Eating smelly food on trains

[ComUtoR]

The 'fear should never win' line is an interesting one. Your position seems to be based on a fear to speak up if someone is doing something perceived to be wrong/disrespectful etc. Asking politely is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

My position is one where we should respect each other and be a bit more tolerant of other people actions. I fully agree that politely asking would have been the best and sensible option.

The problem with today's society is that we are becoming more and more afraid to speak up, have an opinion, take responsibility, and indeed worry about people pulling a knife. We shouldn't live in fear that someone will attack us but we need to be mindful that it is possible. In contrast, we should be worried about eating an egg on a train in the fear that someone will abuse us for doing so.

Yes, there has to be some kind of balance. As to what that is, I just don't know.

On a side note. I was watching the tellybox a few weeks ago where this topic was discussed. Society has moved on, rightly or wrongly, in that people will now happily walk down the high street guzzling a large late whilst eating a burger. Years ago, eating in public would not be socially acceptable. There is clearly a clash as to what is socially acceptable.

I play trains on a regular basis. Eating an egg is the least of your worries. Take the vomit comet back from London of an evening and you will see what people are eating. Before, and after its goes in the body.

 

[Eccles1983]

On the contrary if you must east smelly food or want to play music on an i-phone without headphones when you travel then you are the one that needs to buy a car or other form of self transport! It may be a mass transit system but that does not mean its a free for all and we can all do what we want on it.

Nope.

It's a public transport system. Until such time as it's banned then people are free to chow down on anything.

The uppity folk who don't like it have a choice. Move or don't board.

As for me, I have a car and use it regularly. To get to work to drive the trains. Someone scoffing is the least offensive thing that can happen on trains. Believe me.

 

[Esker-pades]

My position is one where we should respect each other and be a bit more tolerant of other people actions. I fully agree that politely asking would have been the best and sensible option.

The problem with today's society is that we are becoming more and more afraid to speak up, have an opinion, take responsibility, and indeed worry about people pulling a knife. We shouldn't live in fear that someone will attack us but we need to be mindful that it is possible. In contrast, we should be worried about eating an egg on a train in the fear that someone will abuse us for doing so.

Yes, there has to be some kind of balance. As to what that is, I just don't know.

On a side note. I was watching the tellybox a few weeks ago where this topic was discussed. Society has moved on, rightly or wrongly, in that people will now happily walk down the high street guzzling a large late whilst eating a burger. Years ago, eating in public would not be socially acceptable. There is clearly a clash as to what is socially acceptable.

I play trains on a regular basis. Eating an egg is the least of your worries. Take the vomit comet back from London of an evening and you will see what people are eating. Before, and after its goes in the body.

In which case, I have no particular objection to your opinions, and generally agree on this subject.

 

[2L70]

Mead then apparently “quickly and aggressively” moved towards Ms Stoter and leaned into her face after she shrugged her shoulders to apologise for the strong odour of eggs.

Ms Stoter told the court: “The woman asked me if I spoke English and I said no because I was scared and confused. I thought she would stop… she said, ‘You are disgusting.’”

She claimed Mead then threatened her, saying: “You don’t know who I am, be careful. Do you want to go outside?”

Ms Stoter said one other passenger had previously complained about the smell and that she had closed her Tupperware box to stop it spreading.

Explaining why she ate eggs in a public place in the morning, Ms Stoter told the jury: “I have to eat at that time because of my diet.”

Mead told the court she had been taking tablets for a medical condition and that the smell of eggs made her feel nauseous.

She denied losing her temper on the train, insisting she was calling the eggs “disgusting” rather than Ms Stoter.

However, Mead, from Manningtree, Essex, was found guilty of one charge of intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress, and was fined £750 and ordered to pay £750 in compensation.

She was cleared of a racially aggravated public order offence."

Lovely, stereotypical Essex person there!

 

[scotrail158713]

Boiled eggs have a slight aroma but are hardly the smelliest thing, when compared to hot food - burgers, curries, chilli, hot cheese etc

Where do you stop, oranges have a smell, so do wine and beer etc

Spot on

There are ScotRail guards who 'hide' in the back cab. And, some guards don't enforce some rules for whatever reason.

There are but often on services which are dead anyway (I encountered this on the 09:43 Edinburgh to North Berwick recently)

 

[bastien]

Has anyone mentioned the durian ban on the Singapore metro yet? Those things are next-level.

 

[37047]

It shouldn't be necessary to ban eating full stop. What about someone who is travelling from London to Aberdeen direct? Are they supposed to go without food for seven hours?

No, that would be covered by the part of my post you've missed that specified only on services where food isn't sold onboard.

