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Okay, I've mentioned this a couple of times, but those people really bother me.
The kind of person I dislike most when I use public transit are those who listen to music from their cellphone without headphones. I don't know if it's a worldwide plague that can be observed in any large city with a decent public transportation network, or if this is some kind of endemic trend that happens to have been thrust upon the City of Lights (aka Paris, France) and its area. But it annoys me to no end, all the same.
My path comes across far too many of those. The latest occurrence of such an encounter was last Sunday, on the bus. I was leaving my parents' place to get back to my own apartment, and prepare to face yet another week at work. Therein come a handful of over-enthusiastic teenage girls - you just know that, had they been English speaking, they would utter the words "like" and "Omigawd" every three seconds. They seat almost right next to me, spewing an incessant flow of uninteresting - at least to me, but I'm willing to bet good money on the fact that the other passengers didn't care much about it either - babble, at quite a loud volume level.
Fortunately, I wasn't unprepared, for I had some earplugs, which I quickly put in my ears, thus muffling - a little - their chattering. I was beginning to doze off, when I was awoken by some music, pulled away from Morpheus' embrace by some singing. I looked up and, not only were those girls listening to some music from a cellphone, but they were also singing along.
There, I have nothing against spontaneity and self-expression, but there are a few things that some people should realize. First of all, it's a cellphone, not a boom box. The speaker was designed to render a voice-like signal, which has a frequency range of 300Hz to 3400Hz. The music you are listening to is very likely to have sounds as low as 50Hz and as high as 15kHz. So, personal musical tastes not withstanding, the music you are listening to does have a crappy sound. It's a matter of physics.
Secondly, you are on a bus. Full of other people. Some may or may not like your music. Some may or may not totally hate your music. Some may or may not hate you because of your music. Because all they wanted was to doze off and let the bus ride them to the Terminal where they would leave. Some may or may not have even more valid reasons to resent your listening to music that loud on the bus.
Thirdly, if you were thinking about applying for the next round of the Star Academy or whatever, please, abandon all hope. Though you have a fairly nice voice and seem to have a grasp of the rhythm of that particular song, you unfortunately suffer from a complete inability to sing in tune, and the resulting sound of the five of you singing together really isn't pleasant.
Also, on a side note, to the one girl who wore the pants stating "la réunions" on its left leg : seriously, if you really were from the Reunion Island, you wouldn't be caught dead wearing something that butchers the name of your home place. Unless, of course, you were illiterate. Which wouldn't be very surprising.
On a further side note, girls, have you actually listened to the lyrics of that song? The singer explicitly objectifies women, as if they were only good for having sex. He's a few words short from actually advocating rape, for God's sake!
The kind of person I dislike most when I use public transit are those who listen to music from their cellphone without headphones. I don't know if it's a worldwide plague that can be observed in any large city with a decent public transportation network, or if this is some kind of endemic trend that happens to have been thrust upon the City of Lights (aka Paris, France) and its area. But it annoys me to no end, all the same.
My path comes across far too many of those. The latest occurrence of such an encounter was last Sunday, on the bus. I was leaving my parents' place to get back to my own apartment, and prepare to face yet another week at work. Therein come a handful of over-enthusiastic teenage girls - you just know that, had they been English speaking, they would utter the words "like" and "Omigawd" every three seconds. They seat almost right next to me, spewing an incessant flow of uninteresting - at least to me, but I'm willing to bet good money on the fact that the other passengers didn't care much about it either - babble, at quite a loud volume level.
Fortunately, I wasn't unprepared, for I had some earplugs, which I quickly put in my ears, thus muffling - a little - their chattering. I was beginning to doze off, when I was awoken by some music, pulled away from Morpheus' embrace by some singing. I looked up and, not only were those girls listening to some music from a cellphone, but they were also singing along.
There, I have nothing against spontaneity and self-expression, but there are a few things that some people should realize. First of all, it's a cellphone, not a boom box. The speaker was designed to render a voice-like signal, which has a frequency range of 300Hz to 3400Hz. The music you are listening to is very likely to have sounds as low as 50Hz and as high as 15kHz. So, personal musical tastes not withstanding, the music you are listening to does have a crappy sound. It's a matter of physics.
Secondly, you are on a bus. Full of other people. Some may or may not like your music. Some may or may not totally hate your music. Some may or may not hate you because of your music. Because all they wanted was to doze off and let the bus ride them to the Terminal where they would leave. Some may or may not have even more valid reasons to resent your listening to music that loud on the bus.
Thirdly, if you were thinking about applying for the next round of the Star Academy or whatever, please, abandon all hope. Though you have a fairly nice voice and seem to have a grasp of the rhythm of that particular song, you unfortunately suffer from a complete inability to sing in tune, and the resulting sound of the five of you singing together really isn't pleasant.
Also, on a side note, to the one girl who wore the pants stating "la réunions" on its left leg : seriously, if you really were from the Reunion Island, you wouldn't be caught dead wearing something that butchers the name of your home place. Unless, of course, you were illiterate. Which wouldn't be very surprising.
On a further side note, girls, have you actually listened to the lyrics of that song? The singer explicitly objectifies women, as if they were only good for having sex. He's a few words short from actually advocating rape, for God's sake!
How did I forget about that scene?
They usually get the message.
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