I was on the bus,on my way home and reading a book. A person sits next to me and starts to chit chat with me and I politely told him (in a round about way) that I was sorry but was busy reading and wanted to finish. He countinued to chit chat with me so I pretty much ignored him and kept reading. When the bus came to his stop he accused me of being rude and impolite.

What do you think?

I think it was pretty inconsiderate of the person to bother someone whom is clearly busy, especially if it needs concentration like reading. It was polite of you to nicely tell him that you were busy. He could have gone and spoken to someone else. I think it was rude of him to continue talking to you, and that he was the one that was being impolite. A lot of people are like that though, but I wouldn't really bother with that.

That's just how public transportation goes. And why I have obnoxiously large head phones. I might not even be listening to music, but those giant things signal to the world that I sure am not listening to them.
Don't take it personally, Raven. There are kooks on public transportation, there's no escaping that. You're doing the best you can to mind your own business when suddenly BAM there's some odd ball telling you how much they love windows. (that actually happened to me.)

Originally Posted by ~LONGCAT~

There are kooks on public transportation, there's no escaping that. You're doing the best you can to mind your own business when suddenly BAM there's some odd ball telling you how much they love windows. (that actually happened to me.)

I agree, there is a lot of.. interesting people that use the public transit. I have a couple stories myself. I remember once I got tapped on the back, so I turned around. It was a woman, and she kept telling me about how nice a day today was for her. So I asked why, and she explained how she just got out of 'the nut house'. I was like, oh... that's nice?

Lol, they accused you of being rude? When they plainly ignored your body language/silent signals, and what you flat out told them, and continued to talk to you when you quite clearly didn't want to.

What a dick!

Thats pretty much what I thought too. Lol
He started by asking me if I knew what time a certain bus got to the next stop and I told him I never take that bus and had no idea and that he should ask the driver or check the schedules that they have at the front of the bus. He then went on to tell me that he was on his way to a job interview and was worried that he would be late if he missed the bus. I told him good luck and hoped he makes it and that I needed to get back to my book.
But appearently that was very rude of me,that him wanting to talk was more important. XD

LOL, I think we're all thinking that he's the rude one for insisting on chatting to you even after you made it clear that you didn't want to because you were reading. To have him say that you're rude for not chatting to him is ridiculous on his part.

people

No, you were not rude at all! They were the rude one to keep talking to you when you were trying to concentrate on something and they just kept chatting away. They were the rude one, definitely. Don't take it to heart, plus they don't know YOU just by that instance or what kind of person you are. They were pretty shallow for calling you rude when they don't even know who you really are, so don't let it bother you~

I hate when people interrupt me when I'm reading. It's definitely a pet peeve of mine. You weren't being rude.

The same thing happened to me a while back. I was reading my book on the subway and this old man started asking me for directions. I figured I'd be nice and try to help him but the guy seriously had no idea where he was going. No address, no subway stop name or street name or anything. He just kept repeating the same super vague description for the next half hour of the ride and after a while I really just wanted to yell "Sorry dude, I'm not psychic so there's no way I can help you."

I think it was rude of him to keep bothering you after you had said you were busy reading.

That's not rude at all. f&%^ that guy. You clearly wanted to be left alone. If anything he was rude for not respecting that. Not everyone is a social butterfly like he is. I can't stand people like that and it's actually why I hate most of them.

No, I don't think that you were being rude. The person should of figured that you were reading anyways. I would of told that person "Hey, I'm sorry but I don't want to talk.". You know? But they've would of found that to be rude also. You can't win with people. :P

Haha, in your position, I think I would have given up trying to read and talked to that person. But that's because, oddly enough, I am a bit of a pushover when it comes to strangers. There was really no way to win in that situation though, so don't take it personally just because one self-centered person got all pissed off when you wouldn't pay attention to them. :P

Just an example of so one that is self centred, and thinks everything revolves around them, and anything that someone does, that they don't like or doesn't involve them they get upset and in this case accused you of being rude, don't worry about little insignificant people like that.
Those that matter don't mind, those that mind don't matter.

Point to the ceiling and give them a swell knuckle-punch to the throat next time.
That'd be a reason to call you rude.

It's general knowledge that you don't chit-chat to strangers on the bus. I was more polite when I was younger, but I've lost that social nicety and I don't hesitate to violence if someone bothers me after prompts to stop.

I think it's very presumptuous to assume that somebody is reading and therefore doing nothing. I don't think it was rude at all. I'd never dream of disturbing somebody's book.

Part of me wants to say it was a little rude, but to be honest you were more polite than I would have been if I'd been bothered by someone while I was doing something so good for you.

Fuck that guy.

Yeah... I'd say he was pretty rude. You? Well you did say you were busy... I'd say you're fine.

I'm going to be that one person to defend the guy because, for all we know, he can't read body language and he can't get cues. There are a ton of people out there (I know at least five) who cannot pick up on these social cues and will continue to do stuff, even when asked to stop. In those cases, you literally have to tell them to "Stop" because the subtle hints just won't work. My neighbor is actually this way. It' hard to really know if this is someone's character flaw, unless you know them or they come out and say, "I can't read social cues." Some people with Aspergers fall into this category, btw.

Asperger syndrome is often considered a high functioning form of autism. It can lead to difficulty interacting socially, repeat behaviors, and clumsiness.

Although it might appear rude of him, don't necessarily write him off as being a rude person. Like I said, for all you know, he thought he was in the clear and being very nice. And maybe that's why he was upset and called you rude.

Just another perspective to think about :) But in all honesty, I would just dismiss this. It's not like any real harm was done, right?

I'm afraid I'm going to go against the majority of the thread here and side with the guy. Personally, no matter if I was listening to music or reading or whatever, I would have still chatted with him. It's easy enough to put a book down for a couple of minutes to speak to someone and humour them with a conversation, even if it's not what you want to do at the time. Also I would say it was rude 99.9% of the time to completely ignore someone while they were talking to you.

^ So a stranger's entitlement to a conversation is more important than my right to my own free time? I can't say I really like this notion of feeling the need to put yourself in an undesirable situation just to appease some random person.

He was being really rude, not you. You were reading a book, which is an indication that you do not wish to be disturbed. Apparently, he doesn't realize that some people may just not want to speak with a creepy stranger who clearly doesn't handle rejection well. If he reacted so badly to this, who knows how he would be if you engaged with him long enough to really get to know him. Sounds like the typical guy who feels entitled to your time.

Super rude of him. There is a time to be silent and a time to talk, and while sitting next to someone reading is definitely a time to be silent.

Usually when someone is reading the only thing I've found "okay" to say is to ask what they're reading.