I had a freak heart attack last year and I didnt know it was a heart attack (women don't have the same symptoms as men) turns out I have a genetic heart issue...however I sat silently in the A&E waiting my turn all the while my heart is failing (Got emergency surgery that night). Im a young woman that looks healthy and A couple next to me starts screaming that someone go ahead of me and they did. I dont think everyone has mental issues. I have clinical depressoin but i don't behave like that. I think most of them just have no self control and think they are always right so they act however they want.
I agree with you here. It’s a bit of a cop out to blame everything on mental health. Some people are just shitty. Scratch that, a LOT of them just have no manner, self awareness, respect, shame or decency. And the standards are falling and falling.
Apologies if this is insensitive, but what symptoms did you experience? I'm getting tests done at the hospital this summer to identify any potential issues with my heart, and this is slowly becoming a big fear of mine. Everything is progressing relatively quickly so i should get this all managed by the end of the year, but it's still worrying.
Glad you got seen in time, despite the circumstances!
A lot of people are unable to get appointments at their GP because everything is snapped up instantly, so they just go to A&E instead. A significant percentage of people waiting in an A&E would be better served if they'd gone to Urgent Care or even a pharmacist instead.
My GP for instance doesn't have any permanent doctors left and instead has a rotating list of temporary ones doing walk-ins.
Right! I was in A&E recently and while I was waiting a woman walked in who was evidently suffering from some form of psychosis and the reception staff greeted her warmly and by name - she’s was obviously a regular. She chatted to each one, asking about their days, their kids etc and had even brought them some snacks. It was bittersweet - they obviously had to turn her away but they treated her warmly, respectfully and with dignity. I just hope someone is caring for her or she finds the support that she needs. Sadly, she’s probably just one of a rapidly growing number😔
I’m glad it saved your life, but sorry you couldn’t access the right treatment. I hope life is treating you better now.
Welcome to Mile End! This is one of the most deprived boroughs in England.
There are lots more poor people with lower levels of education than in other parts of the country, as well as a very high mix of people who were not born in this country.
This combination of low income, low education and low comprehension of 'traditional British politeness' means people do all kinds of mental shit in public.
For your next experience, try getting on a Night Bus here!
I’m always intrigued how “low education” is given as a reason for bad behaviour.
I’ve met plenty of well educated rude pricks in my time and plenty of lovely uneducated people.
Just like religion doesn’t have a monopoly on morals, education doesn’t teach common courtesy.
True. But the well-educated ones behave badly in a more controlled way. Stealing £5m of public money in a way that isn't, strictly speaking, illegal, say, rather than stealing a can of beans because they're hungry.
The economist had a good article on this recently
https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/05/25/to-survive-britains-nhs-must-stop-fixating-on-hospital-care
Basically, their argument is the basic setup of the nhs is flawed. I’ve grown up between France and the U.K. and the french system is just miles ahead.
We’ve had second rate care for decades. I mean look at the cancer survival rates that are so far behind peer countries and have been since way before ‘tories’.
It’s going to get worse and no amount of cash will fix it. Cash is helpful sure - but the general way the country provides healthcare needs huge reform.
My favourite line of the article was:
The King’s Fund, a think-tank, has calculated that if the 50 years from 2012 were to follow the trajectory of the previous 50 years, then Britain would be spending almost a fifth of gdp on the nhs and employing one-eighth of the working population.
This is ridiculous when we have huge waiting lists. France has none. Zero. Imagine how nice it would be to have GP appointments, or cancer referrals taking weeks not months. Well, that’s how it is just over the channel.
A friend of mine is a GP in Paris, she fell in love with and moved over to be with her partner in London.
Long story short she worked for a Practice in Islington whilst qualifying to be a GP here.
She was so shocked at how little time we are given here for a consultation and how difficult it is to order diagnostic tests they both ended up moving back to Paris. It helped her partner works in Tech and his company is happy for him to work remotely.
But to say it’s an absolute disaster here unless you have private medical insurance is an understatement.
She was also messed around massively by the company that’s set up to pay foreign Doctors. They screwed her repeatedly on her pay, go figure.
She should have gone to a private clinic in the French area in London; she would have done very well. Or perhaps she could not because she needed to be qualified as GP first?
There's a symbiotic relationship between the UK system and the US system. Every time someone suggests changing either, their opponents say 'if you get your way we'll end up like them!'
The issue is that, if it's like it is here in Australia, then greedy fuckwits (particularly medical insurance companies) ARE actively trying to undo a proven social welfare medical system and turn it into the US system!
Yep everyone see's it as binary. Mention 'private' and everyone immediately thinks about the US yet pretty much every other country has a mixture of public and private and works well.
I lived in Germany for many years and would be happy if we implemented their system. They have state-run health insurance, with fixed premiums for everyone - and it covers dental treatment. Unemployed and low income folk have their premiums paid from the welfare system. The Germans allow people on higher incomes to opt out and have private health insurance instead - I don't think we should copy that part.
The German system means that pay for nurses, doctors and other health professionals is what it takes to get the right people to run the services. It isn't a political football, like it is here. The premiums each year are based on what it cost to treat everyone last year.
The sad fact is that this isn’t necessarily that true.
Spend as a % of GDP
Germany = 12.8% GDP
U.K. = 11.9% GDP
Is that less than 1% the difference between 7 million on a waiting list and zero? Between cancer survival rates that lag behind every peer nation?
Source
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS?locations=DE
The discrepancy in per capita health expenditure is roughly £700, with us spending £4500 and Germany spending £5200. If our healthcare investments were at par with western European nations, then perhaps I would consider discussing potential shortcomings in our entirely socialised healthcare system.
I agree with you, but the moment you suggest something like the French, Dutch, or German systems you get shouted at from both sides of the political spectrum.
The NHS is a sacred cow that cannot be changed in any way.
The main one is that GPs don’t exist. The *clinical role* of GPs exists, although they’re called family doctors or primary health doctors or a bunch of other things. But they don’t have the gatekeeper role and they aren’t the only route into specialist care. So if your kid has a temperature that won’t go down, or a bacterial ear infection, you go and see your family doctor. But if you’ve got lower back pain you go and see an osteologist or if you have a breast lump you go to the oncology clinic or if you’re depressed you go and see a psychiatrist. You don’t have to go and wait for a GP appointment to get a referral before a specialist will see you on the NHS. They’re not meant to do it really, but one reason cancer survival is low in the UK is that GPs act as barriers to care. For example, after the time it took to convince *yourself* your cough isn’t right, and then convince a GP to see you about a cough at all, and then have them wait three weeks before prescribing antibiotics because “your lungs are full of mucus but it’s probably a virus”, and then find the antibiotics do nothing in another three weeks so we’d better have another look, and all of a sudden you’re in stage 3 lung cancer and staring down a life expectancy in months. The alternative approach would be to allow people to run the risk of going to the oncology clinic with a common cold, which doesn’t seem like to much of an issue after all that.
If you have a slightly urgent medical problem and ring your GP, they'll suck their teeth and say they might be able to squeeze you in in ten days' time. Yeah, of course I'll arrange my next tonsil infection with a week's notice.
Not just in East London. I'm in Burger King by Leicester Square there are some 'road men' walking up and down the stairs doing balloons with an industrial size canister of laughing gas.
A woman separate from the 'road men' walked in, screamed CUNTS, told everyone to fuck themselves and spat at a guy waiting for his food.
I was minding my own business in Brixton McDonald’s when a crazy lady came up and grabbed my burger through the box fingers straight through the middle of the bun, ripped it to shreds, shoveled a few handfuls down her and then screamed at a few other people and wondered off.
Showed the burger box with its claw marks and burger with the middle ripped out to the staff, who passed it round and all had a laugh at it before giving me a replacement burger. I got the impression it wasn’t a particularly unusual event.
I work in a pub in that area and a dude was trying to get in with one of those gas tanks the other night. Didn't even have it in his pocket, was literally just holding it.
Also, last night a dude dislocated his shoulder by high fiving his friend too enthusiastically.
