[athenot]

This is a fun app.

One way I deal with people talking on speakerphone, is inviting myself into their conversation and making comments as if I were an active participant. That usually earns me a weird look, and then they go off speaker so I can't hear what's been said. Success.

Similar with folks watching reels on speaker, I fake a laugh or make comments about the content. It's awkward enough that they usually stop because they want a moment alone, not an interactive session with a stranger. Which ironically is the same thing I want too.

[indrora]

A friend of mine works AV at shows that have rotating DJs and one of the things she has on her mixer board is "The Suck Button."

It causes a mic at the other end of the room to get cut into the DJ's live feed monitor with a semitone shift down and some reverb. This causes all sorts of inner-ear chaos and usually clears a DJ off the stage when they're over time within a few minutes at most -- usually under 30 seconds. One time they were trying to figure out why it wasn't working and discovered that the DJ had muted their monitor feed, which explained why they were not only peaking the meters but over time: They hadn't heard the FOUR warnings from the back of house that it was time to wrap up.

[inlined]

There was a coffee shop ages ago in SF that would every few hours play a cacophony (e.g. multiple songs at once). I assume it was to drive away people camping on their laptops to rotate tables. Understand but super annoying to people like me who had a timer to but food or drink no less than hourly to be a good citizen

[mitthrowaway2]

That reminds me of the "speech jammer", which won an Ignobel Prize last decade. It's an acoustic gun that combines a directional microphone and speaker array with a delay, tripping up the speaker.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shut-up-speech-jammer-among-201...

[pseudosavant]

I've recently become a convert to this kind of thinking. The person invited the public to join in when they decided to have a public speakerphone call. If they don't want my responses or laughter, they get annoyed and stop the behavior I was finding annoying in the first place.

I don't even have to act like I'm bothered by it, or that I find their behavior offensive. They change their behavior because they are bothered by mine.

[onethought]

How is that different than two people talking in person? Do you interrupt them as well?

[xattt]

How do you deal with the small possibility that the offending person is unhinged (since they’ve already chosen to throw out societal mores out the window) and could physically hurt you?

[Spooky23]

It’s a two-way street.

I used to have to deal with unhinged people on the regular and one of the techniques that keep the peace and stay safe is to present an edge that gives the vibe that you may be more unhinged.

My dad used to run housing projects, and my uncle was an assistant principal at one of the most violent schools in New York City. They were like Jedi masters of presence. They had stories that were absolutely insane.

[reassess_blind]

Personally, it's not worth living in fear of that small chance. If you're alone and they're visibly on drugs or something then yeah, better to just move. Otherwise we just let people get away with bad behavior.

[charcircuit]

It's illegal for them to hurt you.

[iammrpayments]

Just lift weights, or say it’s just a prank I guess

[taneq]

Diet, exercise, and physical training, probably?

[anotherevan]

Sidled up next to the guy and said loudly, “Mr Smith? Mr Smith? The mistress is ready for you now!”

[cool-RR]

It's my fantasy to do this. Congrats on having the courage.

[hyperbolablabla]

My friend does this and I feel the same way. I could never bring myself to do this, I cant even smile at people

[jitbit]

Sometimes when college kids in a hotel room next to mine are being too loud, I go out, check their room number , go back to my room and give them a call (usually just dialing the room number works).

I pretend to be “Jason from reception” and that “other guests are complaining about the noise”. Works every time.

[latexr]

Fun solution! But what do you do if the person is listening to loud music? There’s nothing to comment there.

[NoSalt]

This is a good way to shanked on the D.C. Metro.

[jcbe]

Kind of a funny day to post this (WMATA just released data showing crime rates at a 25-year low)