On Public, Private and Another Story About the Bus
What possesses some people to air some of their most personal business in public?
Today on the bus, a man was talking to his wife on the phone. By the end of the conversation he informed her that he would be calling his lawyer to have divorce papers drawn up. There must have been a response, for he ended with a curt “I’m sorry too.”
Prior to the click of his flip phone closing, there was a lot of talk about a new job, a new place to live and moving to San Diego. He was not happy with her decision to move farther from his work. He wanted to relocate to San Diego. She was being unreasonable. Her decisions did not work for him. Thus, he wanted a divorce.
And I know all of this because I happened to be on the same bus as him.
It’s sad. There seem to be no distinction between public and private any longer. I hear things on the bus every day that I can not believe are coming out of people’s mouths. It seems no one has any shame any longer. Anything is up for grabs. Nothing is sacred.
I sometimes talk on the phone while riding the bus. I prefer not to, but it is not a hard and fast rule. But I would never consider ending a relationship over the phone while riding the bus. There are just some things that are better kept at home.
Or at least better kept off the bus.
But Vince, you must admit, he provided great entertainment for you. Otherwise, you’d just be staring out of the window.
I have to admit…I like to overhear juicy bits of people’s private lives on public transporation.
I blame it on the talk shows; Springer, Povich, and their ilk.
When people see “lesbian nuns on crack cocaine” or whatever freak show in on that day, it becomes a “monkey see-monkey do” kind of culture…
Now I like a good family fist fight in public, that’s what i like!
Lynne Truss has a great chapter on the paradoxically expanding and contracting personal bubble in “Talk to the Hand.”