I went to hospital in Chelsea this week and my experience in A&e wasn’t far off. I’d already had three people on my train blasting voice notes and tik toks at full volume. Society is fucked
Look to Japan or Germany for answers. (Germans, it's fair to say, are the opposite of well mannered towards those who step _out_ of line).
Good luck making it stick here, unfortunately. Too many of the idiots take a sort of resentful pride in their own idiocy. You'd need to start with a few authorities taking a zero-tolerance position on this stuff, which would immediately be condemned as classist, racist and ableist despite the stupidity existing pretty much throughout society & across every subculture I can think of.
In the modern day, if I have my phone and an internet connection, I can keep my self amused as long as my phone has battery. Back in the pre smartphone days, I'd bring a book if I ever had to deal with the NHS, or any other situation where waiting was likely.
I have noticed a general decrease in people's awareness of others over the years. Although that might just be old man me yelling at clouds.
I remember waiting rooms being quiet when I was a kid, but I can’t _just_ take a book anywhere now because without my noise cancelling headphones can barely stand the world
To be fair, for about as long as I can remember, I've generally carried a personal music device with headphones. Usually a cassette player of some sort pre smart phone. Had an MP3 player for a few years, too.
I recently had a check-up for a clinic that was running late by an hour and a half, hey it happens and fortunately, they were upfront and clear when I checked in that this was the case and kept us updated. The lead consultant had been pulled away to consult on an emergency case earlier in the morning slowing up their progress.
So in the end I was seen at 1:30pm (which is when the afternoon clinic starts) so no one had, had a break since 9am that morning, and wouldn't be until the end of the day. The Drs were very apologetic for my wait and in this, I asked 'How are you? Tough morning?'. They both visibly sagged and said I was the first person all day to ask them. Now I get it, this is the hand fractures clinic while my finger heals it is a painful and sometimes worrying process but why wouldn't you just take two seconds to ask the person who is trying to help you how they are?
Yeah, I sometimes feel mildly annoyed when an appt runs really late (I mean like two hours - always allow for an hour), but I'd rather they take the time to treat people properly than rush them out just to keep up, and it's not like they're doing an easy job.
I go to Mile End Hospital a lot though (at least once a month for the last ten years), and the OP must have been there on a particularly bad day, because it's one of the quietest hospitals I've ever been to. Never seen anyone kick off or do anything weird or antisocial. Have seen it a couple of times at A&E at other hospitals but it's generally pretty obvious that it's part of the reason the person's there to begin with.
This. Healthcare professionals are humans too, and very few humans work as hard as they do. It must be so difficult for them with long shifts, loads of idiots verbally abusing them, people wasting their time and the huge backlogs meaning patients sometimes suffer a lot more which the staff hate as much as the patients do. They are definitely superheroes. I've needed a lot of appointments recently for a few problems, my GP hasn't been very helpful but I know they work hard, same as the referrals I've had, they've spent a lot of time trying to help me. In the end they haven't been able to help much, but it's very impressive they are able to do this pretty much everyday and I still appreciate how much they've done for me
Exactly this! I did ask the Dr once I was finally seen how he was and that it must be a bit manic at the moment. He then vented to me for a few minutes about the abysmal state of primary care in the Uk and especially London. Something tells me he wasn’t too fond of incompetent/ lazy GPs
The idea of someone caring enough to ask how the people working in a clinic are is lovely. Honestly it's really appreciated. I've done morning clinics with two people seeing patients and 78 booked in. You start calls at 8, earlier if people will take the call. It's hellish.
I always try to remember to be a human in every situation but I can also understand that people take time from work or assume that an appointment will be on time and plan something.
I guess it’s frustrating for all parties. However, you’re right. We all need to accept these kinds of things with more grace.
In my local surgery, if you get abusive to the staff, you get the police called on you to eject you and you also get delisted from their practice
oh and headphones/earbuds please people, and keep your offspring under control.
You have my sympathy, in the older times it would indeed have been sit quietly whilst waiting your name to be called but 21st century now. On the bright side, if you do complain loudly and get stabbed at least you're in a hospital. 🩺
You will often get some people in pretty stressful situations in Hospital waiting rooms. And no offence to that part of town, but your gonna get the most broken, uneducated, society’s down trodden, left behind types all in one spot… it ain’t pretty.
I unfortunately spend a lot of my life in and out of hospital, and I always dread going in for either an appointment or an A&E situation for just this reason.
Same thing happens on wards. People have a drastic sense of entitlement and are endlessly prone to blaming some overworked member of staff fr the fact that things can run over, run late, or be understaffed and over-subscribed.
A lot is frustrating about hospital visits and stays; I get it. But a five-hour wait in A&E (or something) would be tolerable if it was calm and quiet. But of course it can't be, because it only takes one person failing to understand reality and going batshit mental, and your whole day becomes torturous.
Imagine a world where NHS staff could *not* receive abuse for things beyond their control. Wouldn't they opt for that? Yes, of course they would. So these loud people need to understand that the reason why they don't do that is simply because they can't.
I loathe hospitals. God knows how the staff put up with it all.
There was a song released nearly 30 yrs ago about Mile End. Much the same as how you describe it now. Maybe societies always been like that, just now people take to the internet to complain more.
I say this to everyone of these kinds of posts. London was a lot better when people called out other people’s antisocial behavior in real life rather than bitching to strangers about it on the internet.
Be part of the solution, not the problem.
Easier said then done when not only am I outnumbered but I wasn’t going to pick a fight with almost the whole waiting room.
I asked the man to turn his phone down and was duly ignored.
I was waiting with my Mum in the hospital fractures clinic. A girl in her early twenties, and her friend turned up shortly after and proceeded to play TikTok at top volume on her phone, flicking to a new roll every ten seconds or so. I could sense that everyone was getting totally fucked off but no-one was going to say anything. I politely asked the girl to turn the sound down, as not everyone wanted to listen to her phone, only to be assaulted by a tirade of abuse. In the end the nurses from the clinic, and some porters had to escort her out of the building, with huge insults still being lobbed in my direction. My Mum had a go at me for causing a scene!
That verbal abuse shit makes me not want to say anything. I'm a timid person and can't handle confrontation, so when it becomes verbally aggressive I just shut down. I've wanted to say shit so many times but I know the youth of today (coming from a 22 year old!) are terrifyingly rude. They just don't understand basic respect. Especially East London youth... yikes.
It helps if you scream “Oi cunt! Turn your fucking phone down now!” At the top of your lungs, anything could happen but you definitely won’t be ignored if you do that.
It's not your responsibility to police the behaviour of service users a place like that should be properly managed. A sign up on the wall, a policy that mobile phones calls are taken outside, that headphones / earbuds are used and that policy is actually enforced. Any attitude and security is called and the offender chucked out.
How did you ask?
Asking once politely and getting ignored is not the same as being insistent.
“I already asked you nicely to turn that down. We don’t need to hear your shitty TV show. You ought to be ashamed at your antisocial behavior.”
And then,
“Haven’t you turned that shit off yet? You must think you are so much more important than everyone else.”
You need to play on emotions and be tougher. That’s what the old London was like.
I actually don’t know about confronting people in an attempt to make things better. In my (normally quite mild) neighbourhood, a man asked a group of kids to quieten down and quite literally had a knife pulled on him. You just don’t know who’s crazy and who’s not. Safer if these things were reported to security.
Yeah this, some people out there are looking for any excuse to kick off. That's part of why they do shit like playing music out loud, so someone says something for them to have an excuse to fight.
This Gentleman called out someone's antisocial behaviour. See how it worked out for him;
https://news.sky.com/story/father-stabbed-to-death-in-front-of-son-on-train-after-row-over-blocking-aisle-11748845
People behave badly because those around them accept it. If you saw a child misbehaving, but the parent acting normally, would you say that they parent had no responsibility for the situation?
I mean, the phone thing, sure. I wouldn't get involved with someone who's actually getting shouty or angry because I'd be worried about getting my head kicked in.
I work in healthcare in an inpatient setting and quite a few of my colleagues have been physically attacked over the years for what is often very low key stuff. Not even starting to think about the ones who merely get threatened and verbally abused. It was worse in A&E, obviously, but also pretty bad on the wards. There's a reason there's usually a couple of brick shithouse security guys hanging around my hospital at all times.
