You know the expression, "You must not get out much."? Compared to some people I guess I don't. I go out every single day but I don't interact face-to-face with all that many people in the general public. Today however, youngest son and I went to the Palatine Public Library.
Both son and I had a number of books to get and as it happened we got there barely an hour before closing time. Son knew what section he wanted to look in but I needed the use of the computer terminals to locate books for the list I carried. It happened that the only terminal I found on the first floor was about 10 feet from the children's section on one side and from a librarian station on the other.
The librarians were chatting and the two women on the other side of my terminal, about 2 feet from me, were chatting as well but they were very animated, laughing, enjoying their conversation as if they were chatting in a coffee shop or standing on a street counter. With acute hearing* I have trouble focusing on keyboard tasks when there's excessive noise, so after a few minutes of hearing. every. single. word. uttered by them both, and looking helplessly to the librarians chatting away obliviously, I loudly cleared my throat.
I waited. If anything, their volume increased. OK, I thought to myself, how to be an adult about this when the adults around me are not exactly acting like they know how adults behave in a library? I cleared my throat again, this time loudly and in a prolonged fashion. I looked at the library station and caught the attention of one of the librarians. With the arm closest to her I made a small gesture towards the two women who were still talking loudly in the library. Then with both hands I made the "two hands talking to one another" sign. A moment or two passed. The women lowered their volume though the woman still at but not using the computer terminal did not attempt to doing anything but converse.
People. I don't miss them.
*Though this is only my theory, I think because I've been legally blind since childhood, my acute hearing is a sort of compensation for it. I have an acute sense of small as well.
@Dan.
True that, Dan.
Posted by: Cyn | February 27, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Sometimes, people can suck.
Posted by: Dan | February 27, 2008 at 09:29 AM