Is this rude or am I just getting cranky in my old age....

[Breezy_Carol]

And I have to ask, OP, did the others in room glance at each other with the, “can you believe this lady?” look? I know other than my eyeroll and big sigh I’d let out, I’d be looking at others to commiserate with!

I ended up going into the kids' play area so didn't notice. However, when the service adviser came and got me, he kind of mimicked her yammering and and told me how rude she was when we were out of earshot.

 

[VandVsmama]

My point of view on this is that even if it's language in your own native tongue, if the person is talking loudly on the phone in public, it's super annoying.

And yes, my DH has done this and I have scolded him in public to knock it off.

 

[dish rag]

I genuinely don't understand this. A language doesn't have a volume. Speakers of a language have volume - so are you indicating that Spanish speakers are loud? That hasn't been my experience. Some are loud, and some not, just like the English speaking people I know, some are loud and some are not.

Can vary by the area. Puerto Rican Spanish is generally loud, and not very good Spanish. Mexican Spanish is generally soft. Southern South America and Argentina sounds more Italian. Spanish from Spain is very pure. Some say American English is louder than other English speaking countries.

 

[CynBeth]

I use speakerphone in my office all the time (closed door). Often, I have to pull things up on my computer when on a conference call and it's just too hard to do while holding the phone.

That being said, there's a woman on our floor who is in an open cubicle that does calls on speakerphone all day long - drives everyone nuts.

There are several managers whose offices are very close to my cube and I hate when they are on calls. Even with their doors closed they talk loud and have the speakerphone turned up very loud so I can hear everything the other person is saying as well and it is hard to hear when I am on the phone or to concentrate and it drives me up the wall. To me it’s not worth saying anything and starting something.

 

[tzolkin]

Even in our own home we go into a seperate room to talk on the phone unless it's family and we are all chatting on speakerphone. I just do not like having phone conversations in the same room as someone else.

I thought I was the only one! It's not even about privacy-- I could have the same conversation in person with multiple people or I could tell you verbatim what we talked about, but I just can't stand to be on the phone in the same room with someone else. I'll even just walk around from room to room to avoid my family members while on the phone. I might be talking in the kitchen while DH is outside working, but as soon as he walks in from the garage to get a drink I'll move to the living room, then one of the kids sits on the couch and I'll head upstairs, then DH comes in to take a shower and I go out on the porch. Sometimes he'll even just jokingly start following me around.

 

[5kidsmommy]

I thought I was the only one! It's not even about privacy-- I could have the same conversation in person with multiple people or I could tell you verbatim what we talked about, but I just can't stand to be on the phone in the same room with someone else. I'll even just walk around from room to room to avoid my family members while on the phone. I might be talking in the kitchen while DH is outside working, but as soon as he walks in from the garage to get a drink I'll move to the living room, then one of the kids sits on the couch and I'll head upstairs, then DH comes in to take a shower and I go out on the porch. Sometimes he'll even just jokingly start following me around.

Glad to hear my family isn't that weird. Yeah it's not about privacy, it's just I don't like being on the phone around others. Unless it's a quick call I just always find a quiet spot.

 

[heaven2dc]

I do not like speakerphones no matter what the reason or type of call or who you're talking to (unless you're in the privacy of your own home and it's a group phone call so that everyone can hear and if someone raises their voice, we calmly tell them they don't have to yell...we all can hear them lol). When someone uses speakerphone, it's difficult to hear the person most of the time especially if they're multitasking (like doing dishes, banging stuff around, walking away from the phone so that you barely can hear them and have them get upset because you have to keep asking them to repeat themselves). Please just pick up the phone, put it to your ear and speak in a normal polite tone. I am getting old but I've hated this since I was a young kid lol Rant over

 

[sam_gordon]

IMO, there are two justifiable reasons to use a speaker phone when you're around ANY one else...
1) So multiple people can be involved in the conversation.
2) If you need your hands free for another task.

Other than that, if you need speaker phone for the added volume, invest in a pair of headsets (wired or wireless). Then you don't need to turn up the volume as loud and you don't need to talk as loud.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Very rude, especially considering there is a free and available alternative she could use to keep her noise contained better.

This is the first year at WDW that I’ve regularly seen kids in strollers watching cartoons with the volume cranked up to be annoying to surrounding guests. The parents are eating or chatting...or traveling in the park...and the kid is completely focused on the cartoon playing on the smartphone. I just don’t get it.

Geesh. There’s so much stimulation at Disney now they need to watch cartoons while in the stroller.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I genuinely don't understand this. A language doesn't have a volume. Speakers of a language have volume - so are you indicating that Spanish speakers are loud? That hasn't been my experience. Some are loud, and some not, just like the English speaking people I know, some are loud and some are not.

Im Puerto Rican. We’re loud. I take no offense to it. Lol

 

[crazylady]

My mom loves her speaker phone. Drives me insane!