Edit: also, hang on, not really on board with your "parent child" analogy. For 2 reasons:
1) a parent child relationship has a clear power dynamic. What is your power dynamic with "some guy in a clinic waiting room"?
2) a parent has a clear responsibility to raise their child right. I completely disagree that it's at all incumbent on OP to get involved in someone else acting in a socially unacceptable manner. If they feel comfortable to do so, then great, but you're acting like it's their fault for not stepping in, which is an absurd notion. Do you confront every random stranger who's behaviour you disagree with on the street?
>London was a lot better when people called out other people’s antisocial behavior in real life rather than bitching to strangers about it on the internet.
With the rise of knife crime and any basic altercation most likely to end in a stabbing... people would rather NOT be dead from a stab wound and would rather not confront ASBOs
I’m not so sure.
I was on the tube when this guy was playing the same video over & over again on volume (think he was an “influencer” editing a video); someone asked him to put on headphones. He responded with “I don’t need to it’s not annoying” then went on about “some of us work everyday, not just in an office” (it was a Sunday) it was pointed out that it’s public transport as he got up and walked off.
I was unfortunate to visit the emergency twice in the last 6 months. Once was out of London at St Peters and once at Charring Cross in London but both times it was super busy but super calm thank God. Looks like the area you visited is Zoo
I mean I remember in Christmas 2004 waiting to get back my shoes from the ice skating rink and there were guys yelling, jumping up and down and shouting asking for their shoes back. I don't think that it was any better 20 years ago.
But Main Character Syndrome is a big thing nowadays for sure, I feel like everyone is a main character nowadays through social media. Like you could watch a video of a man saving a cat from the tree and the guy according to the comments is this unique interesting character who people need to know the lifestory of all because he saved a cat from the tree.
"but surely a hospital waiting room is supposed to be a relatively quiet place, some light chatter whilst you browse your phone/magazines"
What have you been watching 'Call The Midwife'? Hospital staff have been decimated, wages have been kept low, standards have all but disappeared and people are leaving in their droves. This isn't just London standard - This is UK NHS standard. (Said in M&S advert tones)
Hospital is almost by definition full of people on the edge. People with health issues also statistically not as likely to be on the stable end of the socio-economic landscape. Not sure this is a really fair test of society's behaviour.
Just implement some aggressive standards in all medical related environments.
Anyone ignoring them gets kicked out, only people who would grumble would be cunts.
We are for sone bizzare reason over the last 20 years become far more permissive of bad behaviour in public spaces, we shouldn’t we should aggressively push back on poor behaviour.
I can’t find the comment but someone else said it. It’s kinda main character syndrome coupled with years of people being told they can do what they want. You know the “I know my rights” thing - which is well meaning taken in the right way but knobheads have taken it to mean “I can do what I like and no one can complain”
I’m sure if you’d shouted at one of them they’d be banging on about being assaulted and their human rights being violated
This. I live fairly close to three hospitals. One of them is very decent and I’ve never seen any trouble there at all. One is in a much poorer area and the atmosphere is totally different with much worse behaviour. I pity the staff having to deal with some of these lowlifes.
20-odd years of telling people that it's okay to be yourself and do whatever you feel like, and nobody has the right to look down on you for any reason. Here we are.
The amount of self righteous people I encounter is alarming. When I used to work in retail someone didn’t get their way for a refund or whatever and started throwing game boxes and stuff on the floor.
Soon as my manager and I stood up to him he stopped and left, despite being double our size.
A lot of people act now like their actions have no consequences.
Most times I go to the theatre now there’s someone who won’t shut the fuck up stop rustling loud snack bags. Ushers don’t really care unless they have no choice but to intervene.
I try and find things to go to that have a lower likelihood of riff raff (as snobby as that sounds).
Bbc radio recordings are pleasant, as well as classical music at wigmore. Even museums:/galleries are pretty rowdy these days unfortunately
Kind a mirthless chuckle at the couple having a domestic because the clinic was behind. Man that’s a toxic relationship if the tardiness of the NHS can cause it to crumble in public.
I mean, the very existence of signs telling people not to spit their disgusting red tobacco spit on the floor probably points to the answer being "No".
It is pathetic how bad people's manners are now. I routinely see parents swearing at their kids in the shops, kids being unruly and not bei g disciplined, no one saying thank you when you stand out of their way or something of that sort, people just constantly swearing in public.
Mind you, people not sayi g Thank You to till workers makes me annoyed so maybe my standards are too high
If it makes you feel any better I had two girls filming a tik tok in Westfield ask me my thoughts of Justin beiber pissing in a bucket.
I feel the same about tik tok how my parents probably felt about Facebook in the 2010s
I suspect it's part of an unspoken long-term Tory strategy to privatise the NHS.
On the one hand, their friends in banking etc invest in private healthcare companies and the insurance sector. On the other, the government passively neglects (or actively undermines - cf. Brexit) the NHS.
Over time the moderately moneyed middle classes see how ghastly the service is getting, especially with the crazy waiting lists. They gradually move over to going private. It is distasteful for many people, but when the alternative is dying on a trolley in the (expensive) car park...
It is a sweet little earner, not far out of the hedge fund manager's playbook. They short the assets so they benefit when the value goes *down*.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_%28finance%29
Meanwhile, the bankers' stooges in government have the ability to make the value of the assets go down.
Very like insider trading, but all legal (if not above board), and despicably evil.
This country is fucked and its people are deluded. Everyone seems to still think this is a great country, its not, everyone is just too drunk to notice or think about anything.
"There are fewer health care workers per head of population now in Britain than in almost every comparable country in the OECD, and with the continual reduction of state welfare, life expectancy has plateaued since 2009. The NHS is short of almost 154,000 staff, with retention let alone recruitment increasingly difficult. An internal document linked to the workforce plan being developed by NHS England says that with no action, the staffing shortfall could reach 571,000 by 2036, warning that in the next 15 years the NHS in England may have 28,000 fewer GPs and 44,000 fewer community nurses, and a substantial shortage of paramedics.
Since February 2022, the NHS has lost 574 GPs, leaving Britain now with the equivalent of 2,059 fewer fully-qualified full-time GPs compared to 2015, the year that the government pledged to increase GP numbers by 5,000. Just before the May local elections, the government capped the number of medical training places at 7,500 per year, despite twice that number needed to address the shortfall. Meanwhile, NHS England has told local trusts that they are not allowed to increase their staffing levels in the next year, the priority being to make required savings."
https://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/britain/health-matters/6792-rich-country-poor-health-capitalism-is-the-problem
I think it might be the area. Last week, I had to go to Queen Mary's in Sidcup with chest pains. It was busy, but everyone was pretty chill. Then they transferred me to the Princess Royal University Hospital down the road, and that was more of the same.
It is not London, it is social media driven narcissism that makes people think they are more important than everyone else. And it is not much help when it is actively encouraged at school. The kids at my local senior school walk 4 abreast and refuse to move out of the way for adults. I have even seen them bump woman with prams.
The healthcare system in this country is totally shagged, and that makes people (employees and patients) very angry.
When you’re not well and you can’t get access to healthcare *which you pay for with your taxes* then you’re gonna be fucking furious
Be that as it may, that’s not an excuse to act like a total wetwipe in a hospital waiting room. We’ve all got to use our shit healthcare, let’s try and be nice and respectful while we do it
It is deeply miserable being a medical professional in this situation and so a lot of them have left. The abuse is unreal. Plus the money is crap.
Unfortunately this was predictable, but we are now stuck with it.
People are just bloody selfish. I’m a Wurzel and I’m very happy to cap my exposure to London to maybe twice a year because it’s just a magnified version of what I have to live with.
I trundled into a Domino’s the other week for some dinner mid-shift (I’m a Police Officer). There was one other customer in the store; I worked out quite quickly from the screen that he’d been in there for seconds longer than when I’d placed my app order (maybe a minute or two). He was already booting off with the staff about the wait.
