I Don't Understand It
It’s been a while since I had a rant, but I’m afraid that I am going to subject you to one this week.
I never cease to be amazed and sometimes embarrassed by the way some people behave in public. I don’t know whether their behaviour is because they think that they are superior to everyone else, want to be the centre of attraction, show off, want other people to hear their conversations, or are just plain stupid? Note the undertones of grumpy old man.
The other day, I was sitting quietly in the foyer/reception area of an hotel having a drink, when a woman arrived, glass of wine in hand, who then sat down no more than 10 feet from me, and decided that in her view, it was appropriate to start a video call on her phone with someone who was either a friend or a family member, and in a very loud voice.
In the course of the next 30 minutes, I had learnt the following:
While they were on holiday in Malta, her husbands father had passed away in the UK and that the coroner had to be involved because it was an unexpected death, and it was going to take a long time because there is a shortage of coroners in the UK at the moment.
Her husband was currently in the hotel room trying to book them a place in the airport lounge for their flight home.
She was going to have to travel back to the UK in a fur coat and boots, because that was what she had been wearing when she arrived in Malta a week ago, and was going to feel silly because the weather in Malta had been so warm.
Was thinking of going on strike and discussed whether she and her friend/family member were also going to go on the picket line. It seemed, from the conversation that I heard, that they were both nurses.
I heard numerous remarks from the woman of, ‘I’m in the bar’, or ‘I can’t hear you’, ‘you’re breaking up’, and at one point, she even went to the bar to get another glass of wine, and was still on her video call.
I really don’t understand why hotels don’t have some sort of policy to restrict this sort of behaviour. If the call was that important, then I’m sure that this woman could have easily gone outside to have the conversation, or even better, had it in the privacy of her hotel room, where she could still have had her glass/es of wine. Am living in a different era or just being unreasonable? Is it fair that other people have to listen to these conversations when all they probably want to do is sit and have a drink with some peace and quiet?
I think that the mobile phone is to blame for all this, because it’s far too easy to pick it up and contact someone without any regard for others. Yes, I have a mobile phone, as I am sure you do, but I would never think of having a video call or even calling someone in a public place. I would either go outside if it was that important, or wait until I got back home. So if you are guilty of this and really have the need to go on speaker phone, or video call, then please can you try to have some consideration for other people who aren’t particularly interested in listening to your conversation.
Rant over.
Sign of the week
Can you work this out?