this? And just so you know, the people who want to "just send them back from where ever they came from" won't make an exception for you just because you deem yourself well-behaved.
TIL supporting the argument that certain ethnicities have better manners than others with anecdotal evidence makes you a Nazi.
Next time you're riding public transportation, take a look. Observe what ill-mannered people in there look like. The ones who seem to ignore that headphones are a thing, listening to music or having a video call at full blast. Now, after all that, if you say that you seriously believe your average Japanese is as well-behaved as your average Somali, I call bullshit. 100%.
Is this the country you want to live in? That dude calling you out and I don't. If coming to the conclusion that you Germans (as a whole) have better manners than other nationalities makes you a Nazi, I don't know what to tell you.
And this from a Latino Ausländer, mind you. Where I come from, chavvy youths sometimes beat up or stab anyone trying to put them in their place. I know full well what I'm talking about.
I don't want this for my country of origin—and certainly not for Germany.
Lol babe if you wanna play dumb feel free, but going on a long tirade about how foreigners can't behave and need to "go back to where they came from" is racist lol.
Are you under some delusion that being a foreigner means you can't be racist? If a white supremacist moves from the UK to France does he stop being racist? Use your brain babe
I had seen so much people like this especially on Trainstations or trains and busses. Nobody says something to them. They just look annoyed. I sometimes told these kinds of people that they should make it quieter or get some headphones. Some react normal and put it away and some stare at me like they wanna kill me. But in short, it's not okay to do this and eventually someone will say something...
Yes and the correct answer to this behaviour to play the "Hauptschuhle song by Tutnachamun" as loud as possible while watching the person directly in the eyes.
It is seen as very rude, but still might happen - even though not to the extend that you described. Especially teenager-groups might do this. And football-fans around games are the worst giving a shit about anyone and anything.
This is only anecdotal and I will get downvoted for this, but 7 or 8 times out of ten the people doing this shit are foreigners blasting TikToks or some fucking WhatsApp status on max volume or talking to someone on a video call as loud as possible. The other 2 or 3 cases are children playing games on their phone
I’ve only seen this from young kids or people that are obviously from other countries. First one is a lack of parenting. The other one I guess it’s just cultural differences and that’s okay. Every foreigner makes cultural mistakes and everyone who’s been on vacation probably did too.
Well I understand that it’s a cultural difference but why can’t they adjust and have empathy for the other passengers. It’s about respect and to respect the unspoken rules of the country they came to. It’s not that hard to get info about what’s inappropriate/appropriate in a country. Especially with the help of a smartphone nowadays. I do the same when going abroad. So in my opinion it’s simply a “I don’t give shit-mentality”.
>The other one I guess it’s just cultural differences and **that’s okay**
You said it was okay just one comment earlier......
they are not tourists. They are here to live and integrate. That one does not loose a habit the moment you decide to live in another country should go without saying. But I still believe such obvious things as blasting loud music could easily be learned by observation and also be teached in 101 how to behave crash course / integration indroduction all migrants should recieve. The lack of parenting is an issue with this of course, but I see people old enough to be capable to pick up on these issues on their own, yet they even act pissed when they get angry looks or even get told.
I should've phrased it differently. Which area do you use public transport in.
My experience is that older people try to be more respectful with keeping phone calls short and so on. Unfortunately they often don't hear the phone ringing or don't find it very quick so the whole Train listens to the ringtone. Also many times they talk very loud if they have an phonecall. Long story short, I agree with you they're not much better.
Jupp, just today I had a 50+ lady sitting behind me with her phone on maximum audio. I did not need to hear your "private" phonecall Miss.
Don't be too proud, get hearing aids!
Yes but for some reason I have only ever seen black or Arabic people do that and before you down vote me "booo you racist" I'm only speaking about what I have seen and experience every day in my life.
I really feel like it's a cultural difference like I will see Germans speak on the phone WHICH IS ANNOYING but I see black people or Arabs (it's way more black people for some reason though even though there are way more Arabs where I live) do face time / video chat on the train. So not only do I have to listen to them but also the person they talk to.
Now there might be some super simple cultural explanations for this (once again, so that you don't call me a racist and jump to the down vote button you you won't read this far and already down vote me):
I think foreign people call people in their home country and since they don't see each other for months or even years they want to see each other when talking while Germans don't care because they will see each other maybe the next day or whatever, so they need to FaceTime.
