Christian is sick...and annoying

So here I am, riding home on the bus after a long week of work. I just want to close my eyes and catch a nap like I and others typically do on the long ride.

But today, naps were pretty much ruled out by a guy named Christian.

Now I've never met Christian before, and never spoke with him directly. I wouldn't have noticed him much less learned his name except for the fact that he kept either making calls or taking them on his cell phone.

Granted, people talk on their phones on buses all the time. They aren't even deterred by signs like those posted on our bus reminding riders that these are "quiet buses" where cell phone use is discouraged. But then again, most people talk quietly, whispering into their phones or at least talking in a low, quiet voice.

But not Christian. Nope, this lout had to shout at his phone like he was talking to someone several seats away from him. And he did this pretty much continuously during the trip, earning scowls and stares from several other passengers. But because Christian valued his loud, casual conversations more than he did the right of others to relax, we were all treated to his conversations, which babbled on about bike riding, and grocery shopping (he just bought eggs and rice...white rice, because he can't eat brown rice) and his diarrhea problem, which was better today but still a problem.

You see, Christian has colitis. He just had a colonoscopy, in fact. And half the riders on the Loudon Transit LC 20E bus heard all about it when he was talking to friends like "Charlie", whose name he yelled out so loudly, waking me and at least one other rider from our slumber.

You know, it takes so little effort to be courteous of others. And it's not like it's hard to talk quietly to your phone instead of shouting at it like you're rooting for the Steelers. But Christian apparently wasn't concerned with being inconsiderate so he didn't even make a token effort to ensure that the rest of us weren't repeatedly disturbed during the hour and a half that we were forced to suffer his obnoxious presence. But consideration for others requires intelligence, and if Christian actually had any of that, he wouldn't have loudly given his phone number out to one of the people he was talking to / shouting at.

His number is 1-540-270-9235. I wrote it down the second time that he gave it out.

So if any of you have any advice about common courtesy or suggestions as to what he can do about his diarrhea, feel free to give him a call. Let him know that while I'm less than sympathetic to his plight, Lagniappe at least feels his pain.