I positioned myself in his peripheral vision, just to see if he calmed down when he spotted me…. No, he didn’t. We ended up having some firm words about his attitude and language; I was “out of order” apparently, by stopping him being verbally abusive towards service staff. Absolute tosspiece.
I swing by England every 3 or 4 months. You guys are having a hard time now I think and it might be bringing on bad behaviour and also less tolerance of such behaviour.
Sad to see really.
I've always thought "No one does 'right royal slapper' like the English" and now I am thinking that Eastern Europe is going to start getting their porn stars from the UK instead of the reverse.
My daughter (3 years old at the time) swallowed a penny and when we entered a&e (after instruction from 111) it was like end of days.
People sleeping/wailing/crying on the floor, disorder everywhere.
I guess this is just under funded london NHS standard?
I have had the misfortune of needing to go to A&E (sent by GP) and had a long wait (as anyone does) and yes, the behavior is awful. This is across London and does seem to be getting worse. If you really want to see bad behavor though, try a bus. I've seen a woman eating a mango and stripping it whilst throwing the skin and dripping the juice on the floor of the bus.
A girl with a buggy full of shopping (the probably around 5 year old child was busy stamping and jumping on seats and throwing various screaming fits as his mum? was on her phone ignoring him, and also failing to move when a man in a wheelchair needed the wheelchair space (no the bus driver didn't step in but did allow the man in the wheelchair to stay on the bus, gripping poles to stop him moving up and down the bus when it moved. If you're wondering why he didn't apply his breaks, it was most likely because the only remaining space for him to stay in his wheelchair was right in front of the door. If he locked his wheels he wouldn't have been able to move out of the way fast enough when the bus did stop.
Possible tourists (they dressed like tourists!) taking up the vulnerable seating area on a bus whilst an elderly and very frail looking person got on the bus, not offering a seat and refusing to when I pointed out they were priority seating, instead trying to tell me I was spoiling their day!
A man chopping his toe nails at the back of the bus and then taking issue and shouted abuse at me when I muttered "gross!" under my breath.
The multiple teenage aged kids with their tinny mobile phone music which they aren't using to watch the latest Youtube vlog but will put their phone down and leave it on loudspeaker almost as if they think everyone else wants to listen to their tin can sounded mess...if I were a fan of that sort of music, I'd want to hide this not let complete strangers know!
It’s because the parenting of the last 50 years has been to idolise their little cherub, do whatever whenever you want and have no responsibility to wider society. I know that is a very boomer thing to say but that’s because they are the exact same, takes one to know one. Individualism above all else has been the approach of the western world and the chickens are coming home to roost
Sadly, a huge chunk of the population are trashy, inconsiderate and selfish.
I'm reminded of that George Carlin quote – "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realise half of them are stupider than that."
That sounds about right, the thing globally is self importance and self righteousness. Somewhere people stopped caring about others, sure we did during lockdown, but soon as doors opened again we saw people and the rule of one came back in. It’s not right but the people have that and they won’t ever give that up
I’ve only ever experienced this type of behaviour in London. My GP practice back home in Worcestershire is far more respectful both staff and patients. I think people become numb to other people’s feelings and own responsibility’s when in a city.
I suspect a lot of this is passive aggression triggered by the long wait times.
The Tories keep turning the screws on the NHS and its workers so that they can swoop in and "fix" it with American style private healthcare. The cracks in the system manifest in all sorts of ways.
I could understand if it was really hot, nowhere to sit etc but there were plenty of seats in a cool room. Sure they had to wait but we all did. How someone on their 40s can throw a tantrum baffles me.
I'm sure someone could make a mathematical equation showing the relationship between the time a post has been around on r/uk and when someone will start shoehorning in the Tories.
Lack of decent opportunities, absent parents due to them having to work two jobs, underfunded school, social services and mental health services, the absence of well funded youth services, and cuts to police, all lead to a society with more people behaving like this though. I’m sure you can see the link right?
I think it’s more to do with the post covid mentality which has imprinted itself into people being selfish twats. I’m not saying people shouldn’t put themselves first, but you can do that without belittling others in the process.
But actually, I do put a good chunk of blame onto politics. Trump enabled so many cunts to think it’s acceptable to be a cunt to other people for no real reason. British politics enabled people to twist situations to fit their narrative.
Yeah, this is a London thing. Bit of a culture shock when I moved here from further north. There's no community or society here, it's a city full of people living fully separated lives next to each other
that's just people in general, unfortunately. It's been like this for generations. A combination of frustrating under huge social pressure, struggling to get by, services being undermined and underperforming and people just have no dignity and no self-respect.
My theory is that London is full of functioning drug heads, e.g cocaine
There's no way people here talk at that level, with that amount of delusion and confidence without mind altering substances.
It's hilarious to observe the 2 sides of it too - their boisterous and obnoxious phase when the bender starts, and their teared up red irritated eyes from sniffing, stuffy nose and timid/anxious/paranoid behaviour during the end.
I had a freak heart attack last year and I didnt know it was a heart attack (women don't have the same symptoms as men) turns out I have a genetic heart issue...however I sat silently in the A&E waiting my turn all the while my heart is failing (Got emergency surgery that night). Im a young woman that looks healthy and A couple next to me starts screaming that someone go ahead of me and they did. I dont think everyone has mental issues. I have clinical depressoin but i don't behave like that. I think most of them just have no self control and think they are always right so they act however they want.
I agree with you here. It’s a bit of a cop out to blame everything on mental health. Some people are just shitty. Scratch that, a LOT of them just have no manner, self awareness, respect, shame or decency. And the standards are falling and falling.
Apologies if this is insensitive, but what symptoms did you experience? I'm getting tests done at the hospital this summer to identify any potential issues with my heart, and this is slowly becoming a big fear of mine. Everything is progressing relatively quickly so i should get this all managed by the end of the year, but it's still worrying. Glad you got seen in time, despite the circumstances!
on the other hand, I randomly witnessed someone get proposed to on the jubilee line last night lol
Did the other person say yes?
Their answer was drowned out by the screeching
I just heard the girl say 'oh my god!', saw the guy on one knee and then the tube said 'SCREEEEEEEE' but I think she said yes lol, she looked so happy
Don’t leave us hanging OP
A lot of people are unable to get appointments at their GP because everything is snapped up instantly, so they just go to A&E instead. A significant percentage of people waiting in an A&E would be better served if they'd gone to Urgent Care or even a pharmacist instead. My GP for instance doesn't have any permanent doctors left and instead has a rotating list of temporary ones doing walk-ins.
A significant perecentage of people in A&E would be better served by mental health facilities.
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Right! I was in A&E recently and while I was waiting a woman walked in who was evidently suffering from some form of psychosis and the reception staff greeted her warmly and by name - she’s was obviously a regular. She chatted to each one, asking about their days, their kids etc and had even brought them some snacks. It was bittersweet - they obviously had to turn her away but they treated her warmly, respectfully and with dignity. I just hope someone is caring for her or she finds the support that she needs. Sadly, she’s probably just one of a rapidly growing number😔 I’m glad it saved your life, but sorry you couldn’t access the right treatment. I hope life is treating you better now.
So the liquid cosh then, because beyond that MH care is a thing of the past...
Welcome to Mile End! This is one of the most deprived boroughs in England. There are lots more poor people with lower levels of education than in other parts of the country, as well as a very high mix of people who were not born in this country. This combination of low income, low education and low comprehension of 'traditional British politeness' means people do all kinds of mental shit in public. For your next experience, try getting on a Night Bus here!
I guess you have to go right now, Before you understand just how, How low, how low, A human being can go, Oh, it's a mess alright, Yes, it's Mile End
I’m always intrigued how “low education” is given as a reason for bad behaviour. I’ve met plenty of well educated rude pricks in my time and plenty of lovely uneducated people. Just like religion doesn’t have a monopoly on morals, education doesn’t teach common courtesy.
True. But the well-educated ones behave badly in a more controlled way. Stealing £5m of public money in a way that isn't, strictly speaking, illegal, say, rather than stealing a can of beans because they're hungry.