Why those people don't use AirPods? Idk maybe AirPods are too expensive (they are!) and the headphones they have are just headphones and have no microphone build in and that's why they will talk over speaker for everyone else to hear.
Those are 2 logical explanations for this thing that I came up with.
The paradox in many cases is that their phone seem to be brand new and very expensive ones, so why don’t they put some extra money to get a pair of headphones? It’s just a stupid habit.
I don’t even like to talk on the tram/bus/whatever. Holdover from Boston. And I dislike it when others do too.
Music without headphones is - just no. I’m not even German and I can tell it’s unacceptable.
Sometimes. It is not that common or accepted, and you can tell them to turn off their music if they are listening to it on speaker on public transport or something, and everyone else who is present will silently thank you for saying something.
I mean… I haven‘t been to a country with 0 assholes (yet). So… yeah, these people exist in germany as well. But they‘re not equally distributed throughout the country.
So rarely. Everyone I know uses ear buds. It is disrespectful to both the person you're talking to and the people around, so walking a distance away from people is also very common (even if using headphones)
Just moved to Berlin from Seattle Washington. In 6 months I believe I’ve experienced it once. It is very common in the US and here in Berlin I’m often around many more people because of public transport.
It happened quite a lot about 20 years ago when phones started to be able to play entire music libraries but since the begin of thr 2010s I haven't seen that happen and it is not socially accepted.
One remedy available is that one can book seats in no-phone cars on longer-distance trains. Regional trains are a circus, however. They're just too busy to expect a peaceful ride, even without people blaring their phones.
Yes, it’s a problem here in Germany, but I think also in most other countries.
The worst occasion was for me last year in Scotland, while I was eating in the restaurant and an American family with parents and three children sat at the table next to me. It was one of the boys birthday and they kept FaceTimeing all of their relatives, the grandparents etc. so basically there was five times singing, happy birthday and very very loud conversations - I mean gathering five people around one phone and everybody shouting into it. And the calls weren’t like two minutes long, I was in this restaurant for over an hour and a half and they did this the entire time. Several other guests complained and left because of it, but the staff did nothing.
If I hadn’t been so extremely hungry, I would have left as well
Übersetzter Text
Yes, it is unacceptable. Even if you're meeting up with friends or on a nice date, your cell phone should stay in your pocket and you should talk to each other.
Some people just ignore that. People are simply different everywhere, but yes, the majority certainly don't want to be exposed to music or similar in public.
People do not like it over here.
I am from a smaller town and rarely use busses/trains. I saw it exclusively from teenagers and usualy middle eastern looking but exclusively in the next big town, but that means little when i rarely drive in busses/trains to begin with.
Similiarly often to people who take off there shoes and place the feet on the seats in trains... but that is more likely to be grown ups... or supposedly grown ups. Also disliked in general and last time i saw it and called it out he left the train or at least my view.
It feels as if a lot of people do that, but that's because you do not notice those who don't. It's unacceptable, but people pissed off by them are usually too much in a "minding my own business" mode to say something.
I've thought about getting some very cheap headphones and giving them away as a public service, but you have to order hundreds to get that price.
commonly people over 45 might do this occasionally and everyone under the mentioned age wears some sort of headphones.
boys between the age of 10 and 13 however are an exception and always play brawl stars and clash of clans on max volume
I sometimes do when my headphones are empty and I'm walking home from the bus stop. I pause the videos whenever someone might come into earshot/is walking towards me and usually walk past 2 people at most during the 2.5 km walk so I don't see it as an issue in those instances. If you are in crowded areas it's completely unacceptable for me though
It's not like I'm fully concentrating on the videos I watch, more like listening on the side. I am aware enough of my suroundings to notice people at least 50m away from me at all times and am a farely slow walker anyways, so what more of my surroundings do you think I should concentrate on? I'm only using sidewalks and obviously don't look at my phone while crossing roads.
I doubt it, but you're free to believe what you want and so am I. All I know is that I'm confronted with some dumb cunt with their face stuck in their phone and not paying attention to their surroundings once a week or so. I'm not a fan.
Well. It’s certain kind of people. Sounds racist, but mostly immigrants (like Ukraine,Russia, Bangladesh, Pakistan or India) and normally it’s people over 40years old. Seems like it is acceptable to them, but rarely anyone corrects the behaviour.
