Today for my first official post I am going to talk about public manners, and why they are so important. As a rider of the public transportation system (DC Metro) I frequently notice (or am forced to endure) peoples inability to act like well educated human beings that are the product of 4 billion years of evolutionary success. I will be posting a series of these within the next month (hopefully) and to give you a little insight into what it is like to ride the metro twice a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks out of the year. Let us begin..
I don't think some people have quite a grasp on what a cell phone is and how you work it. When you talk on your cell phone, you are not enclosed in a private sound proof bubble. Unless you are whispering (which I actually try to do so as to not disturb everyone around me) then everyone near you will hear your conversation, and lets be honest here, you always eavesdrop on other peoples conversations. However, if you are in an enclosed space, lets say, a store or a metro car, and you are yelling, everyone can hear you, is listening, and everyone is judging. That's just human nature, it's what we do. Recently I was on a metro car on the orange line and a woman gets on the train yelling. At first I thought she was deranged (as you so often see on public transportation) but it turns out she had a bluetooth head set and was yelling at someone on the other end. A lot of F-bombs and N-bombs were dropped. From what I heard on my side of the conversation, someone came over to her house talking crap about her father and she jumped on him and beat the hell out of him (because, you know, that is the most socially acceptable response) and she was arrested. She was also talking about a job she was going to interview for the government to whom I assume was her mother because she kept calling her "mom." And I honestly wouldn't be shocked if they hired her, since they only hire the best of the best. I've also overheard conversations like "yeah gurl I went to the doctor, he said it wasn't herpes, so they took a sample," yeah, I threw up in my mouth, and I bet you just did too.
My all-time favorite example of this takes me back to Borders when "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" had just gained a lot of national attention and it was #1 on the best sellers list. So a woman who is walking through the store on her phone says "OMG have you read 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?!'" and I assume that the person on the other line said no because she goes into telling her what the book's premise was. She then said "Well, are you going to read it? I can just tell you what happens." At that point my ears perked right up because if this woman was stupid enough to summarize the entire book while standing in the middle of a BOOKSTORE yacking on her phone. She wasn't by any means being discreet and keeping her volume to a minimum, nope, she was talking like the person was sitting across a very noisy table from her. I thought to my self "she isn't that stupid. Would someone really do that?" Well, she did. She started off by doing a recap of what she already told her but then started to go into detail about tons of things that are surprises in the book, including how it ends. So now someone who was actually holding the book and standing next to her put the book back (right in front of her) and calmly walked out of the store. Thankfully I had already read the book, but if I hadn't I would be beyond furious with this person. They ruined an international best seller, and cost me a sale. Flipping idiot.
I also find it such a fail that public transportation has to put up signs that specifically say that there is no spitting on the trains or the buses. Apparently, some people were raised in the wild and feel that it's okay to spit wherever they wish. Remember: it usually isn't a rule unless someone is stupid enough to not know the difference between right and wrong. I've stood next to vomit on a train, which let me tell you, is just the bees knees. I just don't understand people. If you really have to be told that spitting on the train is unacceptable, you probably shouldn't ride the train leave your house. And spitting in public is just unacceptable to me. I don't know how many times I have been walking down the street and seen someone 'hock a loogie' and spit, right there, right in my direct path of travel. Spitting in public where people can see you is just disgusting. I understand if you are with your bros and hanging out and what not in someones backyard, but if you are in a crowded metro platform or sitting outside in a public place with lots of people around, it is just unacceptable. Please, carry a little mini thing of tissues for these occasions.
This last one (for now) is probably the one that annoys me the most. I don't know how many times I have found myself in Target or Walmart (wearing my best pajamas of course) and I'm browsing in an aisle only to have my ears assaulted by some teenage jackass who decides that it is okay to blast his terrible underground rap music from his phone speakers. Hearing the P word, the N bomb, and the F bomb dropped as every other "lyric" is really just a crime of living. Seriously, is that music the best representation of you as a person? Are you going to go smack around some hoes and put a bullet in their chest? I'm going to go with "what is no?" for $2,000 Alex. My favorite thing about most of these are teenagers and you can tell by looking at their clothing and the area you're in that they grew up in a mcmansion, with happily married parents, a dog, and two younger siblings. These are the kinds of kids who's only exposure to guns is from playing Battlefield 3 on their new X-Box in their game room in the basement of their parents 3,500 square foot house. This kind of stuff infuriates me. I've lived in Baltimore City, I've work on projects in 'da projects' (some for school and some for an internship), and let me tell you, those little punk-ass kids would last about 30 seconds before someone came up, held them at gunpoint, and stole their brand new Rockawear jacket and their limited edition Jordans. So now this little snippet of my blog has turned to my hatred for these teens who think they are hardcore, because I really really can't stand them. Lets do this: I challenge you to locate one of these people next time you are in public (they aren't hard to spot, or hear) and size them up. Are they wearing the newest, latest and greatest fashions? Have the newest Droid or iPhone? I'll bet money the answer is yes, but be careful, these kids will "pop a cap in your ass," if they can first figure out what that means.
This concludes my session on pubic manners for now, I have many, many more.
P.S. - I will be doing a bulk of my writing at home and then proofreading and uploading at work on my break. So if you see something added around noon on a weekday, it's because I'm at lunch, not because I'm not doing work. I work my ass off.
xoxo