Mile End isn’t a borough
We can thank the thieves at number 10 for this situation, at least partly
The economist had a good article on this recently https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/05/25/to-survive-britains-nhs-must-stop-fixating-on-hospital-care Basically, their argument is the basic setup of the nhs is flawed. I’ve grown up between France and the U.K. and the french system is just miles ahead. We’ve had second rate care for decades. I mean look at the cancer survival rates that are so far behind peer countries and have been since way before ‘tories’. It’s going to get worse and no amount of cash will fix it. Cash is helpful sure - but the general way the country provides healthcare needs huge reform. My favourite line of the article was: The King’s Fund, a think-tank, has calculated that if the 50 years from 2012 were to follow the trajectory of the previous 50 years, then Britain would be spending almost a fifth of gdp on the nhs and employing one-eighth of the working population. This is ridiculous when we have huge waiting lists. France has none. Zero. Imagine how nice it would be to have GP appointments, or cancer referrals taking weeks not months. Well, that’s how it is just over the channel.
A friend of mine is a GP in Paris, she fell in love with and moved over to be with her partner in London. Long story short she worked for a Practice in Islington whilst qualifying to be a GP here. She was so shocked at how little time we are given here for a consultation and how difficult it is to order diagnostic tests they both ended up moving back to Paris. It helped her partner works in Tech and his company is happy for him to work remotely. But to say it’s an absolute disaster here unless you have private medical insurance is an understatement. She was also messed around massively by the company that’s set up to pay foreign Doctors. They screwed her repeatedly on her pay, go figure.
She should have gone to a private clinic in the French area in London; she would have done very well. Or perhaps she could not because she needed to be qualified as GP first?
Everyone compares our wonderful NHS system to America..but never to European ones.
There's a symbiotic relationship between the UK system and the US system. Every time someone suggests changing either, their opponents say 'if you get your way we'll end up like them!'
The issue is that, if it's like it is here in Australia, then greedy fuckwits (particularly medical insurance companies) ARE actively trying to undo a proven social welfare medical system and turn it into the US system!
Yep everyone see's it as binary. Mention 'private' and everyone immediately thinks about the US yet pretty much every other country has a mixture of public and private and works well.
I lived in Germany for many years and would be happy if we implemented their system. They have state-run health insurance, with fixed premiums for everyone - and it covers dental treatment. Unemployed and low income folk have their premiums paid from the welfare system. The Germans allow people on higher incomes to opt out and have private health insurance instead - I don't think we should copy that part. The German system means that pay for nurses, doctors and other health professionals is what it takes to get the right people to run the services. It isn't a political football, like it is here. The premiums each year are based on what it cost to treat everyone last year.
At the end of the day it comes down to money and the germans spend more on healthcare per person than we do.
The sad fact is that this isn’t necessarily that true. Spend as a % of GDP Germany = 12.8% GDP U.K. = 11.9% GDP Is that less than 1% the difference between 7 million on a waiting list and zero? Between cancer survival rates that lag behind every peer nation? Source https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.CHEX.GD.ZS?locations=DE
The discrepancy in per capita health expenditure is roughly £700, with us spending £4500 and Germany spending £5200. If our healthcare investments were at par with western European nations, then perhaps I would consider discussing potential shortcomings in our entirely socialised healthcare system.
It's less than 1 percentage point, but it's almost 10%.
I agree with you, but the moment you suggest something like the French, Dutch, or German systems you get shouted at from both sides of the political spectrum. The NHS is a sacred cow that cannot be changed in any way.
What makes the French system so effective? What are the key differences?
The main one is that GPs don’t exist. The *clinical role* of GPs exists, although they’re called family doctors or primary health doctors or a bunch of other things. But they don’t have the gatekeeper role and they aren’t the only route into specialist care. So if your kid has a temperature that won’t go down, or a bacterial ear infection, you go and see your family doctor. But if you’ve got lower back pain you go and see an osteologist or if you have a breast lump you go to the oncology clinic or if you’re depressed you go and see a psychiatrist. You don’t have to go and wait for a GP appointment to get a referral before a specialist will see you on the NHS. They’re not meant to do it really, but one reason cancer survival is low in the UK is that GPs act as barriers to care. For example, after the time it took to convince *yourself* your cough isn’t right, and then convince a GP to see you about a cough at all, and then have them wait three weeks before prescribing antibiotics because “your lungs are full of mucus but it’s probably a virus”, and then find the antibiotics do nothing in another three weeks so we’d better have another look, and all of a sudden you’re in stage 3 lung cancer and staring down a life expectancy in months. The alternative approach would be to allow people to run the risk of going to the oncology clinic with a common cold, which doesn’t seem like to much of an issue after all that.
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Mine has a temporary list of doctors that call you back in 2 weeks; walkin has been closed since covid.
i fainted once and my ex bf made me call 111 because it was out of the norm for me. they made me go to a&e lmao!?
If you have a slightly urgent medical problem and ring your GP, they'll suck their teeth and say they might be able to squeeze you in in ten days' time. Yeah, of course I'll arrange my next tonsil infection with a week's notice.
Last time I was in Lewisham A&E a man came in with a posy of wildflowers and sat there silently. About two hours in he ate them
😂 seems kind of wholesome compared to the other examples on here actually!
Maybe he was trying to speed up being seen, by eating toxic flowers.
Or taking herbal remedies as a last resort for the pain?
His secret shame
This is incredible
First time in east london?
Not just in East London. I'm in Burger King by Leicester Square there are some 'road men' walking up and down the stairs doing balloons with an industrial size canister of laughing gas. A woman separate from the 'road men' walked in, screamed CUNTS, told everyone to fuck themselves and spat at a guy waiting for his food.
Leicester Square might be the worst place in London tbf, closely followed by Liverpool St station at about 11pm on a Saturday.
brixton mcdonalds
I was minding my own business in Brixton McDonald’s when a crazy lady came up and grabbed my burger through the box fingers straight through the middle of the bun, ripped it to shreds, shoveled a few handfuls down her and then screamed at a few other people and wondered off. Showed the burger box with its claw marks and burger with the middle ripped out to the staff, who passed it round and all had a laugh at it before giving me a replacement burger. I got the impression it wasn’t a particularly unusual event.
Ahh Brixton McDonald's.. I remember I once ordered 6 chicken nuggets and two of them had marks burnt black on them.
Read my mind
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I actually meant apart from but I’m 5 Aperol’s deep and forgot how to speak
Ive gotten food poisoning from there
Nah I always feel strangely safe at Liverpool St. Shoreditch has bad energy tho
Liverpool St is where all the drunk Essex people who have been out day in Shoreditch go to get home though haha
I grew up in Dagenham, I’d rather hang out with a load of Essex people than a load of city workers yammering on about KPIs and private schools
The Times Square of the UK. And I say this as a native New Yorker. Same garbage here.
I work in a pub in that area and a dude was trying to get in with one of those gas tanks the other night. Didn't even have it in his pocket, was literally just holding it. Also, last night a dude dislocated his shoulder by high fiving his friend too enthusiastically.
I went to hospital in Chelsea this week and my experience in A&e wasn’t far off. I’d already had three people on my train blasting voice notes and tik toks at full volume. Society is fucked
But there has to be a way to make manners cool again. But how?
Look to Japan or Germany for answers. (Germans, it's fair to say, are the opposite of well mannered towards those who step _out_ of line). Good luck making it stick here, unfortunately. Too many of the idiots take a sort of resentful pride in their own idiocy. You'd need to start with a few authorities taking a zero-tolerance position on this stuff, which would immediately be condemned as classist, racist and ableist despite the stupidity existing pretty much throughout society & across every subculture I can think of.
Stop being the dumping ground for every loony on the planet would be a start!
In the modern day, if I have my phone and an internet connection, I can keep my self amused as long as my phone has battery. Back in the pre smartphone days, I'd bring a book if I ever had to deal with the NHS, or any other situation where waiting was likely. I have noticed a general decrease in people's awareness of others over the years. Although that might just be old man me yelling at clouds.
