I see myself turning into "grumpy old man" more and more as the years pass by.
I feel like I have always been this way to some degree. But I completely know what you mean, especially when it comes to going outside and having to deal with people. It seems as if people have grown louder by the year, more obnoxious and annoying. People with tiktok addiction on public transport with their volume on full. Motorbikes and cars screaming through the streets throwing out as much noise as possible. Or like you mentioned: seeing people just having no regard for their health and thus the health of others around them.
People in this part of the world chain-smoke like mad, and that's fine if they wanna do that, but they do it in the most annoying spots imaginable. Right outside the entrance/exit of a mall. Right outside the entrances to cafes and such. Even just in the street, having to walk behind someone that is just filling the air with shit.
I will politely yet sternly tell the people working at a bar or restaurant to turn the fucking music down when we are in there.
I avoid such places now. So many cafes and restaurants just boom music out into the open, so stupidly loud to the point where you have to shout. I'd rather just avoid those places entirely. In Armenia there was something I really hated: these coffee stands that functioned out in the open in the city, and they'd have rap music booming to pull in attention. It was a competition of noise. No peace in the city. Especially mixed with the car music that would also be doing the same thing.
I'm at the point where I despise anyone that uses a car horn out of impatience too. I can't fucking stand the endless abuse of car horns. If someone abuses it next to me while I'm on the path, and I see they can see me, I tell them to shut the fuck up with it. It's genuinely the most insufferable sound of a city. There's no peace in such dense spaces anymore, you can't just take a walk and unwind, it's just throwing yourself into noise and chaos. Total barbarianism.
well you better never come to Vietnam then, they have redefined the use of the horn to an absolutely insane level. I'm not really even sure what they are hoping to accomplish with the horn usage because it is used so frequently by everyone that it no longer is anything anyone pays any attention to anymore. It's kind of like when those annoying car alarms became something that everyone had - they sound of them became so common that nobody was even looking at the cars that were potentially being broken into anymore.
Some coffeeshops here also blast the music like a nightclub and I just don't get it. Isn't a coffeeshop supposed to be the opposite of that like the Starbucks appeal where they have some light jazz or something like Norah Jones playing in the background? I never go into those places but just by walking by the place it gets me in a huff. Events here are ruined by MC's that feel the need to talk all the damn time and overly powerful speaker systems that just ruin the entire event. God help you if you ever set foot into a Vietnamese wedding. That was the loudest experience of my life. And places that feature "live music" means that it is a pub that I will not be going to. If I paid money for a ticket to see Metallica I understand why it is loud but some random-ass band that I've never heard of? I now hate your band forever because you have ruined the ambiance of an otherwise peaceful environment.
Haha, I could keep going for 1000 more words. We are grumpy old men and you know what? That is fine with me!
Exactly how this side of the world seems. Armenia was insane with it, Georgia seems to be the same. They'll spam that thing over and over even if the person they're trying to get moving can't move. Like even if the light is red, they'll complain. Even if there's the tiniest gap they could close in the traffic, they'll slap that horn and let that person now a few inches could be gained.
That's exactly what they should be, but it's so hard to find such places now. Each place feels the need to be a nightclub at this point. The same with restaurants to the point where you can't even hear the waiter and have to ask them to repeat themselves. I've stopped going to such places, if I notice there is noise I just find another place.
I totally feel this with live music in public. I haven't seen much of that here, but in Armenia again it was insane, one small street had a ton of them, alongside those cafes booming rap music. Completely overwhelms your senses. You can't think, you just feel the need to escape the area. It's rarely anything actually peaceful like you said before, but instead someone with the loudest amp just screaming into a mic with awful gain. Oh! AND CLOTHING AND GROCERY STORES. Holy shit, you can't enter a single clothing store without music thumping into the ground anymore. I'm buying some bread (or a shirt), I don't need a performance. I don't need your Spotify playlist on max volume. It really makes me question who is in control of such things, do they really think this creates an atmosphere that encourages people to take their time and look around at various products, or just leave as soon as possible?