When I was 18yo I had to spend the night in a jail cell with just me and one other person.
A person mind you, that was quite obviously unstable and felt the need to tell me every single piece of minutia of his days in Vietnam. And I got the very uneasy sense that if I didn’t pay attention to what he was saying, he might very well be inclined to snap my neck in my sleep.
Both annoying AND terrifying.
Medical practices may be getting some income from whoever provides these “educational programs”, seeing that they mostly seem to be prodding you to get a potential condition checked out so that X drug(s) can be prescribed for it.
It annoys the crap out of me too. I was in for a checkup awhile back and trying a form of meditative relaxation in the waiting room so that my blood pressure would be down. It’s hard to do that when the onscreen idiot is yammering about how atrial fibrillation could be setting you up for a fatal stroke unless you take that new super blood thinner.
Surly, you jest?
Maybe he died in an avalanche.
I was at a follow up appointment after an emergency hospitalization. Doctor asked what happened; my wife opened her fat mouth and told about 80% of the story, and largely incorrectly.
I told her to either STFU or go sit in the lobby.
I love my earbuds. I was walking on a local trail. Someone tapped my arm to get my attention. I took one bud out and she asked the time. I told her I didn’t know and replaced the bud. She tapped me again and pointed toward my pocket, asking if my device had the time. I told her the battery had died, replaced the bud and walked off. Awkward.
I share your pain on this one. They’ve got TVs running at my doctor’s office, at my son’s pediatrician’s office, and at my son’s dentist’s office. Thank goodness my dentist and my optometrist haven’t gone with this trend.
This past spring, I’d had to take my mother to GWU hospital. There was a TV running - loudly - in the waiting room my sisters and I were waiting in while my mother was treated.
Since we were the only people there at the time, I went over and looked for a way to adjust the channel and volume. Finding none, I simply unplugged the TV from the power outlet, and my sisters and I could finally talk without having to talk over the damned TV.
Some people complain about there always being a crying baby on a plane, I complain about the non-stop talker. It seems like every flight I get on has someone who latches on to some poor soul and just starts talking about everything. Like the crying baby, they don’t even have to be next to you. Their voice will carry for rows and rows.
As mentioned, thank God for headphones.
nm
Ugh, we had one of these on our last flight. A solo traveler who decided the entire flight was her opportunity to talk to any and everybody around her who would listen. She wasn’t even talking directly to anybody, just broadcasting loudly any thought that came to her head for two hours. And she was 4 rows away from us.
You’d think she’d catch a clue when not a single person engaged her and everyone else stayed silent for the flight.
My wife wanted to tell her “Just because you ‘can’ talk endlessly for the entire flight doesn’t mean you ‘should’.”
I do that simply to change the channel to something other than Fox News.
They have a 12 step program for people who won’t stop talking now. It’s called anonanonanon.
If they’ve got wi-fi on the plane, you can pull up this video from Airplane!* on your phone or tablet, and show it to the offending person.
*Yes, it’s the scene where Ted’s seatmates are committing suicide rather than listen to him any longer. It should get the message across.
ETA: Of course, if that’s too subtle for them, there’s always “Shut Your Fucking Face, Uncle Fucka!” from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
Shut the fuck up, will ya?
Yikes, that Dr’s office thing sounds wretched, I do hope it’s not headed this way!
My PCP has a screen but it displays brief informative, public health type things about shots, etc. interspersed with ‘meet the new nutritionist’, changes to hours, etc. In between these text notices are beautiful photos of beaches, gardens and smiling children! All delivered silently!
Another Dr I visit has a screen which is tuned to CNN, with the volume so low you’d have to go stand right before it to hear any given story. No one seems distracted or bothered.
I have never considered that they could be, or would be, used so obnoxiously!
I repeat, Yikes!
The other day I was in the service place getting the oil changed on my car at 8:30 am, reading a book on my tablet. It was all nice and quiet, and then BLAM! Someone turned on the TV. I looked over at the perpetrator to see him settling in with a nice magazine! WTF! Why did you turn on the TV?
People who always need noise really bother me. Put in some damn headphones and stop it!
Non stop talkers need to be darted and put to sleep for their own good. Like someone else said, they are worse than babies. I feel sorry for the babies and for their mommies, even if it irritates me - they can’t help it and don’t know any other way. Adults should know better.
Worst is my boss is a natterer and I can’t even tell her to STFU. Any thought in her head, comes straight out of her mouth.
I live next door to the personification of Grandpa Simpson. Mention anything, and it turns on a tape recording of a long, rambling, boring, and mostly pointless series of interconnected stories. He’ll ask a question and then disregard your answer, i.e.,
“Have you ever been to San Francisco?” (my wife lived there for 25 years)
“Yes, I used to live there.”
“Well,. . .(insert long, tedious description of some part of the city and how it got its name).”
Even his wife will prompt him with “Get to the point” comments. I can’t imagine being trapped on an airplane with the guy.
Wow, your wife sounds like a real bitch. I hope you slapped her when you got home.
For some reason, our desire to sit quietly and maybe read a book is always trumped by someone else’s desire to engage in pointless chit-chat.
Huh? I usually just say: “sorry, but i don’t feel much like talking, i’d rather read or sit still. I hope you don’t mind?”.