The Student Room Group

How do you react to annoying 'chavvy' types?

This was brought to mind sitting on a 4 hour coach journey, where a family of 4 fairly chavvy 'looking' types ( one 14 y/o ish boy, young daughter, father and mother) had occupied the middle of the bus. they had mancunian or bolton type accents. There were loud and generally obnoxious and every other word coming out of both the sons and fathers mouth was **** ing this and ****ing that. It didnt bother me enough to say anythign to them becuase i jsut put my headphones on, but i noticed right in front of them was another mother and her young son, maybe 5 or 6.
Im thinking in hindsight if i should have told them all to shut the **** up. what would you do in the same circumstance

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Stop being such a judgemental prat.
Avoid public transport really
Try to ignore
Reply 4
You should of gone up to them, and in a calm manner move closer to the father and say "I understand you but do you understand yourself", then smile and poke your finger in his eye really hard, slap the mother even harder and bite the son's ear off
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 5
'Sorry, would you mind not swearing so much? There are young kids here.' In your politest, least stuck-up tone. Say thanks, smile, and put your headphones back in to avoid chance of a discussion coming up about your audacity. But also... avoid being too judgemental. They're just people too, merely slightly different. In another situation you could be good friends for all you know, I'm sure you've befriended someone similar once who could have been in the same family in the same manner.
Original post by MASTER265
You should of gone up to them, and in a calm manner move closer to the father and say "I understand you but do you understand yourself", then smile and poke your finger in his eye really hard, slap the mother even harder and bite the son's ear off


Thanks for the laugh but I can't rep before tomorrow now!!! :rolleyes::biggrin:
Original post by Secretnerd123
Stop being such a judgemental prat.


Loudly swearing on a public bus violates the Conditions of Carriage for many companies, an example of which would be my local bus company, Stagecoach. For example:
Behave in a manner that is not abusive or threatening and does not cause offence to other customers or staff.

If the mother with the young son wanted to ask the coach driver to tell that obnoxious family to stop swearing and quieten down, she'd have been perfectly within her rights to do so.

As for the 'judgemental prat' part, notice OP stating it didn't bother them, and they were quite happy to put their headphones in until they noticed the young child and mother. RTFOP, goddamnit.
You're always going to find people who irritate you on public transport. Screaming babies, kids kicking the back of your seat, people with loud music playing, teenagers who won't shut up, drunk people, people who take forever to pay their fare, smelly/wierd people who sit next to you. It's not necessarily just chavs.

It's something you're just going to have to learn to deal with i'm afraid.
Reply 9
Original post by awe
'Sorry, would you mind not swearing so much? There are young kids here.' In your politest, least stuck-up tone. Say thanks, smile, and put your headphones back in to avoid chance of a discussion coming up about your audacity. But also... avoid being too judgemental. They're just people too, merely slightly different. In another situation you could be good friends for all you know, I'm sure you've befriended someone similar once who could have been in the same family in the same manner.
i can be perfectly honest after 4 hrs of hearing them talk to each other , i really dont think that they could.
Original post by sierraoneseven
Loudly swearing on a public bus violates the Conditions of Carriage for many companies, an example of which would be my local bus company, Stagecoach. For example:

If the mother with the young son wanted to ask the coach driver to tell that obnoxious family to stop swearing and quieten down, she'd have been perfectly within her rights to do so.

As for the 'judgemental prat' part, notice OP stating it didn't bother them, and they were quite happy to put their headphones in until they noticed the young child and mother. RTFOP, goddamnit.


Using the word chav is a little rude. Just because they were a big family who happened to swear a lot. No need to get your knickers in a twist.

Whats RTFOP?
In my area the bus drivers are about as likely to swear at you as the passengers, or more so :rolleyes:


Posted from TSR Mobile
Having a manc or bolton accent, being loud and swearing a lot doesn't make you a bad person. Actually most of my mates fit that description and they're all nice people :smile:

Stop taking people at face value and get chatting to them, you'll probably find they're decent
Original post by Secretnerd123
Using the word chav is a little rude. Just because they were a big family who happened to swear a lot. No need to get your knickers in a twist.

Whats RTFOP?


The OP did put 'chavvy' in quotations, and I guess appealing to common stereotypes is easier than having a huge thread title explaining the problem. Admittedly, he could've been more tactful about it, but the main question about how to deal with such people is perfectly valid.

I guess my knickers are slightly twisted, yeah :rolleyes: I've had to sit through a similar experience on a 2-hour train journey, and it is possibly the most unpleasant thing I've ever experienced on public transport. The guy in question was playing music loud enough to be heard throughout the whole carriage, and was happily swearing away for a good 15 minutes before someone said anything.

Long story short, he was an extreme left-wing radical. Swore at the poor woman for a good 5 minutes or so, turned his music up again, then started complaining about how British people treat his race like scum and that he'd happily watch all us middle-class British die in the most painful way possible. Funnily enough, he matched the stereotype OP put across earlier. If he'd stayed on a station longer, one of us in the carriage would've reported him. A bit beyond what OP was describing, but I'm vehemently against behaviour like this on public transport now.

The Conditions of Carriage exist for a reason, and although it can cause awkwardness/irritation for the rest of the journey, it's better to resolve the problem and enjoy the journey than do nothing and be uncomfortable, likely along with other people travelling.

Of course kids are gonna scream on buses, and people'll generally be irritating, but if the issue is isolated and affecting lots of people travelling, then it should definitely be mentioned to the driver.
Reply 14
Original post by awe
'Sorry, would you mind not swearing so much? There are young kids here.' In your politest, least stuck-up tone. Say thanks, smile, and put your headphones back in to avoid chance of a discussion coming up about your audacity. But also... avoid being too judgemental. They're just people too, merely slightly different. In another situation you could be good friends for all you know, I'm sure you've befriended someone similar once who could have been in the same family in the same manner.


This.

I'd hate the confrontation personally.
Original post by awe
'Sorry, would you mind not swearing so much? There are young kids here.' In your politest, least stuck-up tone.


It is impossible to tell someone to stop doing something manifestly inappropriate without sounding stuck-up (to them).
Reply 16
Comes from manc, must be chavvy so legit.
99.9% of my town are chavvy and gobby and replaces every word in the dictionary with cuss words and i just put up with it. Even had one chav call me and my mum "fking dumb" because i delivered my papers a few days later cause i was ill.

Swearing = ok
Infront of kids on a bus = no its actually antisocial behaviour
Abusing someone verbally = big fat no no
Reply 17
I don't see why everyone gets all worked about swearing.

I think it's perfectly fine, they're just words. I don't understand why people choose to be offended by swearing, attention seeking, I guess?
I abhor chavs and their swearing in public threatening people etc but generally it is better to ignore them.
Manchester and Bolton accents aren't even remotely similar...

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