I think I will. I'll see the guy that I call "the most interesting man in the world" at the gym later today. I call him that because he talks so frigging loud, I can only assume that the entire gym wants to know what he has to say. I'm not sure why the entire gym -- and the entire gym two blocks away -- needed to know that two showers in the men's locker room were out of order, but I guess some people wanted to know that. I personally didn't consider it that big a deal, since there are 12 showers in the men's locker room altogether, but I guess this is interesting to some people.

What shall I say? "You were sick the day your parents taught 'indoor voices,' weren't you?" Hmmm...I'll have to give that some thought. "The person you're addressing is right next to you, not on the other side of a busy intersection on the interstate. And I don't think he's deaf either."

Amy,

I know it is not your fault, and I'm being picky, but shouldn't it be "your peace of mind" not "your piece of mind"?

I generally won't make a personal call in public places. If I get a personal call, I'll answer it and generally proceed to an outside place to continue the call.

As far an inside voice -- I have a small permanent hearing loss, in a few ranges, since I was a kid. I know it and try to moderate my volume, but I don't always succeed.

And if the person complaining about the showers is paying for the gym membership, and the establishment didn't know, then he should have notified them using a reasonable voice. But if this is the third or fourth time, then I see no reason not to be upset. It is his money that he isn't getting the full value for. Some things are contextual.

Copy editors. I remember when newspapers used to hire those.

I never thought of it like that before Amy, it's so true! Recently I was at a restaurant catching up with some friends and a mom came in with 2 children approximately 3 and 5. They were literally jumping up and down on the booth, making all kinds of noises and shaking plastic boxes with crayons in them. We couldn't hear each other (plus one friend is deaf in one ear so she has a hard time hearing to begin with). One friend turned and told the mom her children were adorable, but could she please quiet them down a little. Well the mom looked at her like she told her she'd like to bar-b-que them and said "this is a kid friendly restaurant" and turned away. She refused to relieve us of her children's destroying our enjoyment. We had to get up and move to another table, being a small restaurant it helped a little. She never asked her kids to settle down.

A perfect example of "robbing" us of an enjoyable dinner.

I hate when people translate "kid-friendly" to "kids can abuse the adult patrons as they please." As though it were normal child behavior to be a feral beast.

A group of us were in this back room of a restaurant somewhere in the Bay Area. We're all adults, no children present, and we're enjoying ourselves in an adult manner. The beer was flowing freely, the food was good, etc. It was pretty obvious we were all together there, and there was a reason we were all in the back room.

A "family" ( you know the type. We're A Family! Family! Look at us, we're a Family!) walked in and pretty much took a table right in the middle of our group. The little precious animal children started in with the shrieking and throwing and running around stuff.

The Brit in our group had his fill of this in about ten minutes, and in a sonorous voice elevated about 1.5x over a normal volume stated:

"There's nothing worse than waking up with your face frozen to the sidewalk in a puddle of your own vomit."

Precious family departed soon after.

Great story, Steve!

Ug. I've had to switch my order to "to go" many times because Baby A was misbehaving at "family friendly" restaurants. The crayons and kids menus don't mean you should let your little demons ruin everyone else's dinner. Plus, at home it's a lot easier to put her in time-out when she misbehaves (or ignore tantrums, thus rendering them ineffective.)

*I took copy editing in college. Obviously, I made a "C."*

Yes, if they thought about the situation, perhaps they would take a different course of action. But I don't think people like this ever think about the situation, ever think about how other people might feel.

And while I'm not saying they shouldn't be reprimanded -- more power to Amy and anyone else who does that -- I suspect that's not going to end up fundamentally changing their behavior.

Because my offtopic tweet-links are a source of tremendous pleasure for so many here, this is a little something special for your weekend.

(Who knew?)

I go to the local renaissance festival. I consider it fun for the whole family. But there are "pubs" and acts in the pubs that are wholly inappropriate for children to hear.

The entertainers warn the parents beforehand. I have seen more than once them sing something along the line of "A translator is what she wished for. A cunning linguist is what she got." The kids turn to the parents for an explanation; the parents say "Never mind," and depart the area.

There is enough other things for the kids to see and do, that they shouldn't be hanging in the pubs.