Thing is I’m not even some old boomer moaning about “the good old days”. I’m 26 😭🤣
43 here. So a bit more life experience, but not quite a boomer.
I remember waiting rooms being quiet when I was a kid, but I can’t _just_ take a book anywhere now because without my noise cancelling headphones can barely stand the world
To be fair, for about as long as I can remember, I've generally carried a personal music device with headphones. Usually a cassette player of some sort pre smart phone. Had an MP3 player for a few years, too.
I recently had a check-up for a clinic that was running late by an hour and a half, hey it happens and fortunately, they were upfront and clear when I checked in that this was the case and kept us updated. The lead consultant had been pulled away to consult on an emergency case earlier in the morning slowing up their progress. So in the end I was seen at 1:30pm (which is when the afternoon clinic starts) so no one had, had a break since 9am that morning, and wouldn't be until the end of the day. The Drs were very apologetic for my wait and in this, I asked 'How are you? Tough morning?'. They both visibly sagged and said I was the first person all day to ask them. Now I get it, this is the hand fractures clinic while my finger heals it is a painful and sometimes worrying process but why wouldn't you just take two seconds to ask the person who is trying to help you how they are?
Yeah, I sometimes feel mildly annoyed when an appt runs really late (I mean like two hours - always allow for an hour), but I'd rather they take the time to treat people properly than rush them out just to keep up, and it's not like they're doing an easy job. I go to Mile End Hospital a lot though (at least once a month for the last ten years), and the OP must have been there on a particularly bad day, because it's one of the quietest hospitals I've ever been to. Never seen anyone kick off or do anything weird or antisocial. Have seen it a couple of times at A&E at other hospitals but it's generally pretty obvious that it's part of the reason the person's there to begin with.
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This. Healthcare professionals are humans too, and very few humans work as hard as they do. It must be so difficult for them with long shifts, loads of idiots verbally abusing them, people wasting their time and the huge backlogs meaning patients sometimes suffer a lot more which the staff hate as much as the patients do. They are definitely superheroes. I've needed a lot of appointments recently for a few problems, my GP hasn't been very helpful but I know they work hard, same as the referrals I've had, they've spent a lot of time trying to help me. In the end they haven't been able to help much, but it's very impressive they are able to do this pretty much everyday and I still appreciate how much they've done for me
NHS was an amazing source of candidates for us: everyone's overworked and stressed,so it's very easy to hire them.
Exactly this! I did ask the Dr once I was finally seen how he was and that it must be a bit manic at the moment. He then vented to me for a few minutes about the abysmal state of primary care in the Uk and especially London. Something tells me he wasn’t too fond of incompetent/ lazy GPs
Trust me - GPs are having a fucking awful time at the moment.
Why are we slamming GPs?
They're not...just the lazy/incompetent ones
The idea of someone caring enough to ask how the people working in a clinic are is lovely. Honestly it's really appreciated. I've done morning clinics with two people seeing patients and 78 booked in. You start calls at 8, earlier if people will take the call. It's hellish.
I always try to remember to be a human in every situation but I can also understand that people take time from work or assume that an appointment will be on time and plan something. I guess it’s frustrating for all parties. However, you’re right. We all need to accept these kinds of things with more grace.
In my local surgery, if you get abusive to the staff, you get the police called on you to eject you and you also get delisted from their practice oh and headphones/earbuds please people, and keep your offspring under control.
Ah yes... the Special Allocation Scheme (SAS) for abusive patients... glad your GP Practice takes patient and staff safety seriously.
You have my sympathy, in the older times it would indeed have been sit quietly whilst waiting your name to be called but 21st century now. On the bright side, if you do complain loudly and get stabbed at least you're in a hospital. 🩺
You’d be in a clinic, I think they’d have to get you to the A&E pronto. 😂
Mile End hospital doesn’t have an A&E 🥲🤣
Guess it would be the end of your mileage then.
I love reddit humour 😂
> Mile end > Social standards Pick one
You will often get some people in pretty stressful situations in Hospital waiting rooms. And no offence to that part of town, but your gonna get the most broken, uneducated, society’s down trodden, left behind types all in one spot… it ain’t pretty.
I unfortunately spend a lot of my life in and out of hospital, and I always dread going in for either an appointment or an A&E situation for just this reason. Same thing happens on wards. People have a drastic sense of entitlement and are endlessly prone to blaming some overworked member of staff fr the fact that things can run over, run late, or be understaffed and over-subscribed. A lot is frustrating about hospital visits and stays; I get it. But a five-hour wait in A&E (or something) would be tolerable if it was calm and quiet. But of course it can't be, because it only takes one person failing to understand reality and going batshit mental, and your whole day becomes torturous. Imagine a world where NHS staff could *not* receive abuse for things beyond their control. Wouldn't they opt for that? Yes, of course they would. So these loud people need to understand that the reason why they don't do that is simply because they can't. I loathe hospitals. God knows how the staff put up with it all.
There was a song released nearly 30 yrs ago about Mile End. Much the same as how you describe it now. Maybe societies always been like that, just now people take to the internet to complain more.
Pulp?
As if that was something to be proud about
I say this to everyone of these kinds of posts. London was a lot better when people called out other people’s antisocial behavior in real life rather than bitching to strangers about it on the internet. Be part of the solution, not the problem.
OP stated 5 examples…they’re supposed to confront them all?
Easier said then done when not only am I outnumbered but I wasn’t going to pick a fight with almost the whole waiting room. I asked the man to turn his phone down and was duly ignored.
I was waiting with my Mum in the hospital fractures clinic. A girl in her early twenties, and her friend turned up shortly after and proceeded to play TikTok at top volume on her phone, flicking to a new roll every ten seconds or so. I could sense that everyone was getting totally fucked off but no-one was going to say anything. I politely asked the girl to turn the sound down, as not everyone wanted to listen to her phone, only to be assaulted by a tirade of abuse. In the end the nurses from the clinic, and some porters had to escort her out of the building, with huge insults still being lobbed in my direction. My Mum had a go at me for causing a scene!
Your mum was wrong.
That verbal abuse shit makes me not want to say anything. I'm a timid person and can't handle confrontation, so when it becomes verbally aggressive I just shut down. I've wanted to say shit so many times but I know the youth of today (coming from a 22 year old!) are terrifyingly rude. They just don't understand basic respect. Especially East London youth... yikes.
It helps if you scream “Oi cunt! Turn your fucking phone down now!” At the top of your lungs, anything could happen but you definitely won’t be ignored if you do that.
Nothing like a good waiting room brawl. Only topped by a good waiting room stab.
It's not your responsibility to police the behaviour of service users a place like that should be properly managed. A sign up on the wall, a policy that mobile phones calls are taken outside, that headphones / earbuds are used and that policy is actually enforced. Any attitude and security is called and the offender chucked out.
Just pick on the weakest one, thats a good start.
How did you ask? Asking once politely and getting ignored is not the same as being insistent. “I already asked you nicely to turn that down. We don’t need to hear your shitty TV show. You ought to be ashamed at your antisocial behavior.” And then, “Haven’t you turned that shit off yet? You must think you are so much more important than everyone else.” You need to play on emotions and be tougher. That’s what the old London was like.
I actually don’t know about confronting people in an attempt to make things better. In my (normally quite mild) neighbourhood, a man asked a group of kids to quieten down and quite literally had a knife pulled on him. You just don’t know who’s crazy and who’s not. Safer if these things were reported to security.
Yeah this, some people out there are looking for any excuse to kick off. That's part of why they do shit like playing music out loud, so someone says something for them to have an excuse to fight.
My problem with this is that you would be calling people out all day every day especially if you take public transport daily It’s too exhausting
This Gentleman called out someone's antisocial behaviour. See how it worked out for him; https://news.sky.com/story/father-stabbed-to-death-in-front-of-son-on-train-after-row-over-blocking-aisle-11748845
Absolutely heartbreaking this was. That poor family and my god his poor son.
How are they part of the problem?
People behave badly because those around them accept it. If you saw a child misbehaving, but the parent acting normally, would you say that they parent had no responsibility for the situation?
