Week ending 9/15/07:
"Do you hear yourself?" What use to be the question that moms would ask, I now claim as mine. People on the train continue to hold every imaginable type of cell phone conversation while on board. It doesn't matter how sensitive: business merger, legal, love-lorn and just plain-old angry. Don't they know that others are listening? Rather, can't help but listen because they are talking so loudly! Remember the close-talker from Seinfeld? Jerry should have covered the loud-talker. People can't get it through their head that they don't have to shout when using their cell phone. There was a recent story released about an actual disconnect that occurs between our ears and our mouths when using a device shaped like a cell phone. Apparently, some people really can't distinguish auditory currents, which creates a feedback response that makes the person raise their voice. In any event, too many railers on the railes, prompting the always annoying "can you hear me?" Of course they can hear you, everyone on this train can hear you! A guy this week (who's sitting three rows behind me) is talking to a friend about his recent trip to India. I swear it sounded like he's sitting on my shoulder! No such thing as intimacy, discretion or propriety. Just lay it out there for the world to hear. Scold a spouse, berate a child, humiliate an employee, brag about a conquest or threaten legal action with a business associate. Not that these devil-may-care attitudes are the exclusive purview of the aggressive tyrant. Loud talkers can also include those seeking forgiveness: a plea for leniency over a credit-problem, begging for attention from an apparently not-so-interested former paramour, or a rationalization of an infidelity are all part of the shared dialogue to which I've witnessed. Go ahead, keep on talking. Minutes are free after 7:00PM!
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Sounds of Silence
Week Ending 9/01/07:
When does silence make noise? When riding in the "quiet car." Of course, it's not really silence that's the standard, but rather a "library-like environment, no cell phones, no loud talking and no extended conversations." Most railers who seek the solitude of this rolling retreat (myself included) have the unrealistic expectation that we can take our seat and drift off to napville or focus on our reading assignment in quiet bliss. The irony of these misappropriated thoughts is that sound, no matter how reduced, still seems amplified when made in a relatively silent space. I guess that's why Amtrak has named it the "quiet car" and not the "silent car." Violators of the standing rules can be easily identified, admonished and if necessary, reported to the conductor. Most of the conductors do a pretty good job with enforcement of the policy. More difficult to police are the noisemakers who fall outside the protocol. They don't talk or use their phones, but disturb the peace, nonetheless. Snoring rolls like thunder out of some guys (sorry ladies, percentage-wise, you're still not equal in this department). Computer keyboards on some laptops, when left in the caffeine-fueled nimble digits of the typing-gifted, can sound like a flamenco performance. Tearing a newspaper, persistent smokers- hack, sorting through jumbo purses, the nerve shattering velcro-rip on some briefcases and even the squeaky seats that rattle as we roll adds to the disturbance. I guess expectations just have to be tempered to accommodate this reality. That, or the purchase of a noise-cancelling headset is the ticket.
When does silence make noise? When riding in the "quiet car." Of course, it's not really silence that's the standard, but rather a "library-like environment, no cell phones, no loud talking and no extended conversations." Most railers who seek the solitude of this rolling retreat (myself included) have the unrealistic expectation that we can take our seat and drift off to napville or focus on our reading assignment in quiet bliss. The irony of these misappropriated thoughts is that sound, no matter how reduced, still seems amplified when made in a relatively silent space. I guess that's why Amtrak has named it the "quiet car" and not the "silent car." Violators of the standing rules can be easily identified, admonished and if necessary, reported to the conductor. Most of the conductors do a pretty good job with enforcement of the policy. More difficult to police are the noisemakers who fall outside the protocol. They don't talk or use their phones, but disturb the peace, nonetheless. Snoring rolls like thunder out of some guys (sorry ladies, percentage-wise, you're still not equal in this department). Computer keyboards on some laptops, when left in the caffeine-fueled nimble digits of the typing-gifted, can sound like a flamenco performance. Tearing a newspaper, persistent smokers- hack, sorting through jumbo purses, the nerve shattering velcro-rip on some briefcases and even the squeaky seats that rattle as we roll adds to the disturbance. I guess expectations just have to be tempered to accommodate this reality. That, or the purchase of a noise-cancelling headset is the ticket.
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