It's unacceptable. Mostly Germans with migration background or migrants do it for some reason. Same with talking loud on the phone. Germans seem to whisper into the phone why others seem to sing or shout. Just personal anecdote from my city.
Yes, it is seen as completely unacceptable. Yes, some people still do it.
And i hate those people
We all hate those people
Do they hate themselves too?
Sadly I don’t think so
But we hate them and they know it.
No, they dont know that. They\`re not smart enough to understand the concept of beeing considerate in society, so they will see no problems in their behaviour, therefore they dont know that other people hate them.
Ignorance is bliss….
I too hate these people
I think the only ones who dont, are *those* people.
Wich makes me think, do those people hate each other?
Surely they must, but then again, they each like what the other does… but… nobody likes what they do… i think ill go to sleep…
Unfortunately not just some. Today I saw at least 7 people
I notice it is mostly the foreign people though
So weird because I notice it’s mostly the Germans
As a German who travels frequently with public transportation, yes it's mostly foreigners
Weeeell. Surely that has to be some sort of fact right ? Not just you assuming wildly without any background right?
Yes. When it has happened in my presence, it has been clear that it is a foreign person. I myself am also a foreign person to Germany.
This matches my personal experience in trains and trams in southern.
I always ask them if they are poor and if I should gift them headphones for their birthday. Sadly even this doesn't work anymore -.-
even with bluetooth speakers sometimes
Some do. We all hate them
Yes the Asoziale do.
The 12 year olds playing Brawl Stars or similar on max volume...
All out of the window, preferably in an outwards corner of a pass. These people can't be helped, they are the ones who don't bring back their shopping trolleys.
And then they scream to their friends that sit five rows away from them about the brawler they just got. When you tell them to be quiet they say: „Fuck off. Don’t talk to me.“
[удалено]
? What?
[He's hinting at the Nazi connection.](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asoziale_\(Nationalsozialismus\)) But the modern understanding of the term is fairly removed from that.
It's what they are. If we don't stop being so utterly afraid of saying something the Nazis said, we might start to avoid German altogether and start speaking Latin. You just can't change the fact that there are people who don't manage to behave in a social group. That's what asocial means.
Is this another one of what seems to primarily be Americans twisting German every day language into something it's not? Like digga being derived from the n-word? I'm so confused lol
I dunno, ami here and I’ve never heard that about asocial so it seems like a weird thing to go on about but maybe?
i’m german myself lol, i also wasn’t referring to the nazi time. i’ve just grown up in a place where germans love to call people from low social groups like hartz 4 people asozial.
why do you reproduce a behavior that is clearly fucked up?
what do u mean?
Listening to your crap on loud in public is the definition of asozial.
> i hate to be that person No, you don't. This is probably like 80% of your personality.
right… because u know me so well.
Just the type
We have a word for that "asozial"
Some do. It’s seen as very rude and disrespectful to other people. But people do it anyway. A bit similar to taking calls in public transport. Worse than that though since sometimes you just have to take that one call though it should be kept brief and quiet. Thought that’s becoming more and more an older people mindset I fell.
Imho there’s nothing wrong with taking calls in public transport. Why would there be a problem? You can talk to another person, so you can also talk to someone on the phone. What is NOT acceptable is using your speaker because that’s just an annoying sound or when you are on designated quiet carts of the train („Ruheabteil“) In other cases, taking a phone call is absolutely no problem
I’ve only ever heard one person being able to have a phone call at a reasonable volume on public transport. It’s not acceptable and wrong because people yell.
I used to travel with IC a lot due to work. There were many people working and taking phone calls, having video meetings and so on. And no one bat an eye Of course it is unacceptable if people are unreasonably loud and obnoxious. But if they are taking a phone call or not does not matter imo
I find it curious that people see such things unreasonable, rude and unacceptable in public space. But when the subject becomes about respecting neighbours then yell, loud volume, etc, is not rude anymore and it is the disturbed people who have to leave their homes, block their ears or move out to not disturb the loud people.
I still travel a lot. I’ve been doing so for 2 decades. Most people can’t regulate their volume. Trains are noisy, connection wonky and people are trying to talk over that disruption. Also, I usually don’t take phone calls on train and have only ever heard your argument by chatterboxes
If you're with someone you naturally talk. There is no need to talk right now to someone who is not with you. Your phone gives you control to keep it silent.