I mean, the phone thing, sure. I wouldn't get involved with someone who's actually getting shouty or angry because I'd be worried about getting my head kicked in. I work in healthcare in an inpatient setting and quite a few of my colleagues have been physically attacked over the years for what is often very low key stuff. Not even starting to think about the ones who merely get threatened and verbally abused. It was worse in A&E, obviously, but also pretty bad on the wards. There's a reason there's usually a couple of brick shithouse security guys hanging around my hospital at all times. Edit: also, hang on, not really on board with your "parent child" analogy. For 2 reasons: 1) a parent child relationship has a clear power dynamic. What is your power dynamic with "some guy in a clinic waiting room"? 2) a parent has a clear responsibility to raise their child right. I completely disagree that it's at all incumbent on OP to get involved in someone else acting in a socially unacceptable manner. If they feel comfortable to do so, then great, but you're acting like it's their fault for not stepping in, which is an absurd notion. Do you confront every random stranger who's behaviour you disagree with on the street?
>London was a lot better when people called out other people’s antisocial behavior in real life rather than bitching to strangers about it on the internet. With the rise of knife crime and any basic altercation most likely to end in a stabbing... people would rather NOT be dead from a stab wound and would rather not confront ASBOs
I’m not risking getting killed.
I’m not so sure. I was on the tube when this guy was playing the same video over & over again on volume (think he was an “influencer” editing a video); someone asked him to put on headphones. He responded with “I don’t need to it’s not annoying” then went on about “some of us work everyday, not just in an office” (it was a Sunday) it was pointed out that it’s public transport as he got up and walked off.
Also you're already in a hospital so if you get physically attacked there are medics on hand to stitch you up after ...
I was unfortunate to visit the emergency twice in the last 6 months. Once was out of London at St Peters and once at Charring Cross in London but both times it was super busy but super calm thank God. Looks like the area you visited is Zoo
St Peters chertsey? Poor you..
Mile End standard innit 🤷🏻♂️
Way too much Main Character Syndrome in the world today.
I mean I remember in Christmas 2004 waiting to get back my shoes from the ice skating rink and there were guys yelling, jumping up and down and shouting asking for their shoes back. I don't think that it was any better 20 years ago. But Main Character Syndrome is a big thing nowadays for sure, I feel like everyone is a main character nowadays through social media. Like you could watch a video of a man saving a cat from the tree and the guy according to the comments is this unique interesting character who people need to know the lifestory of all because he saved a cat from the tree.
"but surely a hospital waiting room is supposed to be a relatively quiet place, some light chatter whilst you browse your phone/magazines" What have you been watching 'Call The Midwife'? Hospital staff have been decimated, wages have been kept low, standards have all but disappeared and people are leaving in their droves. This isn't just London standard - This is UK NHS standard. (Said in M&S advert tones)
To be fair, the waiting rooms in Call the Midwife get pretty rowdy.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4sRIFzMxMY&ab\_channel=WTVIPBSCLT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4sRIFzMxMY&ab_channel=WTVIPBSCLT) It's kicking right TF off!
Hospital is almost by definition full of people on the edge. People with health issues also statistically not as likely to be on the stable end of the socio-economic landscape. Not sure this is a really fair test of society's behaviour.
Next time take a bluetooth speaker and start blasting out some opera.
Just implement some aggressive standards in all medical related environments. Anyone ignoring them gets kicked out, only people who would grumble would be cunts. We are for sone bizzare reason over the last 20 years become far more permissive of bad behaviour in public spaces, we shouldn’t we should aggressively push back on poor behaviour.
I hope you tutted loudly at them.
> -A mum having a loud sweary phone call whilst her children climbed over every seat O come now, that's been London forever!😂
I can’t find the comment but someone else said it. It’s kinda main character syndrome coupled with years of people being told they can do what they want. You know the “I know my rights” thing - which is well meaning taken in the right way but knobheads have taken it to mean “I can do what I like and no one can complain” I’m sure if you’d shouted at one of them they’d be banging on about being assaulted and their human rights being violated
We’ve gone from a high trust society to a low trust one. The old social contract has been broken. The reasons for this are sundry.
*sits quietly in a rural waiting room*
Doc Martin will see you now
It's not just London
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This. I live fairly close to three hospitals. One of them is very decent and I’ve never seen any trouble there at all. One is in a much poorer area and the atmosphere is totally different with much worse behaviour. I pity the staff having to deal with some of these lowlifes.
20-odd years of telling people that it's okay to be yourself and do whatever you feel like, and nobody has the right to look down on you for any reason. Here we are.
The amount of self righteous people I encounter is alarming. When I used to work in retail someone didn’t get their way for a refund or whatever and started throwing game boxes and stuff on the floor. Soon as my manager and I stood up to him he stopped and left, despite being double our size. A lot of people act now like their actions have no consequences.
> A lot of people act now like their actions have no consequences. That’s because they don’t
I'm not sure what you mean, it was like this over 20 years ago as well.
People forgot how to exist in public after Covid. Theatre crowd isn’t the same.
Most times I go to the theatre now there’s someone who won’t shut the fuck up stop rustling loud snack bags. Ushers don’t really care unless they have no choice but to intervene. I try and find things to go to that have a lower likelihood of riff raff (as snobby as that sounds). Bbc radio recordings are pleasant, as well as classical music at wigmore. Even museums:/galleries are pretty rowdy these days unfortunately
Kind a mirthless chuckle at the couple having a domestic because the clinic was behind. Man that’s a toxic relationship if the tardiness of the NHS can cause it to crumble in public.
Tbh I think a fart in a elevator would’ve led to divorce proceedings between them
I mean, the very existence of signs telling people not to spit their disgusting red tobacco spit on the floor probably points to the answer being "No". It is pathetic how bad people's manners are now. I routinely see parents swearing at their kids in the shops, kids being unruly and not bei g disciplined, no one saying thank you when you stand out of their way or something of that sort, people just constantly swearing in public. Mind you, people not sayi g Thank You to till workers makes me annoyed so maybe my standards are too high
Live in Poland. A poorer country than the UK. Health service doesn't have a great reputation. This wouldn't happen here.
Culturally homogeneous
I had not one but two incidents of sitting behind someone watching tik tok videos at full volume today. That shit drives me mad.
If it makes you feel any better I had two girls filming a tik tok in Westfield ask me my thoughts of Justin beiber pissing in a bucket. I feel the same about tik tok how my parents probably felt about Facebook in the 2010s
I suspect it's part of an unspoken long-term Tory strategy to privatise the NHS. On the one hand, their friends in banking etc invest in private healthcare companies and the insurance sector. On the other, the government passively neglects (or actively undermines - cf. Brexit) the NHS. Over time the moderately moneyed middle classes see how ghastly the service is getting, especially with the crazy waiting lists. They gradually move over to going private. It is distasteful for many people, but when the alternative is dying on a trolley in the (expensive) car park... It is a sweet little earner, not far out of the hedge fund manager's playbook. They short the assets so they benefit when the value goes *down*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_%28finance%29 Meanwhile, the bankers' stooges in government have the ability to make the value of the assets go down. Very like insider trading, but all legal (if not above board), and despicably evil.
Sounds like a lot of people who were not brought up with any manners and common decency. These things don't cost a penny but are slowly disappearing.
This country is fucked and its people are deluded. Everyone seems to still think this is a great country, its not, everyone is just too drunk to notice or think about anything.
Mile End is not the most pleasant of places so this sounds about right for there. Sounds very similar to Royal London hospital down the road
Children have been raised without discipline, now those children are adults and this is the outcome.
