It became known why metro passengers refuse to use headphones: the sensations are not the same

It’s good to compare Ham in the subway with a very predatory organism, which is actively evolving, acquiring more and more tentacles, teeth and poisonous spines, and this evolution proceeds the faster, the less resistance the organism encounters from the environment. In Soviet times, the police and ordinary citizens reacted harshly and quickly to boors, so the boors behaved cautiously and caused mischief mainly by not giving up their seats to old people and pregnant women. In the 1990s, it would seem that holiday times had come for boors. It became possible to absorb various odorous and fat-spitting substances, publicly drink everything that is allowed and what is not allowed, and then loudly talk about your feelings in words for which previously a talkative organism would have been removed from the ground for 15 days. But at that time with boors forms of life more adapted to survival entered the struggle for habitat – homeless people oozing with aromas, nimble beggars, as well as citizens who entertained everyone with offers to buy vegetable graters, garlands and many other cheap and useful things. The boors could easily have become a dead-end branch of evolution, like the Neanderthals, but their native authorities came to the rescue. They cleaned up the homeless and beggars, but left the boors behind. They began to develop.

They have grown huge backpacks, which are probably connected to their spinal cord, because there is no other reason not to take them off when entering the carriage. They finally got rid of stupid rudiments – such as the habit of parting in front of doors to let those leaving, and, on the contrary, they forgot the words “are you getting off at the next one?”, preferring to rush through the entire carriage, pushing and crushing those around them with their numerous elbows and hooves.

They have developed new mysterious habits, the meaning of which has yet to be unraveled by zoologists, because they do not lend themselves to ordinary logic. After all, if you try, you can understand a creature who does not give up his seat to anyone (well, he’s just tired) or does not take off his backpack (he is afraid that it will fall through the floor). But how can you understand someone who, upon entering the carriage, simply freezes at the door? The carriage may be half empty, but such an individual is not going anywhere. He stands, staring at the phone, or simply looks thoughtfully, like a gopher who has inhaled ergot pollen, blocking most of the doorway. Passengers seep into the remaining gap, push him, step on his feet, but he still stands. But there are many of them now. Much more than those who listen to music without headphones.

Headphones

A ride on the morning metro cannot be pleasant on any line – the problem is not that our cars are bad, no, there are simply too many people crammed into them. This happened on Monday morning on the stretch between Tverskaya and Mayakovskaya: please – traditionally tired faces, stale air and a complete lack of seats, and in addition a wonderful soundtrack. And we’re not talking about ads at all.

Every era has its own signature scourge, and in our 2020s, the problem of public transport has become the reluctance of some passengers to use headphones. Despite the fact that they really want to pass the time on the road by watching funny videos, games supplemented with music, or even making video calls to family and friends. Oh yes, there was also an audio message – why not listen?

– Excuse me, could you turn down the volume? — we politely turned to a young and very well-dressed man who, pressing his smartphone to his ear, was listening to the message. The whole carriage accidentally found out that his subordinates did not have time to complete all tasks on time, so Pyotr Petrovich would be very dissatisfied.

Hearing the question, he turned around. He hesitated for a second – then nodded completely calmly in response, and then took white headphones from the pocket of his biker jacket! That’s all – and what prevented you from doing this before? Was he really that unconcerned about the boundaries of the other passengers? The question, however, is rhetorical – but it itself suggests a scenario for a social experiment.

For subway trips for reporting and research purposes, we bought several pairs of the cheapest headphones – albeit in a provocative red color. So let’s check: will they act on the disturbers of public peace in the same way as a red rag on four-legged cattle? We choose the Circle Line as the location: every station here is a real underground palace, which means there is no place for ill-mannered citizens.

Looking ahead, I will say that everything turned out well and we did not receive any physical injuries. However, there was a strong feeling that it was we who were not riding the subway according to the rules, and the rest were just following their unwritten and very loud “concepts.” Only three agreed to receive a small gift and cover their ears, saving others from the details of their musical preferences and life’s ups and downs. Others reacted much worse.

For example, somewhere between “Paveletskaya” and “Taganskaya” one well-fed citizen showed a girl sitting next to him an excerpt from some humorous speech.

– Excuse me, could you please lower the volume? You are disturbing others.

– What do you want?

The performance, I must say, was not so hot, nor, by the way, was the manner of the two-meter-tall spectator in front of me, whose experience I so unceremoniously decided to interrupt; He immediately became indignant, so much so that he began to curse! What effort of will it took me to silently hand him the “emkushniki” and urgently move to another carriage.