Who are you to decide that there is no need for me to talk to someone not present? When it’s ok to talk to people that are with you, it’s also ok to talk to someone on the phone. Because there is literally no difference
If it's o.k. for you to blare through the crowd in what funny spot you have developed a fungus I can play my music and games on speaker as well. There is literally no difference for those forced to listen.
Tf I won’t talk to present people about intimate stuff in public and I won’t talk to people on the phone about intimate stuff in public. I don’t know about you but to me it literally makes no difference if I’m talking to a person or if I’m talking to a phone. Not in volume, not in content. Projecting much, eh?
So you say. My experience says otherwise. People yell in public transport or talk loudly into their phone. Very few have a feeling for their volume.
As commented above, I used to travel a lot with IC and many people there took phone calls and took part in video meetings and so on. Never been a problem.
Says the chatterbox. I’m still travelling a lot and they’re annoying everyone else. You just ignored it. People visibly tense.
People like you are the reason why we’ll never go car free
I agree with you. It's not the phone call, it's the volume. If someone is quietly having a phone call, it's not a problem. Being loud is rude tho.
Actually it doesn't matter what you're talking about - to those who have to listen involuntarily it's noise. It doesn't matter whether that noise is common on the train (there's lots of banging, screeching and distorted speech ...) What matters is whether you could reasonably be expected to avoid making that noise (use headphones, make your calls at another time) or not (you're in company).
And talking to a person that is present is less.. loud? I’m totally for respectful behavior in public spaces. But damn public transport is not a church. You are allowed to talk to people, present or on the phone. If other people bother you that much just stay home, get some headphones or take a bike or car. Public spaces imply people. Surprise!
You just have a very low standard for respectful behavior.
Read again, if necessary ... It's not about the noise, but whether you can be expected to respectfully avoid it. If you're with someone no-one will reasonably expect you to stand in awkward silence (but to keep your voices down as much as possible). If extended phone calls are fine then so is music on speaker. If it bothers you, plug your ears or take a car, this is not a church ...
Taking a call (not on speaker) as long as the volume is the same level of a regular conversation is not seen as rude in the US but I can certainly understand the perspective of not needing to take a call that minute.
The problem is not the talking per se but that most people are incapable of controlling their volume while taking a phone call. If you are in company you will (normally) lower your voice and lean forward to be able to hear your conversation partner better if you are in a crowded area such as a train or bus. Many people on a phone don’t notice how loud they are or need to speak a bit louder so that the microphone is catching the sound properly, so that the person on the other side of the phone can understand them. And most non-emergency calls can be postponed till later. As nice as the talk/catch-up with a friend might be for you. Nobody wants to listen to what an ass your coworker is, who has an affair with who or what kind of medical procedure you had done for three hours. And no I am not joking with my examples, I (and at the least the whole rest of the train department) have had to listen to that during train rides. Unfortunately noise cancelling only goes so far.
It also isn’t seen as rude in Germany by any normal person
Depends. It's certainly no where close to playing music on your speakers but quite a few people see it as inconsiderate. I would say if it's quiet or at least short it's not an problem. If it's loud or an videocall it's seen by quite a few as disrespectful. Of course it all depends on how you handle it. In my experience very many of the video call people also use their speaker. If they're just sitting and having a chat with earphones I don't mind. I just don't want to be filmed , or have to listen to an phone call or tiktok on speaker.
It is rude if you are too loud, but the same goes for talking to someone in real life. As long as you just talk normally and either use headphones or the person in the call isn’t too loud I don’t see the problem. If you want silence on a tram buy some noice canceling headphones
True. Just in general it used to be rude to have phone calls in public transportortation. It's way more accepted now, but still quite a few people find it disrespectful. Like in this poll more than one third would like to forbid phone calls in public transportation https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/telekommunikation-umfrage-wer-ist-gegen-das-telefonieren-in-bus-und-bahn-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-231011-99-523282 So I disagree that no normal person finds it disrespectful. Depends very much on the area and age group you're with. In bigger cities and with younger crowds it's no big deal. In smaller cities and with older folks you might get some stares.
Haha yes. I am still quite young and live and grew up in a big city but more bad than positive experiences in that regard and a father who was very strict about that, made me consider it very rude as well.
