communication

probably my greatest regret in life is I never learnt the bagpipes. Even to play them badly; maybe especially to play them badly.

in the early days of mobile phones they were in the minority. When I was living in Oakleigh you could sense the posse of train commuters without mobile phones could ask a person talking on one to be quiet. One technique was to ask if you were in their office because I don't want to listen to your work on the way to my work. One old man bluntly resorted to yell shut the fuck up every now and then. Then, six months to a year later, came the beginning of the great arrogant assumption. Those without mobile phones were now the minority.

so much has happened since those early days and with the advancement of technology came new and different ways to annoy the crap out of the unsuspecting commuter. Someone listening to music without headphones  - and it's never Pachelbel. Actually, why does it always seem to be really bad hip hop? Someone playing a video game without headphones on and the annoying background music. Once this girl was, I can only assume, breaking up with her boyfriend on the tram, making everyone feel intensely uncomfortable. With no holding back with the volume or the expletives.

but maybe the most annoying and uncomfortable is people discussing the most personal topics - with the speaker phone on. Recently, this woman was discussing a recent medical procedure she had to a friend - on speaker phone. Her attention to detail was second to none. Without me going into detail it was a female surgical procedure and I was girding my loins - and I don't have the equipment! Now I know this person was in the presence of complete strangers, but does this person have no sense of shame or embarrassment? Plus the responses from the person on the other end of the line really sealed the deal in the disgusting department.

it really makes me wonder why anyone would want to behave in such a manner in public, no less.