Apparently it's rude to look at someone else's newspaper?

[bluepixystix]

Weird thing happened on the metro today. I sat down next to a woman who was reading a newspaper. I looked over and saw a picture of President Obama and some other guy and there was a quote - sooo I tilted my head a bit to read the quote better. Nothing wrong with that, right

Comments

[anonymous]

the woman probably felt you were in her space. personally that would not bother me. this woman definitely over reacted and acted rudely towards you.

[bluepixystix]

Thanks. Yeah, I thought of the space-invasion thing, but I didn't lean into her space at all - all I did was turn my head! Weird...

[tbraves24]

I've heard that it's generally considered rude to read over someone's shoulder (although I'm guilty of doing it all the time anyway, lol), but I don't think there should be any problem with simply glancing at a quote on a part of the newspaper she's not even reading at the moment. It probably was the space-invasion thing that caused her to react that way though...even if you weren't physically getting in her space, some people can sense you looking at something in their space and it makes them uncomfortable. I do think she overreacted though, especially since you apologized and explained what you were doing! At that point, she should have just showed or read you the quote and then asked you nicely not to read her newspaper if it was bothering her that much!

[katranna]

Yeahhhhh, sorry, what you were doing was pretty rude. Social protocol holds that you don't go into another person's personal space or read over their shoulder or in any way look over into what they're privately reading. I'd be pissed off if a stranger did that to me, too.

[brentwinsatlife]

I'd be a little irritated if I were her, too. I wouldn't want someone to be reading over my shoulder. That said, I "sneak a peek" at other peoples' newspapers sometimes, being sure not to make it obvious.