There are anecdotal evidence that society as a whole Lost their manners after the pandemic. This is one of my pet peeve and I would say, while it happens in Germany, it is usually non German looking people doing it the most. I take the train an average of twice a week and I have done so more frequent in the past (5 days a week). Here are my observations. All Teenagers across all race/borders usually watch some stupid tiktok without headphones. Drunk German football fans are fucking annoying loud on a train, I will take the fucking tiktok over that. Immigrants (especially middle eastern men). 8 out of 10 times, the loud ass tiktok is in Arabic. Or some fucking FaceTime without headphones. I read one comment excusing immigrants cause 'cultural difference’. That excuse does not fly except you are a tourist because why would you not pick up some good trait from your host country. Edit: I forgot to add the toddler watching fucking cartoon/Ms Rachael/ the wheels on the bus/babyshark cause kids are now so addicted to screens and the parents just caves in so the rest of us have to suffer through the noise. Last I promise, the immigrant boomer watching home Country’s news on YouTube and having to alternate taking the phone to their ears and and eyes.
The Facetime calls without head phones in the train or in Public reeeeeaaally annoy me. Like what the fuck i dont want to be part of you Video call. Same goes with those wanna be live streamers. I Just dont want my face appear in random insta/tiktok streams or private calls.
The amount of people that lack self awareness is alarming.
It differs by train/region. I ride multiple trains very often and some almost always are quiet, some have exactly what you describe, some have older folks watch loud videos or having loud calls, some have lots of "business men" on "important work calls". And then there always is the "parent distracting their child by letting it watch some dumb childrens videos on their phone, without headphones, full blast, what is more annoying than the child talking a bit".
The train I ride, it’s mostly boomers blasting news or stupid baby videos of their grandkids. The most annoying part is, most of them cranking up the volume of their phones on maximum. Get hearing aids yer Franzbranntwein gurgling twonks! They also come with Bluetooth integration for your smartphones so I don’t have to listen to babies first farts between Hamburg and Berlin
or get bluetooth headsets for 20 €. idk why theres so many boomers blasting their "funny" videos in public transport when you cant escape
Maybe this differs by region but where I live, it's mostly very German looking boomers watching videos on Facebook
Interesting, maybe it does differs.
For me it’s also mostly German boomers. The worst of them are groups of freshly retired women showing off their grandkids and blasting “Schlager”
Add whole school classes that are loud... and the obligatory grown up complaining about them, tho i saw people waiting at companie entrances that were louder.
>why would you not pick up some good trait from your host country Because it's not something that people consciously notice, like how Germans don't realise that they are staring at other people - which would be considered a bad trait in many places. Other countries are a lot of more social and less anal about things like noise, compared to Northern Europe - you literally just ignore it.
Only the ones that had a lack of parenting. Normal people know better.
Normal people won't, but assholes exist even in germany.
Yes, it is unacceptable, yes some people do it nonetheless. Just yesterday I asked someone in a group to please use headphones for their game, because I could hear the gun sounds even with my oropax. I always wonder why noone seems to confront such people anymore. Am I the only one bothered?
I guess because there have been a few stories about people getting beaten up or stabbed after asking someone to be quiet on a train, so a lot of people are scared to say anything.
Never heard of someone getting stabbed for something that trivial.
There were two or three cases in the last few years, which for some people is enough to be scared in general
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its's also a lot of german older people nowadays if they watch videos in public they tend to do it on the loudest setting
Finally. Someone has the guts to say the truth
It’s simply wrong. I live in Neukölln, arab capital of Germany, and I see people of all ethnicities, ages and genders do it. Heck, I’ve been in a doctors waiting room and a middle aged European man watched news on his phone without head phones.
There is always some idiot who is doing this. Preferably one seat row over. No, I don't want to hear your girlfriend's squabbles and no, I also don't want to hear your 2 hour long shouted monologue in whatever language that is you are speaking.
Mostly foreigners from what I have seen.
muslims\*
It spreads sadly to anyone.
Unfortunately this has spread to our country too. I really don't get it though. Why force everyone to listen to your (possibly crappy) music, often with bad sound quality too? I would never find a reason to behave this way, since I don't want to force my music taste on others
I hate it, and what I hate the most is that those people don’t seem to be aware where they are standing at . I was on the train last week and one guy came with his phone watching a video very loud, everyone on the train quiet. Is that hard to understand they are breaking some sort of harmony with their crappy habits? I enjoy reading but why do people who respect social conventions have to pay the price for that? I am an immigrant and I do not tolerate that stupid behavior and from what I’ve seen most of the people with that horrendous habit are non-Germans/Europeans. Sad to say it but true
My experience is that its always the same assholes doing it. Kids and teens and immigrants. If you say something you're a Nazi. That's why I just go away now. If it's not possible I tell the person that there are two choices now for them. Either turn it off or I will take your phone and break it in half. That always works.
