shades of "letting them know you can hear them"

[TootsNYC]

Sometimes when people have loud neighbors, one suggestion for getting them to tone it down that I've seen is to approach them about the *substance* of their fight/conversation/whatever.

Today, scrolling through old posts on Failbook, I found this one:

http://failbook.failblog.org/2012/04/19/funny-facebook-fails-youre-right-megan-could-totally-do-better/

It's very funny. A definite violation of the "no eavesdropping" rule, which is, "of course you can hear them--and you can listen all you want. You just can't ever let anyone know that you did."

[ettiquit]

That is awesome.

A forgivable etiquette faux pas, I hope?

[weschicky]

They're both in the wrong (you shouldn't eavesdrop, and you shouldn't read over people's shoulders) but in this case, it totally makes a right. 

[kherbert05]

A creative way to tell people to shut up in class. I don't consider it eavesdropping when you are trapped in a situation were the other person can clearly see you. Add in the fact that the LW was paying to learn from the professor not listen to the other students gossip, the LW found an polite, nondisruptive way to tell the gossipers to be quiet.

[Quesselin]

Well, does it really count as eavesdropping when you can't *help* overhearing what they're talking about? Either way, very funny 

[Mental Magpie]

A creative way to tell people to shut up in class. I don't consider it eavesdropping when you are trapped in a situation were the other person can clearly see you. Add in the fact that the LW was paying to learn from the professor not listen to the other students gossip, the LW found an polite, nondisruptive way to tell the gossipers to be quiet.

I agree, a lot.

[MerryCat]

I love that! I know it's rude to let on that you're evesdropping, but on the other hand those girls were disrupting the poster's ability to study in a class they paid for.

[Audrey Quest]

I don't consider it evesdropping.  These girls shouldn't be talking in a public place where they are supposed to be quiet. They have no right to expect that other people will not listen to what they are saying.
 
If someone is having a private conversation, yeah, you shouldn't listen in.  But, when you have no choice?
 

[Alpacas]

I don't consider it evesdropping.  These girls shouldn't be talking in a public place where they are supposed to be quiet. They have no right to expect that other people will not listen to what they are saying.

POD

I never understood how someone should be able to not listen if someone is talking right next to you, or is talking rather loudly.

[Mental Magpie]

I don't consider it evesdropping.  These girls shouldn't be talking in a public place where they are supposed to be quiet. They have no right to expect that other people will not listen to what they are saying.

POD

I never understood how someone should be able to not listen if someone is talking right next to you, or is talking rather loudly.

I will park my pod right here, too.

[Winterlight]

A creative way to tell people to shut up in class. I don't consider it eavesdropping when you are trapped in a situation were the other person can clearly see you. Add in the fact that the LW was paying to learn from the professor not listen to the other students gossip, the LW found an polite, nondisruptive way to tell the gossipers to be quiet.

Yep, this. He's a captive audience who needs to hear his professor, not chatty people discussing their friends.

[emeraldsage85]

I don't consider it evesdropping.  These girls shouldn't be talking in a public place where they are supposed to be quiet. They have no right to expect that other people will not listen to what they are saying.

POD

I never understood how someone should be able to not listen if someone is talking right next to you, or is talking rather loudly.

POD. I sometimes feel like saying, "I have ears you know."