However, there was no need to expect peace and quiet in the other carriage either.

– Excuse me, could you turn it down? — I ask an elderly woman in a red jacket, who was animatedly discussing via video link all the details of the first months of family life for her granddaughter or youngest daughter.

She looks at me in surprise, but only for a second. Then he smiles and takes his own headphones out of his pocket.

– Really, why am I doing this? Sorry, son, sclerosis…

But the other passenger does not react so favorably. The sounds of truly Mexican passions can be heard from the speakers of her smartphone – the lady is rewatching a Latin American TV series from twenty years ago.

— Could you put on some headphones?

– Why?

The lady is not rude and does not throw a tantrum; her question sounds sincere, unclouded interest.

– Well, you’re disturbing people.

“But I don’t feel comfortable wearing headphones.” Something is always creaking and making noise, I never use them.

– But you are not alone here.

– That’s it. Young man, we are in a public place. Here you have to endure some inconveniences. The smell of your cologne may bother me, but I’m not making any complaints, am I? I also don’t like the fact that that man over there is eating shawarma in the carriage – it stinks. But I’m not touching you, am I? So don’t touch me, please.

Neither subtract nor add. Well, everyone will have to worry together about the complicated relationship of the next Marianna and Jose Ignacio.

Approximately the same scene played out later in one of the intercity buses – alas, in this sense, the “wheels” showed themselves to be no better than the “rails”. A middle-aged woman opened her laptop and started watching a movie.

— Good afternoon, could you do something with the sound from the laptop?

The lady did not deign to answer me.

“You must have dropped it,” I handed over the prepared package with headphones. – Please use them.

– Man, why are you pestering me?

– Very interesting film. I wanted to watch it with you.

– I’m married!

She stubbornly refused to take part in our experiment and ultimately did not use the headphones offered; but, to its credit, the volume was noticeably reduced, which slightly saved the situation for other passengers.

A public place is equally public for everyone

The fellow traveler who mentioned the specific aromas of perfumes and eating shawarma in the carriage is right in her own way – although, of course, someone else’s shawarma should not serve as an excuse for one’s own craving to watch a movie without headphones. Pungent odors are another cause of irritation and complaints for public transport passengers. Well, since the perception of smells is a deeply physiological thing, the triggers and irritants are individual for everyone. However, the metro offers all kinds. Someone, for example, dives into the subway, barely having time to smoke a cigarette – and drags the corresponding train behind him. Some people early in the morning pour half a bottle of perfume on themselves with some suffocating oriental aroma, while others decide to continue their interrupted breakfast in the carriage – drink coffee and eat, for example, a pie with liver and onions. Well, there’s nothing to say about citizens who simply neglect their morning (and evening) showers.

As Albina Kholgova, president of the National Association of Business Ethics, Etiquette and Protocol Experts, noted in a conversation with MK correspondents, most often people make such mistakes unintentionally – but this is exactly the case when ignorance of the rules of good manners does not exempt you from the need to comply with them.

— It often happens that people understand everything. They are simply careless and do not think about the comfort of others. Fortunately, such people, it seems to me, make up a minimal percentage,” says the expert. “Once I had a similar incident: on the subway, I decided to make a remark to one man: I asked him to turn off the sound or use headphones. He ignored my request, after which I could not stand it and said: “If you don’t do what I ask of you now, I will sit next to you and turn on Wagner’s opera!” And we will listen to it together; do you like classical music? The man hesitated, and as soon as I started adjusting my sound, he stopped making noise and immediately apologized! I would like to believe that such a person will never disturb the peace of other passengers again, but those same passengers do not always have the strength and desire to make comments to others.

According to Kholgova, it is quite difficult to re-educate adults, but this does not mean that you can spit on everything and let things take their course. Etiquette specialists should continue to popularize and disseminate the relevant rules and do not hesitate to talk about them.

— Prevention is important, that is, teaching etiquette to children and adolescents. It is necessary to start with the family: children need to be raised in the right way. We also shouldn’t forget about school: it’s worth considering introducing elective classes or interactive seminars, continues Kholgova. “And don’t forget: each of us is also capable of influencing those who violate the rules of behavior in public transport. As Professor Preobrazhensky said: “The boors won not when they walked up the marble stairs in dirty galoshes, but when polite people stopped making comments to them.”