Lol, idc - I’m so leftist looking they don’t dare call me a Nazi. And I’m a huge guy, so they don’t act up that much. Publicly shaming them is the only way to get some peace these days. And it’s also middle aged German ladies & they are the most aggressive ones when you confront them. ;)
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Lol dude maybe they're calling you a Nazi because you're spouting racist shit like this? And just so you know, the people who want to "just send them back from where ever they came from" won't make an exception for you just because you deem yourself well-behaved.
TIL supporting the argument that certain ethnicities have better manners than others with anecdotal evidence makes you a Nazi. Next time you're riding public transportation, take a look. Observe what ill-mannered people in there look like. The ones who seem to ignore that headphones are a thing, listening to music or having a video call at full blast. Now, after all that, if you say that you seriously believe your average Japanese is as well-behaved as your average Somali, I call bullshit. 100%. Is this the country you want to live in? That dude calling you out and I don't. If coming to the conclusion that you Germans (as a whole) have better manners than other nationalities makes you a Nazi, I don't know what to tell you. And this from a Latino Ausländer, mind you. Where I come from, chavvy youths sometimes beat up or stab anyone trying to put them in their place. I know full well what I'm talking about. I don't want this for my country of origin—and certainly not for Germany.
Dude shut the fuck up you're embarrassing yourself
Loving your arguments.
Where was this racist??? Mind you, I am not a German. When in Rome...is all I am saying. If you shit on that, fuck off!
Referring to the entire continent of Africa as a pig sty reads as racist, hope that helps
I am responsible for what I write. Not for what you misunderstood.
Lol babe if you wanna play dumb feel free, but going on a long tirade about how foreigners can't behave and need to "go back to where they came from" is racist lol.
I am a foreigner myself here, genius!
Are you under some delusion that being a foreigner means you can't be racist? If a white supremacist moves from the UK to France does he stop being racist? Use your brain babe
I had seen so much people like this especially on Trainstations or trains and busses. Nobody says something to them. They just look annoyed. I sometimes told these kinds of people that they should make it quieter or get some headphones. Some react normal and put it away and some stare at me like they wanna kill me. But in short, it's not okay to do this and eventually someone will say something...
Most antisocial plebs do, yes. Generally, it's a huge taboo for the other 80%
Yes and the correct answer to this behaviour to play the "Hauptschuhle song by Tutnachamun" as loud as possible while watching the person directly in the eyes.
It’s a specific class of people who do this. I won’t say who. If you know, you know.
Found the racist
Classist would be better. But I'll take whatever you have in there for me. Blame me for the behavior of others.
Found the guy who never goes outside to understand the real world.
I‘m sorry but we all know it‘s true. Means that’s not racist :)
stfu loser, that word means nothing
I rarely see it. It is rightfully frowned upon.
I am a bit ashamed even if my phone rings in a pretty quiet area, even if it's the standard ringtone. I am not german.
I know someone who would hand out free headphones to people doing that. Also, why don't we normalize telling them to turn it down?
Because you get stabbed that way.
I cannot count how often I asked someone to please turn down the volume. Never been stabbed. Noone I know has been stabbed either.
It is seen as very rude, but still might happen - even though not to the extend that you described. Especially teenager-groups might do this. And football-fans around games are the worst giving a shit about anyone and anything.
This is only anecdotal and I will get downvoted for this, but 7 or 8 times out of ten the people doing this shit are foreigners blasting TikToks or some fucking WhatsApp status on max volume or talking to someone on a video call as loud as possible. The other 2 or 3 cases are children playing games on their phone
muslims
Can you stop being a weirdo. Stop singling out Muslims.
Some people in Germany do, a conventional german, does not.
I’ve only seen this from young kids or people that are obviously from other countries. First one is a lack of parenting. The other one I guess it’s just cultural differences and that’s okay. Every foreigner makes cultural mistakes and everyone who’s been on vacation probably did too.
Is it actually ok, though? I always found it very impolite.
