There should be some sort of code written for those people who take phone calls in confined spaces.A senior at the University of Georgia was sitting on the bus that takes her across campus from day to day. As she waited patiently for her stop to arrive, an event occurred that made this time on the bus uncomfortable and strange for those surrounding it.

A girl across the aisle from the bus rider answered her phone and began speaking as if she were in her very own bedroom. I am certainly not one who is against answering the phone when there is an obvious silence. However, there should be some sort of discreet nature to these events, a protocol that needs to be taken.

Anyway, the girl began talking and giggling with the other individual as if they were sitting side by side at a luncheon. Then, a conversation piece came up that made the ears of the riders go from hearing a few passing words to all inside the conversation.

This was not a scene that involved whispers. Nor was it a bus that had casual conversation occurring. It was not awkward; it was simply a bus ride. But, this individual decided to allow her peers something better. She gave them the opportunity to feel attached to her conversation and as if this were a one-way group discussion. They made faces and formed opinions that possibly matched that of the caller connected at the ear of this noisily challenged female.

She began describing the events that transpired during the previous night’s voyage through downtown Georgia. The conversation ultimately ended with her telling of how she woke up with coworkers, friends and possibly animals, next to her and she had no idea what had happened.

This conversation and ones similar to it happen on a daily basis. It is some sort of phenomena how people cannot simply be put on hold or saved for a later time and place. I suppose that would be too convenient for those onlookers who thought this bus ride would be like every other bus ride.

This definitely takes the ordinary out of the day.

There are those of us who thoroughly enjoy hearing of others prior twists and turns throughout the night. Then, there are some of us that want to stand up, rip the phone from the person’s hand and throw it through the window in an expression of how disrespectful it is to use an outside voice in an enclosed space.

Others want to run for the hills and begin telling big fish stories of how epic the ride from Astronomy back to their apartment had been, and there are those of us who just sit with a raised eyebrow at how unfortunate it is that this is the highlight of our day.

There are images in my head of an ideal person that so badly does not wish to be apart of forced eavesdropping. He attempts to start up a conversation with his seat neighbor who is obviously listening to a Postal Service song on her iPod and will not be disturbed. So, they scramble through their North Face book bag. Then, attempts to read about the heliocentric and geocentric models and find the obvious differences hold his mental stability for mere moments.

Even he will eventually come back to reality and an understanding that when these conversations are forced upon your ears, you should either listen or get into Postal Service music.

Author