Normally, if something is bothering me, I tend to hold back my emotions. I especially tend to hold back my emotions if I am in a public place. The amount of rudeness I see on a daily basis angers me, but I just keep my mouth shut. Truthfully, if I "confronted" a rude person, he/she would most likely be ruder back to me. What would be the point?
On Friday night, I actually let me emotions (moreso opinion, actually) be heard. Four of us were at a Jason Mraz concert----very low key---- lots of acoustic sets, violins being played, and just a generally "chill" atmosphere. We had lawn seats, which I also refer to as anarchists' domain since "anything goes." People all around us were talking and just not really paying attention to the music. Our friend Michael commented, "It sounds like we're in a cafeteria." Working in a middle school environment for over 10 years, I have a definite conception of what cafeteria noise sounds like and he was absolutely correct.
However, one group of voices was particularly jarring. There were four girls (I say girls because they seemed like they were college-age) who were to the right of us. They just kept talking and talking; they had those voices that I associate with "Valley girls" from 1980s movies---shrilling, with an emphasis on letters like s and k.
The pinnacle of the evening was when I went over to them and uttered the following words: "Hi, um, are you by any chance college students majoring in elementary ed?" (They then quizzically looked at me and said "No.") I then replied, "Ok. You just have these loud and grating voices like elementary school teachers and it is really noticeable. Is there any way you could lower your voices? In fact, you're not singing or anything with the concert. You could walk back to the concrete with your drinks and have the same exact concert experience you are having up here."
Queen bee of the group (with huge Amanda Seyfried-like eyes) says to me, "You know, you don't have to be so rude. You could have said something to us like 45 minutes ago" (although I would have still called their voices loud and grating...so I don't know how the 45 minute timespan would have made a difference). She also said, "Oh, sorry, we'll try to have less fun."
I do admit that calling a groups' voices "loud and grating" could be considered rude, but oh well. I felt proud of myself for saying something, for once. They were okay for the rest of the concert, but they intermittently would all say, "Shhh" in unison. I should have started out with asking them if they were in high school; that's what their behavior suggested to me.
At the end of the show, they tried saying something snarky to me. I just walked on, but my friend got in their faces. It would have been hilarious to go home and say to John, "Um, hon, I got into a fight at the Jason Mraz concert."
On Friday night, I actually let me emotions (moreso opinion, actually) be heard. Four of us were at a Jason Mraz concert----very low key---- lots of acoustic sets, violins being played, and just a generally "chill" atmosphere. We had lawn seats, which I also refer to as anarchists' domain since "anything goes." People all around us were talking and just not really paying attention to the music. Our friend Michael commented, "It sounds like we're in a cafeteria." Working in a middle school environment for over 10 years, I have a definite conception of what cafeteria noise sounds like and he was absolutely correct.
However, one group of voices was particularly jarring. There were four girls (I say girls because they seemed like they were college-age) who were to the right of us. They just kept talking and talking; they had those voices that I associate with "Valley girls" from 1980s movies---shrilling, with an emphasis on letters like s and k.
The pinnacle of the evening was when I went over to them and uttered the following words: "Hi, um, are you by any chance college students majoring in elementary ed?" (They then quizzically looked at me and said "No.") I then replied, "Ok. You just have these loud and grating voices like elementary school teachers and it is really noticeable. Is there any way you could lower your voices? In fact, you're not singing or anything with the concert. You could walk back to the concrete with your drinks and have the same exact concert experience you are having up here."
Queen bee of the group (with huge Amanda Seyfried-like eyes) says to me, "You know, you don't have to be so rude. You could have said something to us like 45 minutes ago" (although I would have still called their voices loud and grating...so I don't know how the 45 minute timespan would have made a difference). She also said, "Oh, sorry, we'll try to have less fun."
I do admit that calling a groups' voices "loud and grating" could be considered rude, but oh well. I felt proud of myself for saying something, for once. They were okay for the rest of the concert, but they intermittently would all say, "Shhh" in unison. I should have started out with asking them if they were in high school; that's what their behavior suggested to me.
At the end of the show, they tried saying something snarky to me. I just walked on, but my friend got in their faces. It would have been hilarious to go home and say to John, "Um, hon, I got into a fight at the Jason Mraz concert."
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