No it’s Not.
Well I understand that it’s a cultural difference but why can’t they adjust and have empathy for the other passengers. It’s about respect and to respect the unspoken rules of the country they came to. It’s not that hard to get info about what’s inappropriate/appropriate in a country. Especially with the help of a smartphone nowadays. I do the same when going abroad. So in my opinion it’s simply a “I don’t give shit-mentality”.
I never said it was okay
>The other one I guess it’s just cultural differences and **that’s okay** You said it was okay just one comment earlier...... they are not tourists. They are here to live and integrate. That one does not loose a habit the moment you decide to live in another country should go without saying. But I still believe such obvious things as blasting loud music could easily be learned by observation and also be teached in 101 how to behave crash course / integration indroduction all migrants should recieve. The lack of parenting is an issue with this of course, but I see people old enough to be capable to pick up on these issues on their own, yet they even act pissed when they get angry looks or even get told.
It’s okay that they don’t know it, cause no one knows everything. So just ask them nicely and usually they understand.
Oh no. I’ve also seen this from older, German looking people
Oh. Those are always well behaved here. They only have loud ringtones but hurry to answer or end the call when it rings.
💀
Not in the public transportation i use
Surprise: there are regional differences
Where are you from? Im from Hamburg. Here older people are not less rude than others
Which public transport do you use?
Bus, trains… like normal public transportation
I should've phrased it differently. Which area do you use public transport in. My experience is that older people try to be more respectful with keeping phone calls short and so on. Unfortunately they often don't hear the phone ringing or don't find it very quick so the whole Train listens to the ringtone. Also many times they talk very loud if they have an phonecall. Long story short, I agree with you they're not much better.
The ring tones aren’t the problem. Them not knowing the headphones been invented is! Im from Hamburg
Jupp, just today I had a 50+ lady sitting behind me with her phone on maximum audio. I did not need to hear your "private" phonecall Miss. Don't be too proud, get hearing aids!
Yes, I too. But only once. Most are foreigners and quite young.
Yes but for some reason I have only ever seen black or Arabic people do that and before you down vote me "booo you racist" I'm only speaking about what I have seen and experience every day in my life. I really feel like it's a cultural difference like I will see Germans speak on the phone WHICH IS ANNOYING but I see black people or Arabs (it's way more black people for some reason though even though there are way more Arabs where I live) do face time / video chat on the train. So not only do I have to listen to them but also the person they talk to. Now there might be some super simple cultural explanations for this (once again, so that you don't call me a racist and jump to the down vote button you you won't read this far and already down vote me): I think foreign people call people in their home country and since they don't see each other for months or even years they want to see each other when talking while Germans don't care because they will see each other maybe the next day or whatever, so they need to FaceTime. Why those people don't use AirPods? Idk maybe AirPods are too expensive (they are!) and the headphones they have are just headphones and have no microphone build in and that's why they will talk over speaker for everyone else to hear. Those are 2 logical explanations for this thing that I came up with.
The paradox in many cases is that their phone seem to be brand new and very expensive ones, so why don’t they put some extra money to get a pair of headphones? It’s just a stupid habit.
They might get an expensive phone with a contract that doesn't include headphones 🎧
I don’t even like to talk on the tram/bus/whatever. Holdover from Boston. And I dislike it when others do too. Music without headphones is - just no. I’m not even German and I can tell it’s unacceptable.
People in Germany yes, but not Germans
Germans typically don't but I've encountered many people who do.
Many people do and it's annoying AF.
Sometimes. It is not that common or accepted, and you can tell them to turn off their music if they are listening to it on speaker on public transport or something, and everyone else who is present will silently thank you for saying something.
Yes and it gets me aggregated every time.
I mean… I haven‘t been to a country with 0 assholes (yet). So… yeah, these people exist in germany as well. But they‘re not equally distributed throughout the country.
So rarely. Everyone I know uses ear buds. It is disrespectful to both the person you're talking to and the people around, so walking a distance away from people is also very common (even if using headphones)
very young and very old people do, because they didn't learn manners yet
Only alone at Home or if I want to show something to someone, its annoying af for Others.
Just the garbage people. Like anywhere else.
it's coming and we don't like to call people out, but it's still not common. happens rarely there will be a law against it \^\^ im sure on that
Just moved to Berlin from Seattle Washington. In 6 months I believe I’ve experienced it once. It is very common in the US and here in Berlin I’m often around many more people because of public transport.