 

[Kitty 34]

NEXTEL

My brother just brought that up the other day; his love for those walkie talkie phones. And yes, they were annoying!

 

[brockash]

I was at the car dealership for service today, waiting in the waiting room for a 60 minute job. There were about 5 of us sitting quietly, reading or looking at phones until this woman comes in. She is talking on her phone, ON SPEAKER PHONE. This went on for about 30 minutes until my work was done so I could leave. And before you ask what the conversation was, I don't know. It was in Spanish.

I don't understand her need for speakerphone. And in that situation, keep the conversation short or walk to a less crowded area.

I went into the kids room so I could close the door and read. When the service writer came to get me, he thought it was rude too.

Oh well. First world problem.

Yes it's rude...so is watching a video or playing a game with sound in a public place. Drives me nuts and makes me want to sit right next to them blaring my sound...so inconsiderate. Obviously I don't, but I can't promise there won't be a day that I do.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

My mom is terrible about this and it drives me crazy. She calls me quite frequently and only ever uses speakerphone. She has an insanely loud voice to begin with and speaks even louder when she talks on the phone since it's on speaker. It drives me nuts because I have to turn my volume way down when she calls (and then remember to turn it back up when I'm done) since she's so loud, but since speakerphone often cuts in and out with what you can hear, I then have to turn the volume up, but then it comes back in and she's making my ears bleed. It's a never ending back and forth with the volume button to understand what she's saying.

She also sees nothing wrong with talking with me (or anyone else) on speaker in the grocery store, doctor's office waiting room, etc, and has no sense of etiquette when it comes to discussing personal issues in the hearing of others, including gynecological issues in graphic detail, past abuse she's experienced, intimacy issues in past relationships... All stuff I don't want to hear at all, let alone a bunch of strangers in Walmart. If you try to tell her to call you back when she's home, she either talks over you and ignores the suggestion or insists, "oh no, it's fine," and keeps talking. Even though I'm not physically there and barely get a word or two in myself, it still embarrasses me for her. She won't even hang up to check out at the grocery store and always uses self-checkout, so I get to hear the constant, "Please place your item in the bag, please place your, please place, please, please, please place your..." Along with her talking even louder to hear herself over that, and she of course always has 1000 items to scan and can only do it with one hand since she's holding the stupid phone so it takes 5 years for her to check out. I swear I want to find whoever invented speakerphone so I can re-route all of my mother's phone calls to them so they can experience the full torment of their invention.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I absolutely hate when people do that. What’s also bad is when people do it in an office.
My last job was in a small office and the managers, who had doors by the way, would have hour long conversations on speaker phone. Many times it carried on all day with multiple people doing it at a time.

I’m so glad I don’t work there anymore.

 

[SirDuff]

My mom has a function where the call goes to her hearing aids. She just talks like she would for a normal phone call. Now it's sorta like speakerphone where sometimes she sounds like it's a speakphone conversation but she doesn't have to talk as loud as one would probably do if you're on speakerphone.

I've got that as well. But, unlike a speakerphone, no one hears the other person (since that sound goes straight into my ears). And I don't talk any louder than if I were on a normal phone and/or using my headset (but, I admittedly sometimes talk louder than I realise - tends to go with wearing hearing aids).

The person in the office next mine (normal hearing) often uses the speaker phone on her desk phone and has it loud (and then talks loud). Luckily if I turn off my hearing aids it isn't too bad.

 

[Pooh2]

I was at the car dealership for service today, waiting in the waiting room for a 60 minute job. There were about 5 of us sitting quietly, reading or looking at phones until this woman comes in. She is talking on her phone, ON SPEAKER PHONE. This went on for about 30 minutes until my work was done so I could leave. And before you ask what the conversation was, I don't know. It was in Spanish.

I don't understand her need for speakerphone. And in that situation, keep the conversation short or walk to a less crowded area.

I went into the kids room so I could close the door and read. When the service writer came to get me, he thought it was rude too.

Oh well. First world problem.

Next time, sit right next to the person and start watching a video on your phone with volume cranked!

 

[wvjules]

Next time, sit right next to the person and start watching a video on your phone with volume cranked!

I have actually done that. lol

 

[nkereina]

why is talking on speaker phone rude but 2 people sitting there talking to each other isn't?

To me, I don't know if I'd say speaker phone is rude but rather annoying or obnoxious. Speaker phone in public is just not necessary. Hold the phone to your ear or put earbuds in if you need to have a conversation in public. Typically, I try NOT to draw attention to myself in public and to be courteous to those around me. If I have to take a call in the OP's scenario, I'm holding the phone to my ear, keeping it brief, and talking in a low volume. Other people are just too self-absorbed to consider how it impacts others' nearby, so they don't even consider these things.

 

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

Yes I think it is very rude. It is funny but the very same thing happened to me in a car dealership service waiting room. It was a rude pushy realtor trying to get somebody to decide to make an offer on a house. She was telling this person to just get over there and learn to love it. I couldn’t wait to get out of there!