What would you do if a couple high school girl were singing on a public bus? Would you mind your own business or ask them to stop?

In this story, one teenage boy is in this situation, and he simply looks at them in a way they don’t like. When they strike up a conversation, it quickly becomes an argument, and he’s left wondering who is really in the wrong.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for arguing with some girls to stop singing on a bus?

I (18M) just got home from work and my friend thinks I’m TA here for instigating the argument so I want other thoughts.

I was on the bus home from shift (takes about and hour on the bus so I’m both tired from work and irritated at the time it’ll take to get home. Already on the bus behind me are 2 high-school aged girls (in uniform so I know they’re in highschool)

They were singing. SINGING. On a public freaking bus. SINGING. FREAKING SINGING.

He clearly hated their singing.

I was LIVID.

Now, heres the thing. I didn’t say anything to these kids. I Said NOTHING. I just briefly turned for less than a second and side eyed them.

That’s it. That was my horrific crime. A side eye.

Then, she addressed me.

Here’s how the girls reacted.

(G1- girl 1, G2- girl 2, M- me)

(Vagurely put together interaction from memory)

G1 “what?”

M “…what?”

G1 “you just looked at me. What?”

M “…you’re singing. It’s annoying”

G1, suddenly agast in that fake shock you see from chavy high-school girls in the UK “oh my god, its annoying?”

M “…yeah? You’re disturbing people”

G1, mishearing me and still in that mocking fake shocked voice “oh my god, I’m distracting people!”

Then the insults started.

From here, it just devolved into us both using childish insults. I (obviously) don’t remember the order of the interactions so I’ll just list a few insults.

• she said my hair looks awful (didn’t say awful but said something else that meant the same. May have said it looked gross or smth) and I said something like “No duh, dumb witch, I just got off work”
• -implied I was being childish (I was) and I said she looked about 8 and so shouldn’t be taking about childishness. She said thank you (to being called 8) and I said its an insult because 8 years old are ugly.
• she and her friend continuously mocked me by repeating what I said but replacing the word disturbing with distracting to minimise what they were doing.
• during the argument she kept saying she “was just enjoying herself” “was just existing” “was just having fun” to her friend as if she wading being disruptive on a bus of strangers.

That’s the bulk of what I remember that fits the subs guidelines.

The girls kept insulting him behind his back.

Eventually, the argument ended and they went to talking to eachother about me loud enough so that I’d here. Including things like comments on my hair/appearance, mocking repeats of things I said, general insults and calling me “that thing”.

At one point, one of them (G1 I think) was waving their hands behind my head to annoy me more.

I just kept looking forward and stopped engaging by this point.

After getting home, I text what had happened to a friend. They say I’m the AH here for 1, engaging in the childish argument. 2, side eyeing them. 3, getting in a confrontation with people a few years younger.

AITA?

Those girls definitely overreacted to his side eye. The correct reaction would’ve been to apologize and stop singing on the bus.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person thinks he should’ve been nicer about it.

I’m not understanding the church comment. People sing in church.

Another person thinks everyone messed up.

But this person is on OP’s side except for the name calling.

That went from bad to worse in record time.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.