Appalling manners ....

[jayonabike]

A group of teenagers were throwing popcorn and sweet wrappers around and generally spoiling the film for everyone else. I politely asked one of them to stop, stating that if they didn't I would rip his ****ing face off his head. We enjoyed the rest of the film without a squeak from them.

 

[Arch]

Yes, there's an art to politely scaring the sh*t out of people. Not an art I've mastered. I often think it would be good to be the sort of person who commands a certain kind of respect by virtue of size or demeanour, but I guess in some situations, such folk are liable to get spontaneous aggro from idiots keen to 'prove themselves'

 

[Night Train]

A group of teenagers were throwing popcorn and sweet wrappers around and generally spoiling the film for everyone else. I politely asked one of them to stop, stating that if they didn't I would rip his ****ing face off his head. We enjoyed the rest of the film without a squeak from them.

I've done that, almost exactly the same words too.

 

[asterix]

A group of teenagers were throwing popcorn and sweet wrappers around and generally spoiling the film for everyone else. I politely asked one of them to stop, stating that if they didn't I would rip his ****ing face off his head. We enjoyed the rest of the film without a squeak from them.

How do you do that politely? Is there some etiquette to be observed in the matter of which I was unaware?

I say, chaps, would you kindly refrain from your unruly antics lest it become incumbent upon me to detach your visage. Please?

I can't see that working.

 

[DiddlyDodds]

Its everywhere these days

Earlier this year i went to a dinner where the guest speaker was Frank Bruno, bearing in mind the tickets were £45 each you would have thought the people there were interested in what Frank had to say, but sadly not, the chap asking Frank the questions had to repeatedly ask the 30-40 stood at the b ar to shut up so the rest could hear him and within a cpl of mins the volume was back up with people chatting away again.
The pay back came at the end when he came around the tables at the end of the room that had stayed quite to hear what he had to say , had photos taken etc and then walked straight past the noisy rabble who by then all wanted to have there pictures taken with him, and out the door.
What a nice bloke he is and even now twenty years later from fighting he is still a big bloke ...

 

[Arch]

How do you do that politely? Is there some etiquette to be observed in the matter of which I was unaware?

I say, chaps, would you kindly refrain from your unruly antics lest it become incumbent upon me to detach your visage. Please?

I can't see that working.

I guess the trick is to maintain a completely polite, neutral, quiet tone, while suddenly dropping in the swearing and threat. The shock of the mixture is enough to silence many.

 

[Night Train]

How do you do that politely? Is there some etiquette to be observed in the matter of which I was unaware?

I say, chaps, would you kindly refrain from your unruly antics lest it become incumbent upon me to detach your visage. Please?

I can't see that working.

IIRC I stood up and turned to the noisy crowd and made eye contact with the main offender. Then, in a stage whisper that the whole auditorium could hear, I slowly and clearly said something like:
"You are disturbing everyone. I am asking you now to pack it in and shut the f**k up. If you don't, I will come over there and rip your f**king face off!"
Maintain eye contact just long enough to show I meant it and then I sat down.

Having broad shoulders and standing on tiptoe (out of sight) helps I think.

 

[subaqua]

IIRC I stood up and turned to the noisy crowd and made eye contact with the main offender. Then, in a stage whisper that the whole auditorium could hear, I slowly and clearly said something like:
"You are disturbing everyone. I am asking you now to pack it in and shut the f**k up. If you don't, I will come over there and rip your f**king face off!"
Maintain eye contact just long enough to show I meant it and then I sat down.

Having broad shoulders and standing on tiptoe (out of sight) helps I think.

what scares the life out of me ( and others) is when my wife flips into teacher voice . she has silenced a whole pub using "teacher voice" and i have seen grown men shrink back when she gets going

 

[Night Train]

what scares the life out of me ( and others) is when my wife flips into teacher voice . she has silenced a whole pub using "teacher voice" and i have seen grown men shrink back when she gets going

It is definitely something that women do particularly well.

 

[Arch]

It is definitely something that women do particularly well.

Not me I squeak ineffectually.

I can have a temper on me, but of the sort that only works on people that know me, like a growl works for a dog. I had a boss once who kept bringing me silly little jobs to do when I was busy, and he could easily do them himself (like stick stamps on letters). He once got half way across the office, read the expression on the back of my head and diverted away to the post table...

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

what scares the life out of me ( and others) is when my wife flips into teacher voice . she has silenced a whole pub using "teacher voice" and i have seen grown men shrink back when she gets going

I worked with a teacher from South Africa once, and believe me, once she got going she had a voice which could cut steel!

 

[subaqua]

I worked with a teacher from South Africa once, and believe me, when she got going she had a voice which could cut steel!

thets errrll seffers .

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I'm sure it is!
She was quite impressive to listen too as she let rip with the pupils. She had bits of a Scottish accent in there too, but it still had that all vital bark!

 

[Salad Dodger]

I agree that this sort of thing is everywhere now.

Many years ago, when I was but a teenager, I used to go along to the local folk club. The "convention" was that everyone kept quiet and stayed seated whilst someone was singing. Between songs it was OK to get up and go to the bar, but you didn't re-take your seat until the next natural break in the proceedings. And you didn't talk unless there was no-one on stage.

About 5 years ago, having renewed my interest in guitar playing, I thought I might go along to a local folk club again. It was like the tower of Babel whilst the floor singers and support acts were on, and people might just possibly shut up for a few minutes when the main act of the evening was on. Unless their mobile went off in the middle of a song, in which case it seemed to be be fair game to answer it.

I lasted precisely 4 weeks before I gave up and haven't been back to a folk club since.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Huw, fannybaws, you need The Big Man:

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKXx9ZBCTCs&feature=youtube_gdata_player