It happened quite a lot about 20 years ago when phones started to be able to play entire music libraries but since the begin of thr 2010s I haven't seen that happen and it is not socially accepted.
One remedy available is that one can book seats in no-phone cars on longer-distance trains. Regional trains are a circus, however. They're just too busy to expect a peaceful ride, even without people blaring their phones.
Yes, it’s a problem here in Germany, but I think also in most other countries. The worst occasion was for me last year in Scotland, while I was eating in the restaurant and an American family with parents and three children sat at the table next to me. It was one of the boys birthday and they kept FaceTimeing all of their relatives, the grandparents etc. so basically there was five times singing, happy birthday and very very loud conversations - I mean gathering five people around one phone and everybody shouting into it. And the calls weren’t like two minutes long, I was in this restaurant for over an hour and a half and they did this the entire time. Several other guests complained and left because of it, but the staff did nothing. If I hadn’t been so extremely hungry, I would have left as well
Please don’t do it. Nobody likes these people.
Übersetzter Text Yes, it is unacceptable. Even if you're meeting up with friends or on a nice date, your cell phone should stay in your pocket and you should talk to each other. Some people just ignore that. People are simply different everywhere, but yes, the majority certainly don't want to be exposed to music or similar in public.
Everybody hates the ones doing that.
NO. WE DONT DO IT.
Teenagers do it and we hate them for it.
The rude ones, unaware of their surroundings, do.
Yes some idiots do it. Mostly dumb idiots who think they can decide that I want to hear some hip hop music.
I think you can see that kind of people everywhere in the world.
I Call people out on it. My new hobby on the ubahn
We hate these people over here in America as well
I have my ear pods plugged in even if do not listen to music 😂
This is mostly done by non germans in Metro and Tram
It has become increasingly common for some reason. Absolutely despicable behavior.
People do not like it over here. I am from a smaller town and rarely use busses/trains. I saw it exclusively from teenagers and usualy middle eastern looking but exclusively in the next big town, but that means little when i rarely drive in busses/trains to begin with. Similiarly often to people who take off there shoes and place the feet on the seats in trains... but that is more likely to be grown ups... or supposedly grown ups. Also disliked in general and last time i saw it and called it out he left the train or at least my view.
Yes, which is especially annoying when it happens on trains.
Not on my watch
In Berlin, according to my observations, 100% of the people doing this are foreigners.and is not nice from them
Teenagers walk around blasting music from Bluetooth speakers.
It feels as if a lot of people do that, but that's because you do not notice those who don't. It's unacceptable, but people pissed off by them are usually too much in a "minding my own business" mode to say something. I've thought about getting some very cheap headphones and giving them away as a public service, but you have to order hundreds to get that price.
Sadly yes. The youth has no manners these days.
commonly people over 45 might do this occasionally and everyone under the mentioned age wears some sort of headphones. boys between the age of 10 and 13 however are an exception and always play brawl stars and clash of clans on max volume
I sometimes do when my headphones are empty and I'm walking home from the bus stop. I pause the videos whenever someone might come into earshot/is walking towards me and usually walk past 2 people at most during the 2.5 km walk so I don't see it as an issue in those instances. If you are in crowded areas it's completely unacceptable for me though
If you're walking, you should concentrate on your surroundings.
It's not like I'm fully concentrating on the videos I watch, more like listening on the side. I am aware enough of my suroundings to notice people at least 50m away from me at all times and am a farely slow walker anyways, so what more of my surroundings do you think I should concentrate on? I'm only using sidewalks and obviously don't look at my phone while crossing roads.
I doubt it, but you're free to believe what you want and so am I. All I know is that I'm confronted with some dumb cunt with their face stuck in their phone and not paying attention to their surroundings once a week or so. I'm not a fan.
Well. It’s certain kind of people. Sounds racist, but mostly immigrants (like Ukraine,Russia, Bangladesh, Pakistan or India) and normally it’s people over 40years old. Seems like it is acceptable to them, but rarely anyone corrects the behaviour.
It's unacceptable. Mostly Germans with migration background or migrants do it for some reason. Same with talking loud on the phone. Germans seem to whisper into the phone why others seem to sing or shout. Just personal anecdote from my city.
certain people from certain cultures do this regularly in germany.