The shits!

Continuing on my prior post where I ruminated on something in our everyday modern life that annoys me, I must list *Loudspeakers*. These are not bullhorns, they're what I call people who speak REALLY LOUDLY on their phone, mobile or otherwise, in a public space, usually about some sort of inappropriate topic.

I think the first time I came into contact with one of these was on a bus in Sydney in 2003. Pooey and I endured a girl exclaiming, "OH MY GOD!!!", "I KNOW!!!", "WHAT?! WOW!!!", and so forth for the duration of the trip. Despite a lot of muttering and dirty looks from other passengers, not to mention the sheepish appearance of who I assume to be her boyfriend, she managed to keep it up for the entire 15 minute trip. It made me wonder whether people take note of the volume at which they speak on public transport.

The answer is *no*. I know this for sure because this past weekend I listened as another loudspeaker talked to someone about their relationship woes, then promptly turned around to their friend, and REPEATED the entire story, this time with both sides of the conversation! Incidentally, that boy is useless and they couldn't believe he said that to her.

Of course, it's not always bad. One loudspeaker on the bus spent 30 minutes bitching to her friend about workplace politics (I got the impression she worked in a bank or some sort of financial office). But it was a full bus so the majority of the trip consisted not only of listening to her go on and on, but also various people making incredulous looks at each other to the point that it actually evolved to a number of passengers (myself included) making jokes about what she was discussing to each other. She was still going strong by the time a number of my co-commuters and I disembarked. As one fellow exclaimed as he got off, "Wow! I'd hate to be in an office with her!" And we all slowly trudged away to our respective homes, linked by our bonds of suffering and hatred of loudspeakers.