Dreamrail

Number Three
Noise - When Did It Become Allowed????


So, I’m walking through a parking lot to a restaurant, and a horn sounds behind me. I turn to look; it must be somebody I know.

Sound familiar?

When a horn honked it used to mean, ‘hey!’ Either somebody was saying ‘hello’ or ‘look out!’ or ‘wake up jerk.’ No matter what they meant, it was a call out – it was a ‘hey!’

I guess it’s still a ‘hey.’ Hey, I’m locking my car and have one of these remote gadgets on my keychain that allows me to do it without actually going to all the trouble of putting my key in the slot. Too bad it makes noise.

No problem. My real question is what will we do now to warn somebody? I’m going to stop looking when a horn sounds. It’s just somebody locking their car. Bam! I get hit in the ass, because I didn’t look.

When did all this noise become ok with everybody? I finally get to the restaurant and sit down, getting comfortable and a phone rings. It’s a normal ring style, so everybody rummages through their pocket, their purse, the diaper bag looking for a phone. Five people flip them open and say ‘hello.’ It wasn’t for them.

Well, it was for one of them and she talked like she was in a wind tunnel – ‘Speak up!! I can’t hear a word!! Must be a bad connection!!’ Must be a dumb ass in a metal roofed building. Give it up.

A song starts playing. It’s not a good song, not one from the oldies station. It’s the Superman theme or Star Wars or Rocky or something like that. This time two people go through their purse, pocket or that handy diaper bag, flip their phones open and one is disappointed.

“Hello! No, speak up!!”

“Tin roof, jerk.” Wait, I said that out loud.

Now, I’m back at work and this tech guy comes in my office with a question about the help request I put in. He’s talking along, and all of a sudden I realize he’s no longer talking to me. “Yeah. I can be there in a few minutes. Hey, I’ll call you back.”

What’s up with that? He has one of those tiny phones strapped to his right ear. You can’t even tell when he answers it and shifts his conversation. “Get out of my office with that thing.”

It didn’t ring, didn’t make noise. I shouldn’t complain? I’m complaining about the noise he made in the middle of my conversation.

So……shut up.