I am male and I think the man was....

15 Comments

  • Michael - 13 years ago

    Do we know how many people took part? Id like to know how significant the gender difference is.

  • realsifo - 13 years ago

    looks at the windows reflection :P strange enough the women must leave :D

  • Billy Jeans - 13 years ago

    Hey Guys,
    I believe that yes while he had the right to ask her to move, it was socially unacceptable but but but the woman should of entered the section of the train with the knowledge that she may have to leave.
    :)

  • Rodolfo Araújo - 13 years ago

    If it was a quiet coach, as you said, the railroad company shouldn't allow kids (or babies or toddlers) travelling in it.

    But what got my attention was the result of your poll. As of 9:00AM 03/16, most males think the mommy should leave, but an ever greater proportion of females think the same.

    Maybe 75% of men asking a woman with a crying baby to leave a quiet coach can be considered normal, but 80% of women doing the same is quite unexpected.

    IMHO the way you asked the question - or better said, the way you presented the poll - influenced the female voters.

    Best regards from Brazil, Rodolfo.

  • Hairman - 13 years ago

    Like Obama said " Let them ride in the back of the bus!"

  • Chris - 13 years ago

    @Seb - Using a quiet carriage is within the railway's terms of carriage, so the guard could remove someone causing a disturbance (and in fact can do this with a passenger in any carriage) - just because someone has bought a ticket it doesn't give them the "right" to travel in breach of the terms of carriage.

    Quiet carriages on UK trains do have signs saying no mobile phone and no music players. However, I personally would be more disturbed by a crying baby than someone having a quiet conversation on their phone. I can derive no pleasure from listening to a crying baby, and I think any sane person would consider a crying baby inappropriate in a quiet carriage - I'd also add that the responsible parents I know wouldn't need to be asked to leave.

  • Mark - 13 years ago

    Perhaps the poll would be better split between parents and non-parents?

  • Bob - 13 years ago

    Really it matters not whether it was a quiet coach, a standard one, a restaurant, a cinema or whatever. Some tolerance is required by all, but if the baby is making such a racket as to be a nuisance, any self-respecting man or woman would move to a more private area and deal with the problem. If they don't, they should be asked to.

  • Peter - 13 years ago

    I agree with Ken: quiet does not mean no telephone, it means keep the noise down - whatever is its origin. However - I also agree with Stephen, that the man could have been tactful about it and it depends on circumstances: some babies cry for a couple of minutes as they try to fall asleep, others scream their heads off non-stop for no apparent reason. It is a shame that the mother did not think about this herself: if she had moved spontaneously, she would have had universal sympathy and possibly someone telling her that she did not need to move.

  • seb - 13 years ago

    There are a lot of unanswered questions which could affect this, but basically it's about rights. If two people pay the same for a ticket on a train which allows them to sit in any coach (including the quiet coach) then they have equal right to sit in that coach. Clearly, you can't sit in first class and that's why you pay more for that privilege. The status of a quiet coach is, therefore, the same as any other coach. You can ask somebody to be quiet if you like, but it would be unenforceable so even the guard would not have the power to remove the passenger. What if there were no seats in other coaches or if a large family couldn't sit together anywhere else? Whether it was a person with Tourettes or someone with a noisy hearing aid or a hoody with loud earphones makes no difference - you might make a distinction in terms of "can't help it" or "is being antisocial" but it doesn't alter that person's right to sit where they want. Your right to a peaceful journey is secondary to everybody's right to travel in the first place.

  • Stephen - 13 years ago

    In principle, the man had the right to ask the woman to leave. Presumably, the woman entered the car in the first place so that she, and/or her baby wouldn't be disturbed by the noise in other cars; so she should understand the man's position. The man of course would have to have been tactful about it (and he may well have been), or perhaps asked a staff member to sort it out. A temporary absence would have been enough also, so that she could calm down the baby, and then retake her seat.

  • Graham - 13 years ago

    I guess you could go to the extreme and claim that a "quite car" should be 100% quite. That is; no rustling of news papers or crisp packets, no snoring, no talking and no complaining about other people making a noise which starts an argument.

    However, I have two pet peeves; one is crying babies and the other is barking dogs. It seems that neither is in the control of the guardian/owner when it comes to noise making so they should make sure that they keep as far away from me as possible.

  • Ken - 13 years ago

    Actually Tom, in this context quiet means like a library. People are on the quiet car because they want to sleep or work or just don't want to hear all the hens clucking away on their commute. It's not just about cell phones. Where I'm from (Vancouver BC), depending on the time of the train you might find yourself on the train with the peak number of receptionists ... and the gossip and meaningless babble will drive you insane! We don't have a quiet car. So you end up trying a different car each day until you find one that is the least disturbing, then hope the noisey people don't change their habits.

    Given that the lady had a baby, I suspect fewer people would actually ask her to leave, but on the other hand many people with babies (myself included) are very aware of our baby's crying and leave quiet areas (step out of a restaurant for a few minutes etc) when the crying might disturb people.

  • Tom - 13 years ago

    'Quiet', in this context, means 'free from mobile phones' - and nothing else.

  • bill andre - 13 years ago

    What was the woman thinking? Quiet cars and babies shouldn't be in the same sentence.

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