I am all for fighting the neatly labeled boxes that society tries to fit us all into. There is no reason for us all to be the same. However, I do believe in simple social rules regarding respect for others.
For instance, I am sitting in the waiting area while Athena is in her OT group and am witnessing some of the most oblivious and rude asssholes I have seen in a waiting room.
I admit it is rude for me to take a picture...even more so that I accidentally left the flash on... whoops.
Anyway, they are both engaged in their phones which is not a problem...if they were quietly engaged in their phones. Instead, the gentleman (term used loosely...in fact, let's call him the dude) has his headphones so loud that I am recognizing the guitar riffs of ACDC. He is also air mouthing the words, head banging, and loudly announcing his frustrations with various games on his phone.
Perhaps I could send him a life in Candy Crush in exchange for his mouth to shut.
But the wife. So much worse. She is audibly singing "All About That Bass" (with some wrong lyrics I might add) and loudly cackling at her phone. Then she kicks her husband in the shin and tells him to watch the video or look at what she wants for Christmas. Then they view together (so politely in her headphones) as we all continue to listen to his mad jams. Then they laugh loudly and pound on the chair or the wall while making that horrible nose laugh. You know, the mix of possible snot rocket and Mr Ed...that noise.
And did I mention that she is doing all this while LOUDLY CHOMPING on her gum.
Now they are loudly bitching about other people harassing them and how rude their daughter (who is sitting right next to them) is because she was chewing on a pen.
And of course the waiting room is a perfect place for a family sing-a-long of "Spider Pig" and a heated debate over whether the name changes to Harry Plopper or Harry Porker. The first one is correct by the way.
What happened to reading a book, working on paperwork, or even listening to music or watching a video QUIETLY. It seems this is lost on society in general.
This isn't a library. No one is asking for silence. However, you do not need to be the loudest thing in the room. Which is also something I notice a lot. Why do people need to be the loudest thing in the room when conversing with a person or chatting on their phone?
I understand the need to hear yourself ( which is really hard to do when everyone else in the room is annoyingly loud) but there is no need to yell into your phone about picking up the dry cleaning next week.
Or the need to read a book to your child at extremely amplified volumes.
Athena was only about 2 years old and I took her to the doctor because she was sick. There were two rather rowdy and noisy boys playing and their mother wasn't concerned with their behavior... even when big brother clocked little brother square in the nose with his fist. Another mother made many (loud) comments to her young daughter complimenting her exemplary behavior. She wanted to reward her by reading her a book.
She then read the book to everyone in the room over the ruckus of the rowdy brothers. The receptionist even peered out from behind her desk with a raised eyebrow and asked the boys to settle. They sat down and quietly stared at their shoes feeling (I hope) guilt. But Mother Reading Rainbow maintained her tremendous volume.
I really felt that she was reading loudly to prove to us all that she read to her kid.
It is because nothing is private in this age of technology. Why have a hushed phone conversation to avoid strangers hearing you when you are going to post on Facebook your conversation later? You want Twitter followers to know you read a book to your son and everyone within earshot should know too. Kids post about their bowel movements on social media sites, so why would it feel weird to discuss them loudly at a elementary school choir concert.
And you know you are far to busy to discuss your divorce in private, so your child's karate lesson is perfect. TRUE STORY. It happened.
As much as I love social media, there really are times when it is appropriate and when it is not. There are also subjects that are appropriate to discuss on social media...and for the record, Kim Kardashian's photo shopped ass is not one of them.
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