Dozens of furious commuters have reported that a woman on the Luxembourg City tram spoke loud enough for others to hear.
The incident occurred on Wednesday morning while the chatterbox and hundreds of respectfully mute passengers made their way to work and school.
According to reports, the motormouth addressed a woman next to her, possibly a friend or colleague, and made at least three remarks about an upcoming trip to Egypt.
Within seconds of the incident, most passengers had begun to silently but ferociously judge the woman, with some shooting her dirty looks and others moving away.
While the number of victims is unknown, officials say that as many as 50 innocent commuters had their mornings ruined by the inconsiderate nitwit.
“I was sitting peacefully near the window, looking at the gray sky and wondering if I should go out this evening or re-watch the first episodes of ‘Last of Us,’ when my sea of tranquility was disturbed by a storm of spoken words,” said junior lawyer Arne Tusek.
“As for me, I was having a very interesting discussion in my head about AI-generated art and if it counts as real art,” said cafe manager Ana Blaga. “Until I was interrupted by this rude passenger who outwardly did what we are supposed to only do internally when we are sober and in the presence of strangers.”
Social etiquette experts were quick to condemn the woman, saying that one need only to be observant to understand that on public transport, you may only whisper, and only in the case of an emergency, such as if you see that another passenger’s mobile phone has caught on fire.
“The cardinal rule of public transport is that you must shut up,” said blogger Tess Van Meurs “The second rule: if there’s an empty seat next to you, immediately place your bag on it like some kind of ravenous colonialist claiming land.”
Jonathan Parcell agrees that such rules exist for a reason.
“There’s no right way to speak on public transport,” he said. “If you talk about something personal or interesting, people will see you as an exhibitionist, and if you talk about something mundane, people will see you as an insufferable bore.”
“You don’t walk around naked, showing your skin in public, just as you don’t broadcast your unclothed thoughts to strangers,” agreed Heidi Marthinsen. “The only sound we should hear on buses, trains, and trams are the hypnotic taps of fingers on mobile phone screens.”
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Originally published by RTL Today
