Unnecessary Noise (Part 1)
Given the incredible amount of unwanted noise in the world, it always irritates me when people go out of their way to make otherwise quiet activities unnecessarily loud.
I’ve spoken at length on this blog about office workers having shouty meetings and leaving their desk and mobile phones ringing out for minutes at a time, but this post is more about those activites that really have no need for the ridiculous amount of noise that people generate.
The one that annoys me the most, I’d have to say is the unbelievable racket made by baristas in coffee shops. Whether your preference is Starbucks, Costa or the little independant one down the street, the ear-splitting crashing and smashing is just completely uncalled for.
I don’t have any issue at all with the coffee grinder making it’s noise, or the milk frother chugging along in the background as I enjoy my beverage. But what I find intolerable is the way that the baristas handle the cups and plates – crashing them together, throwing them from one place to another, stacking them noisily on the counter and rattling them about while being moved from tables back to behind the counter to be washed.
These coffee shops are already prone to the amplification of loud noises, as they are generally uncarpeted, large rooms with high ceilings. Even small noises echo about the room. I just wish that the people working in them would make some effort to make the environment less of an assault on the ears and more of a pleasant place to enjoy your drink.
This leads me onto the next annoying noise. The general public in restaurants. I remember not so long ago, people in general would make an effort to keep their voices lowered in restaurants. Further to that, people would also exhibit some ability – or even just some attempt – to control their unruly, feral offspring. Not so any more.
No matter what kind of restaurant I attend these days, no matter what the price I’m paying (within reason), I am always bombarded with the kind of screeching and yelling I used to associate with a pub during football matches.
Now, I’m not against people having fun – or going out and chatting with friends over a meal. That’s exactly what I’m attempting to do. But I can’t. Because my friends and I can’t hear each other talk over the (literally) screaming children and their oblivioius parents shouting across 12 inches of table to each other. And Christ, if you enter a restaurant to find a table reserved for a party of any kind, you may as well just walk right back out again. Chances are it’ll be a kids brithday or a hen night, and in either case you’re in for nothing but aural agony.
It seems that every time I come to sum up my posts here, I end up trying to find a different way of saying that I find it extrememly upsetting that the general public don’t have any consideration for others any more. It is again the case with this scenario. If people would just take a moment to consider how their actions are affecting those around them, the world would be a much better place.
Let me put it this way. Please, as the undisputed King of the Internets Wil Wheaton, very often says … Don’t Be A Dick.
MisterShouty 