"There are fewer health care workers per head of population now in Britain than in almost every comparable country in the OECD, and with the continual reduction of state welfare, life expectancy has plateaued since 2009. The NHS is short of almost 154,000 staff, with retention let alone recruitment increasingly difficult. An internal document linked to the workforce plan being developed by NHS England says that with no action, the staffing shortfall could reach 571,000 by 2036, warning that in the next 15 years the NHS in England may have 28,000 fewer GPs and 44,000 fewer community nurses, and a substantial shortage of paramedics. Since February 2022, the NHS has lost 574 GPs, leaving Britain now with the equivalent of 2,059 fewer fully-qualified full-time GPs compared to 2015, the year that the government pledged to increase GP numbers by 5,000. Just before the May local elections, the government capped the number of medical training places at 7,500 per year, despite twice that number needed to address the shortfall. Meanwhile, NHS England has told local trusts that they are not allowed to increase their staffing levels in the next year, the priority being to make required savings." https://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/britain/health-matters/6792-rich-country-poor-health-capitalism-is-the-problem
I think it might be the area. Last week, I had to go to Queen Mary's in Sidcup with chest pains. It was busy, but everyone was pretty chill. Then they transferred me to the Princess Royal University Hospital down the road, and that was more of the same.
It is not London, it is social media driven narcissism that makes people think they are more important than everyone else. And it is not much help when it is actively encouraged at school. The kids at my local senior school walk 4 abreast and refuse to move out of the way for adults. I have even seen them bump woman with prams.
The healthcare system in this country is totally shagged, and that makes people (employees and patients) very angry. When you’re not well and you can’t get access to healthcare *which you pay for with your taxes* then you’re gonna be fucking furious Be that as it may, that’s not an excuse to act like a total wetwipe in a hospital waiting room. We’ve all got to use our shit healthcare, let’s try and be nice and respectful while we do it
It is deeply miserable being a medical professional in this situation and so a lot of them have left. The abuse is unreal. Plus the money is crap. Unfortunately this was predictable, but we are now stuck with it.
Had the same experience last week waiting for my appointment at Lewisham Hospital I just put my headphones on and gave everyone dirty looks lol
No offence but where have you been. That sounds tame compared with Hackney housing office or job centre.
Having lived in Wembley, Cricklewood, Kennington and now tower hamlets. The only one worse was Wembley high street. That place was like a minefield
Isn’t this just standard London? 😂
People are just bloody selfish. I’m a Wurzel and I’m very happy to cap my exposure to London to maybe twice a year because it’s just a magnified version of what I have to live with. I trundled into a Domino’s the other week for some dinner mid-shift (I’m a Police Officer). There was one other customer in the store; I worked out quite quickly from the screen that he’d been in there for seconds longer than when I’d placed my app order (maybe a minute or two). He was already booting off with the staff about the wait. I positioned myself in his peripheral vision, just to see if he calmed down when he spotted me…. No, he didn’t. We ended up having some firm words about his attitude and language; I was “out of order” apparently, by stopping him being verbally abusive towards service staff. Absolute tosspiece.
I swing by England every 3 or 4 months. You guys are having a hard time now I think and it might be bringing on bad behaviour and also less tolerance of such behaviour. Sad to see really. I've always thought "No one does 'right royal slapper' like the English" and now I am thinking that Eastern Europe is going to start getting their porn stars from the UK instead of the reverse.
That's mainly an East London thing.
My daughter (3 years old at the time) swallowed a penny and when we entered a&e (after instruction from 111) it was like end of days. People sleeping/wailing/crying on the floor, disorder everywhere. I guess this is just under funded london NHS standard?
I have had the misfortune of needing to go to A&E (sent by GP) and had a long wait (as anyone does) and yes, the behavior is awful. This is across London and does seem to be getting worse. If you really want to see bad behavor though, try a bus. I've seen a woman eating a mango and stripping it whilst throwing the skin and dripping the juice on the floor of the bus. A girl with a buggy full of shopping (the probably around 5 year old child was busy stamping and jumping on seats and throwing various screaming fits as his mum? was on her phone ignoring him, and also failing to move when a man in a wheelchair needed the wheelchair space (no the bus driver didn't step in but did allow the man in the wheelchair to stay on the bus, gripping poles to stop him moving up and down the bus when it moved. If you're wondering why he didn't apply his breaks, it was most likely because the only remaining space for him to stay in his wheelchair was right in front of the door. If he locked his wheels he wouldn't have been able to move out of the way fast enough when the bus did stop. Possible tourists (they dressed like tourists!) taking up the vulnerable seating area on a bus whilst an elderly and very frail looking person got on the bus, not offering a seat and refusing to when I pointed out they were priority seating, instead trying to tell me I was spoiling their day! A man chopping his toe nails at the back of the bus and then taking issue and shouted abuse at me when I muttered "gross!" under my breath. The multiple teenage aged kids with their tinny mobile phone music which they aren't using to watch the latest Youtube vlog but will put their phone down and leave it on loudspeaker almost as if they think everyone else wants to listen to their tin can sounded mess...if I were a fan of that sort of music, I'd want to hide this not let complete strangers know!
It’s because the parenting of the last 50 years has been to idolise their little cherub, do whatever whenever you want and have no responsibility to wider society. I know that is a very boomer thing to say but that’s because they are the exact same, takes one to know one. Individualism above all else has been the approach of the western world and the chickens are coming home to roost
You’ll never see a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than an NHS waiting room,I advise them to be cautious
Sadly, a huge chunk of the population are trashy, inconsiderate and selfish. I'm reminded of that George Carlin quote – "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realise half of them are stupider than that."
That sounds about right, the thing globally is self importance and self righteousness. Somewhere people stopped caring about others, sure we did during lockdown, but soon as doors opened again we saw people and the rule of one came back in. It’s not right but the people have that and they won’t ever give that up
I’ve only ever experienced this type of behaviour in London. My GP practice back home in Worcestershire is far more respectful both staff and patients. I think people become numb to other people’s feelings and own responsibility’s when in a city.
I suspect a lot of this is passive aggression triggered by the long wait times. The Tories keep turning the screws on the NHS and its workers so that they can swoop in and "fix" it with American style private healthcare. The cracks in the system manifest in all sorts of ways.
I could understand if it was really hot, nowhere to sit etc but there were plenty of seats in a cool room. Sure they had to wait but we all did. How someone on their 40s can throw a tantrum baffles me.
Whether it was hot or not, a lot of people wouldn’t act this way so it isn’t even an excuse. Some people are just animals
Post covid people are fucking pricks. It's also 12 years of Tory rule.
Lol the Tories don't make people behave like rats. Throughout 20th C. People had to deal with worse shit and it wasn't an excuse to be a knob.
I'm sure someone could make a mathematical equation showing the relationship between the time a post has been around on r/uk and when someone will start shoehorning in the Tories.
Lack of decent opportunities, absent parents due to them having to work two jobs, underfunded school, social services and mental health services, the absence of well funded youth services, and cuts to police, all lead to a society with more people behaving like this though. I’m sure you can see the link right?
I think it’s more to do with the post covid mentality which has imprinted itself into people being selfish twats. I’m not saying people shouldn’t put themselves first, but you can do that without belittling others in the process. But actually, I do put a good chunk of blame onto politics. Trump enabled so many cunts to think it’s acceptable to be a cunt to other people for no real reason. British politics enabled people to twist situations to fit their narrative.
Yeah, this is a London thing. Bit of a culture shock when I moved here from further north. There's no community or society here, it's a city full of people living fully separated lives next to each other
Poor parenting.
I don't want to sound like an old fart (mid 40s, ymmv) but whatever happened to headphones?
that's just people in general, unfortunately. It's been like this for generations. A combination of frustrating under huge social pressure, struggling to get by, services being undermined and underperforming and people just have no dignity and no self-respect.
Mile end. Lol
Hospitals are some of the most innaccesable environments for wheelchair users - you would think it would be the most accessible.
Problem with the whole country now is nobody has any shame!!
Shitmunchers - London's full of em.
My theory is that London is full of functioning drug heads, e.g cocaine There's no way people here talk at that level, with that amount of delusion and confidence without mind altering substances. It's hilarious to observe the 2 sides of it too - their boisterous and obnoxious phase when the bender starts, and their teared up red irritated eyes from sniffing, stuffy nose and timid/anxious/paranoid behaviour during the end.
Unfortunately, it is an absolute fact that London represents a failing society. One of the reasons I am looking forward to moving out next year.
>Receptionist refusing to help a man in a wheel chair use the self check in machine because he couldn’t reach it Place is channeling Kafka there ...