How would you handle a rude passenger in the confined space of an airline lounge?
First, an explanation on the title. I try hard not to ever generalize in a negative way, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with positive generalizations when not done in a patronizing manner. And in this case, my travels and work experience over the years have showed me how courteous and honest Canadians are, as a general rule. Thus, the guy’s nationality does not directly factor into the story, but was too noticeable to ignore.
While eating my breakfast in the brand new United Polaris Lounge at LAX, a gentleman sat down in the dining room. He ordered a cup of coffee and Eggs Benedict than whipped out his mobile phone. He proceeded to have an extended and loud conversation with either a friend or business colleague about his travels. How did I know he was Canadian? He started his day in Toronto and his conversation was peppered with “a-boat” and “eh” (Canadian raising). He worked for a pharmaceutical company and was off to Shanghai.
I know we humans often suffer from the log/speck issue (we judge others about something small while doing something much worse). Perhaps I was doing something annoying myself (though I hope not). But cell phone conversations in restaurants annoy me so much. They drive me crazy.
And yet I don’t think it is my role to turn around and tell the passenger to take his conversation to one of the phone rooms or at least outside the dining room. That may have been more effective than writing about it after the fact, but what position of authority did I have to force this guy to stop blabbing so loudly on his phone? There were no signs barring mobile phone use. But sometimes things are common sense, right? There also isn’t a “No Smoking” sign in the restaurant and I doubt anyone has attempted to light up.
CONCLUSION
Maybe this little incident should cause me to rethink my position on the use of mobile phones in-flight. See, I don’t care if someone uses their mobile phone as long as they keep their voice down. It is when someone practically yells into their phone, as this gentleman did, that I want to take the phone and drown it in the guy’s beer.
> Review: United Airlines Polaris Lounge Los Angeles (LAX)
Totally agree. Too many people seem to self-absorbed to even acknowledge the people around them. In fact, there were some studies a few years back that showed people were actually faking conversations on their cell phones, in order for other people to hear them! Sometimes the intent is to get people to hear you.
“Yeah, we closed that deal for $2mil. Yeah, I know, a steal!” et al.
I’m not sure if I would have told the guy to keep it down or not, but I definitely don’t think it’d be out of bounds to do so. Most people would just apologize in response to an “Excuse me, could you do me a favor and just lower your voice a bit? There’s a really loud echo in here!” if they were being too loud and everyone would move on.
Had a guy like that in the Polaris Lounge at EWR. He was in the dining room, but sprawled out as though he was a relaxation chair, loudly talking about how he wasn’t able to help the clients that was calling because he was off to somewhere or another (I can’t remember). I wasn’t overly annoyed, as I was finishing my meal and this was heading off to another part of the lounge, but if I’d just say down, I’d probably have said something to my server or even lounge management. And that’s what I would have done in your situation too. I’m not interested in a confrontation, but I also think lounge staff have an obligation to police behaviors that damage the experience of others. And, truthfully, I’d like to know if I was doing something that bothered others, but I’d be angry if a fellow lounge patron approached me.
Not sure why it’s relevant that he’s Canadian. Seems like race finds its way into every issue these days! Knowing that Canada is very multicultural, are you also going to reveal what color this person was?
I was talking about nationality, not race.
Same difference.
How was his being Canadian relevant to his being rude in any imaginable way?
Matt u r a dumb ass
Sooory.
Race? I don’t see any relevance to race here, since we’re on the subject of being relevant.
I don’t think nationality is not relevant here same as race. Those loud talkers in business lounges, restaurants and any other places come from many nations and I wonder why you did pick up on a Canadian.
What race are Canadians?
I might be reading too much into Andy K’s comment, but I think he was implying that you made a veiled comment about race rather than nationality. I’m sure you’ll agree he went too far.
In any case, his point was that the nationality was irrelevant. It was his cell phone behaviour you didn’t approve of. Although the facts you’ve provided indicate the person was likely Canadian and as much as I like your blog, the title of article is the problem. It could just have easily been entitled “The Rude Matthew in LAX Polaris Lounge”. Get the point?
is this a joke? What race did YOU picture the person as? Because his article certainly leaves it unclear… look in the mirror.
Oh no, no, no. It wasn’t that guy. It was a white guy, if that matters.
Stop having a cry and get over it. He was a beaver loving snow sleeping Canadian. Maybe it’s important to call it out since most Canadians are as boring as watching paint dry
I don’t know if it’s common sense so much as common courtesy, but yes, it’s something all polite people struggle with – how to deal with such situations. I’ve been there – too many times to count.
His citizenship doesn’t really have much to do with it but, whatever.
Regarding “If I were doing something annoying I’d like to know about it,” my take is that while none of us are perfect if you go through life with a mindset aimed at making yourself “small” in public then you likely not being noticed.
That said, I’ve got a perfectly decent friend who not only leaves his phone on in public but it’s also loud and obnoxious. The phone will go off and rather than grab it and hit the button to stop the noise quickly, he will actually look it over for a few seconds to see who it is and think about whether he wants to answer it! I think he has no idea what he is doing.
I’ve never known a rude Canadian, other than Rob Ford, so I just thought it was an interesting data point. No harm intended.
I understand. I can spot a Canadian accent from a mile away so once detected it becomes part of the story.
We have a lot of different accents in Canada you are stereotyping. He was a rude annoying human is the fact.
