were you raised in a barn……..

I went for my swim at the YMCA Monday and then I sat in the sauna for a little heat and relaxation .

Another guy came in , a clean-cut looking guy maybe in his mid 40s . He immediately made a phone call . Spoke in a loud voice . I could hear the man on the other end . They were doing some kind of business , trying to arrange for sauna man’s Mercedes Sprinter to be towed somewhere . They were loud .

I like to think of myself as a live-and–let-live kind of a person . I assumed that maybe it was an emergency call . Maybe he had forgotten until just now to make the call . Maybe it had to be done right then . The exaggerated volume was a little irritating , but hey , it won’t go on forever . Patience is a virtue , after all , so I tolerated the noise .

He ended the first call and immediately dialed another number . Again , some kind of a business call . Almost immediately he said , loudly , ” I’m going to put you on speaker .”

Oh , no you’re not , I thought . What the hell ! ” Do your business outside the sauna ! ” I told him . He jumped right up , apologized , and scooted out to a bench outside . I could still hear him he was speaking so loudly , but at least he left and was polite about it .

My question is why it wouldn’t have occurred to this guy that his loud calls were inappropriate in the sauna. He’s no kid , you know . Oh , he quickly responded as soon as I pointed the problem out to him ; but why didn’t it occur to him before that ?

Oh , I had tier two and tier three responses ready in case it hadn’t gone so smoothly . My response if he had shown some resistance was to remind him that the sauna is not a business office . I had expected at least a bit more resistance from the guy . But , no .

Later that day I lay down to take a nap . Just at that moment a loud noise permeated the room . It was some kind of techno style music and it had an especially loud thumping base that almost seemed to shake the walls.

I like to think of myself as a live-and-let-live kind of a guy , so I brushed the noise pollution off for a few minutes . I realized , however, that the loud disruption would go on and on and that I wouldn’t be able to relax and to sleep , so I stepped outside in order to determine from where the noise was coming .

I went back into the house and told Ada that I was going down the street to tell ‘them’ to quiet down . Three houses down and across the street I found a garage door slightly open . The noise was booming out from there . It could be hear all over the neighborhood .

I didn’t know whose house it was . I’d never seen anyone there . I knocked on the garage door and got no response . I went to the front door and knocked there . Oddly , there was no doorbell . I can’t remember any other house without a doorbell . Some of them don’t work , but at least they’re there . No response at the front door . I went back to the garage door and knocked again , much harder this time .

A female voice answered . ” Yes? “

” It’s very loud ,” I said , “especially the base.” That’s all I needed to say .

” Oh , sorry ,” she said , and turned the music down . So I got a quick apology and an appropriate response . Good. My only tier two response in this case would have been to call the police and let them handle it .

Again , though , why did I have to go down the block to tell someone to turn the music to a more appropriate level when it was rattling the entire street ? Her ears must have been in the process of being damaged as she was actually inside the garage at the time .

Well , I know sometimes people have to be told the obvious. I give these two credit for being polite and exhibiting common courtesy . That’s something .

I don’t think that I’d trust them for much else , though. There used to be such a thing as common sense .