Cell Phone Lady on the Bus

I recently had yet another shocking public transportation encounter. The typical etiquette while on public transport goes something like this:

No Eating or Drinking - $500 fine
No Durian - $ 500 fine
No Horsing around - possibly a cane(able) offense
No Eye contact with anyone - social etiquette - unless they are breaking one of the other rules.
Everyone is quiet - most important rule of all!

(side note- babies and children are exempt from all of the above rules except Durian of course)

If one must speak on the phone or to the person next to them it is in hushed tones. If the conversations do occur then it is highly encourage to cover ones mouth with ones hand while speaking (I guess that is so no lip reading occurs??). If anyone ever starts pushing the boundaries with a noisy giggle or a boisterous greeting to a friend they are immediately given the passive-aggressive Singaporean stare. Typically once they get "the look" people shape up pretty quickly. In fact I have never seen ANYONE ever ignore "that look" from another passenger. That is until I had the unfortunate encounter with cell phone lady on the bus.

The trouble began when "cell phone lady's" cell phone rang (at max volume) with a bus full of passengers, a big no no. As her phone continued its piercing ring she began to slowly search through her purse to find it. After what felt like an eternity she finally found the stupid phone and proceeded to answer it in probably the loudest Singaporean female voice I have ever heard. That's when she started getting "the look" from almost everyone on the bus (including myself). Shockingly the stares didn't work to shame her into ending the call. She just kept haughtily staring back at people and yapping into her phone. I (possibly because I was the only non-Asia or more likely because I was the one with the most aggressive stare) stood out to her and midway through her epic phone call she locked her beady eyes on me and refused to look away. For whatever reason I was in no mood to be messed with that day, so a staring...ok more like glaring competition began. Thankfully I was able to catch some of her phone call on video before all of my concentration was needed to stare her down. I am happy to report she finally did break eye contact and hang up her phone. Sadly, I am still unsure if I can actually claim a victory or if the phone call naturally ended on its own.

Video: please note the woman sitting next to cell phone lady is giving her "the look" and cell phone lady's bold refusal to end the call.





3 Response to "Cell Phone Lady on the Bus"