I Can no Longer Tell Who is Crazy
I fondly remember the days when one could amble past a person speaking to themselves on the street and be certain, beyond any reasonable doubt, that said person was suffering from some sort of metal illnesses. I don't intend any disrespect to such folk. In fact, after so many years in Toronto, I am accustomed to the diversity of the population, which includes people talking to themselves in public. (Or, perhaps they are talking to God or the spirits or aliens? I am not sure).
I also became accustomed to that bag lady in the Annex, now long gone, The Penny Man near Bloor and Madison. You must remember his refrain: "even a penny will do." Where did he go? I also recall a rather articulate homeless man who hung out just west of Bloor and Spadina. I think his name was Giles? But, I am straying from my point.
The first time I saw someone walking down the street with some sort of wireless bluetooth headset linked to a cell phone, I thought he was crazy. Here we had a well-dressed man with a business suit, briefcase, nice hair cut (not as nice as mine, but nice), and he was muttering to himself, something about the stock market. And then I noticed a little ear piece and it all made sense to me. The old headsets were more obvious. A microphone wrapped partly around the face, and there could be no mistaking that it was connected to a cell phone. I still can't get used to these people on their bluetooth headsets because they look CRAZY!
Yesterday, I was confounded by a person at Spadina and Harbord. At first, I thought the woman was speaking to her god and then I thought, no, she must have a headset under her hat and then I thought, no way, she sounds loopy and then there was a bit of coherence. The longer she talked, the more confused I became. Is she or isn't she, I mused. Finally, she uttered the name of George Bush as a potential saviour of Canada - and, yes, I wondered which George she meant - but by that time I had my answer.
As I cycled away, it occurred to me that if we handed out fake bluetooth headsets to all of the self-talkers out there, maybe society would be more accepting of them?
10 comments:
So they would come out of the crazy category to be put into the asshole category.
Maybe that's just me, but those things annoy me to no end. People talking obnoxiously on cell phones that I can see also annoy me, though.
Yeah, I guess you are right on that one...
We dont own a cell phone of our own. His work pays for the one we have. And we dont use it unless we right down have to. But I know what you mean. I have seen people like that here. Esp driving down the street and it looks like they are talking to themselves.
There's also a podcaster trick, in that you pretend to talk into your phone while you're really talking into your microphone(this when you're out and about with a small portable recorder), so you can record in public without people A. knowing you're recording; or, B. thinking you're a loon.
I've pretty much decided that everyone is nuts, these days. It's just a matter of where on the spectrum they fall.
The only time I find cell phones the least bit amusing is when the person doesn't realize that their speakerphone is on.
They're carefully choosing their words, so the rest of us won't understand the conversation, while we're listening to both sides of their inane conversation!
I have a friend who has a fake cellphone so he can pretend to be hip. He also has fake cigarettes, in different lengths. Har!
Mr Anchovy: now that's so bizarre it's cool.
What can I say? They makes playing 'Spot The Loon' far more interesting.
That's sort of like people seeming to talk to themselves in the restroom, but really they're on the phone.
Yes, Liz, I have heard that too :-( It's all very troubling.
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