@Suzie, everyone stereotypes, including you. People stereotype about race, nationality, culture, and religion. Strangely for many people, it’s perfectly fine to stereotype religion (especially Christianity), but not nationality or race or culture.
Matthew was making an observation that in his experience, which many other people have also observed, Canadians are polite and behave well in social situations (another example would be Japanese people from Japan). So Matthew was just remarking on this anomaly in his eyes.
That’s when you fake receiving a call, pick up your phone and talk loudly into it “What’s that, eh? You can hear the douche beside me talking about his trip to Singapore, eh? Yeah, he’s pretty loud, eh.” and just keep it up until he “gets” it “Yeah, I can see where someone might think that makes him out to be a pretty big asswhole eh.”
“Sorry.”
Canadians are pathetically loud and rude. Period.
But if I were you, I would confront him upfront.
Many people don’t know how pathetic they are until you kick their ass.
“Canadians are pathetically loud and rude. Period.”
As an American who has lived in Canada for 13 years – among some of the friendliest people on earth – I can can say with certainty that you are an idiot, Trumpie. Period.
Way easier solution to this than risking a beating by a crack smoking Canadian eh? Next time you are in Asia (Hong Kong, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, etc), find the local electronics mall and pickup a “cell phone jammer”, they are cheap and they work like a champ.
When the offending Canadian, Russian, German or Chinese jackass fires up their phone and starts annoying, you simply click the jammer on for a few seconds to drop their connection. After 2 or 3 tries, they’ll either give up or move away to another area to annoy others. This has worked flawlessly for the last few years except the time the battery had died. Also works in restaurants, on trains and other places Canadians are known to frequent.
“Excuse me, sir, but right now, a lot of us can hear your conversation. Perhaps you could go over to the phone area, where you’ll have more privacy?”
That makes the point, while also couching it to emphasize the advantages to him (privacy).
So if he kept his voice at a conversational level, as if someone was right across from him, that would be bothersome as well?
Yes, but that’s a different situation.
This is what I don’t get. If someone is in a public space like a restaurant or train car speaking in a normal or even quiet voice to someone beside them it’s considered acceptable, but if they’re doing the exact same thing over the phone it’s considered bothersome? That’s not logical. I get if someone is shouting or speaking loudly into a phone, but if they’re doing it at the level of how they’d otherwise be speaking to someone beside them, then there’s no warrant for complaint.
Totally agree but it’s taken me a while to get there… @Matthew, can you address why you see these as different? Is it just personal that you know they’re on the phone even if the voice is kept to a normal level?
I guess I should clarify that usually it is the subject of the conversation. If I can’t hear it, it cannot bother me. But I don’t want to hear about your morning and your flight and your trip. That’s usually what I overhear when people are talking on the phone. It’s like a self-aggrandizement parade that just gets annoying.
Seriously Matthew. What is the point of identifying the offended as Canadian other than to stir up shit? It’s shoddy and cheap. You’re better than this.
Such an interesting social experiment. Matthew was right to include info about his nationality–he went out of his way to repeat that he was not making a broad negative remark about Canadians. He mentioned Canadians because he said he rarely runs into rude ones. It was just part of the story.
It is hilarious how these Canadians are getting their panties in a bunch over this. Grow up!
You should have opened up the hood to his BMW, grabbed a wet squeegee and put it on his car battery.
It’s a generational thing, isn’t it? It’s rare to see anyone older than 50 engaging in these anti-social acts and fortunately not all that common in younger age groups. I did see one the other day: roaming around a lounge while talking loudly on the ‘phone. Presumably he thought moving about would be less irritating to others. It wasn’t.
People who do this are likely to be the ones who stand at buffets and hand-to-mouth. A dreadful habit. No manners and certainly no class.
It’s easy to distinguish Canadians from Americans: they speak at only 70% of the volume and weigh about 50lbs less, in addition to the specific pronunciation clues mentioned above.
CX had to change the rules at its Hong Kong lounges owing to the kind of behaviour and worse that Matthew describes.
Glad that this has happened. Once I was having lunch at the FC Wing Dining Room. Where there was woman having a very loud and animated conversation on her mobile phone; with the SPEAKER ON!
It’s inconsiderate to have a loud conversation like this is a shared space. I don’t think you need a “position of authority” to tell somebody if they are inconsiderate. Telling them politely to lower their voice is much more productive than writing a blog or angry Facebook post. It’ll make the lounge a better place and maybe he’ll not do it the next time.
The tendency not to address issues directly is contributing to the situation getting worse…
Mathew my friend you need a chill pill. You getting worked up easily these days….
Canadians are some of the most paranoid people on the planet about Americans taking their jobs. Try going up to Canada and mention you are coming to work even if temporarily. Welcome to a two hour immigration grilling. When I went up there for a week for the Canadian company I work for, I had to have a note saying I was only going for “training” and was advised by my US boss not to mention going up for work. Oh and the hilarious thing about this is that I travel on my British passport because I have a Green Card so I’m not even American. Canadians really are some of the most craziest people.
I agree. They are so full of themselves.
It was interesting to come across this. I just recently wrote a blog post about lounge etiquette. Seems like nobody respects public space and personal space. The other phone issue that people often forget is that they are violating the privacy of the person on the other end of the phone too. When I worked for a consulting company, this behaviour for a business call was an ethics violation.