... a  little  something  to  ponder...

...sshhh...can you lower your voice please???

Once, during my being a student, I commute to and from (esp when its the school holidays), my boarding school in ...... - to my hometown in ........ by bus. As then, i find that many passengers board and immediately start making numerous loud cell phone calls. Well, cell phones were just in trendy those days and  possessing one is considered a luxury...not to mention the size of it, though. Other passengers; instead, are eager to have lively conversations with the bus driver or their commuter buddies.

While I’m all for a quiet conversation between friends sitting next to one another, I find it to be rude when others think it is appropriate to have loud, personal conversations as if they are sitting in a park, especially in the early hours of the morning. How can I politely ask a stranger to lower a voice or save a conversation for another time without creating awkward tension for the rest of the ride?

Seriously, on the bus, we are in a public place. There is a limit to how much we can control our environment. The benefit of public transportation is we are saving a lot of money and not polluting the air (as much). The disadvantage is dealing with our fellow man. Regardless of the time of day, people have a right to their conversations. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the cell phone or whether they’re talking to the person next to them. In fact, if we’re privy to just one side, we only have to hear half as much talking. 

However, if they are speaking too loudly — to anyone — that is rude. We can usually tell with one look at the speaker whether a polite request will get the result we want. If it looks promising, say, “Excuse me, could you please talk a little more quietly?” On an early morning commuter bus, where half the passengers are trying to sleep, this may work without creating additional awkward tension. However, if the loud talkers are a group of rowdy, unruly teenagers headed home after school on the same bus, we may just want to let them continue, rather than have our efforts backfire... :-/  Moreover, i was then a teenager too during that point of time.

p/s  ...let's keep our conversation private...unless we really need the whole world to know who we  actually are without being and having to be introduced.  Let's be more considerate coz i'm pretty sure others won't want to get involve in our private life either. They too, have their own to handle ;-)