I'm obviously not being 100% serious, although if GN would ban food between King's Lynn and Cambridge, that would be fantastic...

 

[mikey9]

I am amazed at the responses on here - and the level of intolerance...
Can I suggest whilst doing your list of banned smelly foodstuffs you might want to add coffee which some people may also find olfactorally challenging (especially if they haven't got a cup too).

As for being offended by the smell of a boiled egg - where all this seems to have started - harden up folks.

 

[scotrail158713]

I am amazed at the responses on here - and the level of intolerance...
Can I suggest whilst doing your list of banned smelly foodstuffs you might want to add coffee which some people may also find olfactorally challenging (especially if they haven't got a cup too).

Glad to see someone else realises coffee stinks. For me it’s worse than a boiled egg.

 

[Ianno87]

Why don't we just have a total ban of people on trains and be done with it?

This thread...

 

[hooverboy]

I am amazed at the responses on here - and the level of intolerance...
Can I suggest whilst doing your list of banned smelly foodstuffs you might want to add coffee which some people may also find olfactorally challenging (especially if they haven't got a cup too).

As for being offended by the smell of a boiled egg - where all this seems to have started - harden up folks.

you take your chances with public transport in any case.

it is..well..public.
some people don't have the best dental hygiene either,and can be quite aromatic when they start talking!
what then? tell them not to breathe or bring a gas mask?

 

[[.n]]

Although this topic may seem trivial - there is an underlying problem here which won't go away . Some people just refuse to use public transport and drive everywhere . Two people I know - a significantly younger female work colleague and a much older male friend of mine , both never used public transport in their adult life whatever the circumstance . Her reason - her wish to avoid sitting next to "smelly people" - her words . His reason "sitting next to strangers" . I think he felt that he would be obliged to engage in conversation. Whenever we met up at a restaurant or bar his time was dominated by the concern of being able to park very nearby - so several hours consulting the A to Z beforehand ( in the days before Google maps ).

How did the male friend ascertain the restaurant or bar was only being frequented by people he knew on the occasions you went? Ringing everyone in the BT Telephone Directory beforehand too

 

[Scotty]

Why don't we just have a total ban of people on trains and be done with it?

Only the smelly ones.

 

[Grecian 1998]

Fortunately as of the end of the year, class 153s will not be permitted to run on their own, meaning there will always be an opportunity to move carriages* if someone's food is pungent. Granted the same problem may occur in the next carriage, but it's not that likely.

*Although if attached to a 150/1 or 170 you'll have to wait till the next station. Don't worry, you're using one of the few routes where 153s still operate, meaning it can't be far away.

 

[james_the_xv]

Only the smelly ones.

Have armpit sniffers on the platform or at gate barriers refusing travel to those who haven't topped up their antiperspirant in the last hour. Utopian rail network overnight!

 

[bastien]

Although this topic may seem trivial - there is an underlying problem here which won't go away . Some people just refuse to use public transport and drive everywhere . Two people I know - a significantly younger female work colleague and a much older male friend of mine , both never used public transport in their adult life whatever the circumstance . Her reason - her wish to avoid sitting next to "smelly people" - her words . His reason "sitting next to strangers" . I think he felt that he would be obliged to engage in conversation. Whenever we met up at a restaurant or bar his time was dominated by the concern of being able to park very nearby - so several hours consulting the A to Z beforehand ( in the days before Google maps ).

Oh, the 'parking nearby' thing, it's like a religion to some people. We had some training coming up at work, and one colleague was fretting about parking at or near the venue for a good fortnight beforehand... But the venue in question is literally 10 minutes walk away from our office, where he parks every day!

 

[Calthrop]

And coach drivers, particularly Scottish ones[1], don't tolerate any messing on this. "Ye cannae et chaps on this cooach!" - while grabbing them and throwing them in the locker.

I recall at Birmingham coach station a few months ago -- incident involving a coach for London: the Cockney driver was playing hell with a chap who wanted to bring his hot snack on to the coach, let it cool down, and then eat it. The driver "wasn't having a bar of that". The guy accepted defeat, while muttering resentfully.

 

[Calthrop]

Has anyone mentioned the durian ban on the Singapore metro yet? Those things are next-level.

One gathers that a fair number of things are banned in Singapore: though from what's heard about durian, it definitely does not belong on public transport.

Something I heard a while ago (if I didn't imagine hearing it): it's "universally known" that chewing gum is banned in Singapore. But according to the snippet of info which -- I thought anyway -- came my way: one can get chewing gum there, on prescription. Wonderful visions ensued, of every "bent" doctor in Singapore merrily taking bribes from patients to certify them as chewing-gum-addicted, and prescribe accordingly. Made the Singaporeans seem human after all...

