Cell phones on the train

Had I not been joining a friend I would have stayed on the train to hear the end of the conversation on the cell phone two seats ahead of me.

A man with an American accent was saying things like, ‘Stop…I thought we agreed we’d decide in another two months…that isn’t fair…listen to what you are saying…we agreed we would decide together…can’t we have dinner and discuss it…I do appreciate your research…but that would cost double what we agreed…’ His tone was soft as if he were trying to be reasonable, but really wanted to yell. Sadly I couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation.

At the same time the man in the seat across the aisle was working on a spreadsheet on his laptop. He kept getting phone calls. He spoke American English and Vaudoise-accented French so his nationality was impossible to guess. He talked of les reunions et les contracts but it was okay to do it tomorrow, mais il a pensé ce n’est pas necessaire. Sadly his words sometimes drowned out the conversation of the distressed other man.

When I rested my head on the window I could see the hand of the man who was trying to convince the girl of something. He waved it back and forth to make his points as the train pulled into my stop. I did get off, but I’ll never know what happened. The problem with cell phones so much isn’t that the conversations are intrusive, but that you don’t get the end of a good story. It can be like leaving a good movie before the end.