A little backstory. The Kunilou princess has been battling obsessive-compulsive disorder since she was 10. Recently, her doctor tried putting her on medication.
Yesterday, between classes, she was standing at a crosswalk, talking to one of her friends about the new medication, what it was supposed to do, etc. A woman standing nearby turned to her and said “I’d think you’d be able to handle that on your own.”
Shocked, the princess looked at her and managed only to say “Apparently not.”
Although she joked about it later, and although I know saying something in a public setting is almost begging to make an audience-participation game, I thought this was beyond the bounds.
Any experiences with anonymous bystanders who decided to join in your private conversations? What did you do?
For most conversations, it wouldn’t bother me for a stranger to barge in. They might even say something useful. For a truly private conversation, though, I’d act a little twitchy while I told her, “You’ve waded into a private area, dear lady. Now, I’ll have to paint you red. Give me your address, and I’ll come by later.” Then, pawing at the airspace above my shoulder, “Get…offa…me!”
Not to me, but to a friend of mine. We’d been on a month long extended camping trip, and had decided to hit town one night for drinks and dinner. She took the opportunity to call her boyfriend on an outdoor pay phone. I was standing not too far away, when I saw another woman walk up behind my friend and wait for the pay phone.
Friend notices after a minute or two, and turns around and says “I’m going to be a while, but I noticed there were more phones down that way” and gestures to the bank of pay phones a few yards down the block. Other woman just kind of looks at her with an unhappy look on her face, and keeps waiting.
A minute or two later waiting woman interrupts my friend and basically tells her it’s been long enough, she needs to get off the phone. Friend comes right back and says “I’m going to be a while, and I told you that. There’s more phone right there!” and points again. Woman starts arguing. Friend tries to be nice, but ultimately turns her back on the woman. Woman reaches around my friend, takes the phone, and hangs it up.
I thought my friend was going to backhand her. As it was, they got into a HUGE screaming argument there on the street.
I could see it if it had been the only phone around, but really, it was a crowded urban area, there were easily 2-3 other empty phones that I could see within a half a block. (This was in 1991, pre-ubiquitous cell phones, most urban areas were briming with pay phones.)
Out of curiosity, Athena, do you happen to know if this (mind-bogglingly rude) person expecting a call to come in on that phone? That’s the only reasonable excuse I can think of for needing that phone and that phone only. Not that it really matters…rude is rude, and if that were the case, the woman should have explained the situation.
My fantasy-world reaction would’ve been to rip the receiver off the phone itself, hand it to her, and say “All yours, bitch”.
