May 19 2009
Hero In A Teacup
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, the Nokia tune, some hip hop gansta rap, a new and different version of the irritating crazy frog noise, some Take That, a string of polyphonic peals – with all of these the kid was quickly trying the patience of my fellow passengers.
I was ok with it. Any other morning and I would have been quietly mumbling death wishes on the boy, along with everyone else, but this morning I was content to watch the stress and distress on their faces, the withering glances from the old woman in the corner (that went completely unnoticed), the audible sighs (audible to everyone except the kid who was completely engrossed in his collection of ringtones) and the subtle glances at each other, acknowledging their shared hell.
Then, completely out of the blue, one man who before this seemed not to mind the noise at all, grabbed the phone from the teen’s hand and slid it along the floor of the train, halfway up the carriage. The youth got such a fright and he was about to give out to the man until he saw his immense size. The kid grabbed his bag and went off in search of his phone – he did not return to his seat. Nor did he return to his self conducted symphony.
The smiling faces on my fellow passengers faces and the gratified tap on the shoulder of the phone thrower has set me up for the day.
Funny stuff. Nice one Darren!
Bah hah fair play to that guy. Really is one of the most irritating things ever!
I am convinced that someone is going to kill one of those kids on my train someday – now that will be a blog post. Commuters are just a little craazed.
@Jennifer Thanks. I just say what I see.
@Dreamer I think if that guy hadn’t done something, one of the other passengers would have slapped the kid.
@Lottie Please do not end up in prison because of some kid and his ringtone.
Seriously. Not one person just asked the kid to just stop??
As you said he was engrossed in what he was doing oblivious to everyone else. I find it hugely grating too but really… an adult man resorting to stealing his phone and chucking it away instead of speaking to him? Hero my eye.
I do like your DART stories though 🙂
@Whoopsadaisy I think generally I’d be the one to nudge the kid to say stop, but I was finding the whole thing very amusing. I can see how they all found it so annoying – they were subtly tutting and throwing glances, but ultimately the kid was oblivious. The man – yeah – wouldn’t want to cross him.
Also, when I say ‘kid’, he was about 14/15. Should know better.
Oh, and thank you for reading. 🙂
I got really mad reading that story.
Brave man grabbing the phone off him and humiliating him in front of the whole train. Plus a bunch of passive aggressive adults delighted with him for doing it.
Why not just tell him to stop? If he was that big in stature I’m sure the young lad would have stopped. A lot of people on the DART are just like sheep.
R, well, I just found it all very amusing. Yeah, the man went too far – bizarrely he seemed completely unaffected by the noise until the second he snapped. People are strange – and I love to watch them.
The man sounds like myself actually..
Everyone has a “breaking point” as such.
I can be very calm and collected, especially in a tension-filled environment.
Like when you stretch a spring. It will only go so far before it loses its shape..
@Dermo I want to know your breaking point. I bet I could push you over. I have a skill for pushing peoples buttons. Mwahahaha…
Yeah you do you evil, evil individual.
Is pretty funny though…=D