 

[trebor79]

you take your chances with public transport in any case.

it is..well..public.
some people don't have the best dental hygiene either,and can be quite aromatic when they start talking!
what then? tell them not to breathe or bring a gas mask?

Oh yes. Last week I was sat on the Peterborough to Lincoln dogbox. Every so often a sewage like smell wafted across, bad enough to make me gag. Cursed the smelly toilet retention tank, then remembered they don't have retention tanks. There was a guy fast asleep in the seat behind me, mouth breathing. The inside of his mouth looked horrific and it was apparent that this was the source of the smell.
I had to move seats. It was that bad.

No food smell is as bad as poor hygiene smells.

 

[GrimShady]

Boiled eggs are hardly that bad in comparison to other foodstuffs!

 

[GodAtum]

This is one of my pet hates--funnily enough I just had to move carriage due to a group of people eating McDonald's burgers on a packed service out of London. Then I come on the forum and this is the first thread!

I would definitely support a ban on hot fast food on public transport, which does work in other countries, or at least signs asking people to think about what they eat in public.

IMO any food you can buy at a station you can eat on a train

 

[johnnychips]

Let's embrace cultural differences! When I went to China, there was a smell of garlic in any enclosed space, but no doubt I smelt of dairy products. In an indoor swimming pool it was a gross breach of etiquette not to walk from the changing room to the pool in flip-flops, yet people were spitting on the floor -perhaps the two are linked. My Chinese friend said, "you can joke at us eating things like whole frogs, chicken feet and duck tongues, but you eat things that come out of cows' t*ts!"

 

[col68]

May I introduce to the thread "the loud conversation on the mobile". Oh my giddy aunt how selfish of these people. How unaware they seem to be .

 

[ExRes]

May I introduce to the thread "the loud conversation on the mobile"

Only if your mobile smells and you take bites out of it during your train journey

 

[Deepgreen]

This morning I boarded a North Downs line train and sat down. A woman opposite started having a loud conversation on her phone's speaker. I assumed she would mute it and put it to her ear to continue, but no. She continued to chat for several minutes, oblivious to anyone else. As she and I were the only two in the section, I took out my phone and played some loud music through the speaker. After a short time she asked if I would turn it down - I replied that I would if she would! She seemed completely unaware that her loud broadcasting of both ends of her conversation could possibly annoy anyone else - she may not do that again soon! Am I intolerant of others' selfish behaviour? You bet!

The same social rules should apply to smelly food - it's just harder to make the point by my method from this morning - I would need some powerful chemicals to release!

 

[Deepgreen]

Nope.

It's a public transport system. Until such time as it's banned then people are free to chow down on anything.

The uppity folk who don't like it have a choice. Move or don't board.

As for me, I have a car and use it regularly. To get to work to drive the trains. Someone scoffing is the least offensive thing that can happen on trains. Believe me.

One of the most dismissive and pompous messages I have read here for a while. So - yes, if something isn't actually banned/illegal then feel free to do it, and sod everyone else - after all society shouldn't be based on a set of rules of reasonable behaviour, should it? It should, of course, be 'everyone for themselves'.

"Move or don't board" - really?! You're advocating that we all cave in to those who behave unacceptably just because it's either not banned or there's no-one around to enforce those bans that do exist. People who dare to question others' poor behaviour are "uppity"?! Wow - roll on anarchy!

 

[Deepgreen]

IMO any food you can buy at a station you can eat on a train

Why - do you not see the huge difference between the open environment of a station where people can move around freely, and where smells are hugely less intrusive than the closed one of a train?! It's worrying how many people here seem not to understand basic public behaviour requirements.

 

[nlogax]

One thing that's abundantly clear from this thread; one passenger's Cornish pasty can be another passenger's old sock. The smell of a pasty on a crowded late train makes me want to boke, but I love coffee - and there are a few here that -really- don't.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The same social rules should apply to smelly food - it's just harder to make the point by my method from this morning - I would need some powerful chemicals to release!

Beans on toast for breakfast would probably do it...

 

[al78]

One of the most dismissive and pompous messages I have read here for a while. So - yes, if something isn't actually banned/illegal then feel free to do it, and sod everyone else - after all society shouldn't be based on a set of rules of reasonable behaviour, should it? It should, of course, be 'everyone for themselves'.

Quite. Having the right to do something doesn't mean it is right to do it. Unfortunately soome people use legal rights as an excuse to throw away consideration for other people, because it is just too much effort.

In any case, this thread seems to have boarded the strawman argument train, destination over-emotional attitude, at which point it becomes a waste of time trying to engage, so I won't bother anymore.