On my way home from work one day, I'm waiting at the bus when a young lady walks up to join me. Even before I see her, I hear her coming. Yes, she's on her phone, yapping away at whichever friend of hers it is on the other line. She's not talking too loud; but then she's not exactly whispering either.
The bus arrives, we pile in for the almost 30 minute ride to our stop. The whole time she is on her phone. If you're sitting about two rows away, you'll still be able to make out what she's saying. And halfway through the ride she's complaining about all the not so good things that have happened to her every day for the past week. If it's not one thing, it's another, she's saying. And could she please, please just have one good day this week?
We get to our stop and walk in the same direction. Actually, we have the same goal - the bus stop for our transfer bus. So as we walk I continue to hear snatches of her phone conversation. The bus arrives yet again, we all get on. By now it's rush hour, so as expected the bus is packed. We're all cheek to jowl with our co-passengers, human sardines packed in a mobile tin can. And though it's hard to find a spot to grab onto, clutch her belongings, all while juggling a phone and managing not to fall on top of the person next to her, amazingly she does it. By now I am a bit awed by her ability to keep up her conversation regardless of whatever else it is she needs to do. And she's still talking about the 'disaster' that happened to her the other day. In a packed vehicle, with someone talking at that volume that everyone in the front of the bus gets to know your business, you expect someone to blow up and shush the offender. In this instance though, Ms. Nonstop Cellphone gets her comeuppance in a much funnier manner. Standing right next to her, right smack next to the side where she's cradling her phone between ear and shoulder, is a young man who decides to have some fun. He starts trying to chat her up, asking for her name, her number, and so on. She keeps rebuffing him, at the same time telling the other person on the line, oh no, not again. Her run of not so good days still continues. People around her are now either smiling or openly chuckling (snickering?) at the whole thing. Then the young man delivers the punch line - did she know why he did what he did? Because she'd been complaining about how rotten her days had been within very audible range of a bunch of strangers. She complains that people are all up in her business, meanwhile, she's putting it all out there for everybody to hear.
So next time you're out in public, and you really don't want other people to know your business, either keep it to an intimate level or just simply shut up.
© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present.
The bus arrives, we pile in for the almost 30 minute ride to our stop. The whole time she is on her phone. If you're sitting about two rows away, you'll still be able to make out what she's saying. And halfway through the ride she's complaining about all the not so good things that have happened to her every day for the past week. If it's not one thing, it's another, she's saying. And could she please, please just have one good day this week?
We get to our stop and walk in the same direction. Actually, we have the same goal - the bus stop for our transfer bus. So as we walk I continue to hear snatches of her phone conversation. The bus arrives yet again, we all get on. By now it's rush hour, so as expected the bus is packed. We're all cheek to jowl with our co-passengers, human sardines packed in a mobile tin can. And though it's hard to find a spot to grab onto, clutch her belongings, all while juggling a phone and managing not to fall on top of the person next to her, amazingly she does it. By now I am a bit awed by her ability to keep up her conversation regardless of whatever else it is she needs to do. And she's still talking about the 'disaster' that happened to her the other day. In a packed vehicle, with someone talking at that volume that everyone in the front of the bus gets to know your business, you expect someone to blow up and shush the offender. In this instance though, Ms. Nonstop Cellphone gets her comeuppance in a much funnier manner. Standing right next to her, right smack next to the side where she's cradling her phone between ear and shoulder, is a young man who decides to have some fun. He starts trying to chat her up, asking for her name, her number, and so on. She keeps rebuffing him, at the same time telling the other person on the line, oh no, not again. Her run of not so good days still continues. People around her are now either smiling or openly chuckling (snickering?) at the whole thing. Then the young man delivers the punch line - did she know why he did what he did? Because she'd been complaining about how rotten her days had been within very audible range of a bunch of strangers. She complains that people are all up in her business, meanwhile, she's putting it all out there for everybody to hear.
So next time you're out in public, and you really don't want other people to know your business, either keep it to an intimate level or just simply shut up.
© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present.
