The Age of Etiquette

[smokingboot]

I have never really felt the age gap between me and the yoofuvtuday until a conversation via cellphone with a fine example of friendly twentyonedom. I could hear him wandering around his house, doors closing etc, all the usual...and then the strangely familiar sound of fluid tinkling against a ceramic surface. I gasped and nearly dropped the phone.

Chum: Anyway, the point is she took it really seriously and told -
Boot: Um, excuse me, are you, uh, in the toilet?
Chum: Yes,I'm just -
Boot; Only you can call me back after you've finished...
Chum: Don't be daft, I'm only having a wee, I've finished now.

(Boot listens and hears neither the sound of taps, nor flush, nor the sound of a door closing)

Boot: Are you still there?
Chum: Yes, I'm just sitting down.
Boot: Sitting down? Are you taking a, I mean are you -
Chum: No, not yet. I'm not ready.

I rang off, gabbling something down the phone.

Now I find myself staring at my mobile as I realise that this conversation, shocking to me, would have outright killed my mother. And to then compound the matter by recording it on lj (even supposing the upkeep of a public diary wasn't extraordinarily vulgar) would have had her twirling in her coffin like a parish tombola.

Ladies and Gentlemen; prepare to face extinction.

Comments

[ed-fortune.livejournal.com]

That's not an age gap thing, as I've encountered a similar thing when I was younger. It's a 'they are a freak' thing.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

but he seemed so nice in every other way!

[ed-fortune.livejournal.com]

Surely you've been hanging round lrpers long enough to realise that they can be perfctly lovely and also screaming freaks at the same time.

It's more inconsiderate than anything else. They are certain things I do not want to even think about my friends doing, never mind over-hear. Mind you, maybe it's just exhibitionism, even unconcious exhibitionism.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I hold the opinion that individuals should as far as practical, and excepting accidents, take care to protect other people from deliberate and excessive acts of metabolism.

[squeezypaws.livejournal.com]

..! I don't cope very well when we go to the loo as a group, and friends carry on the conversation through the toilet cubicle partition as we both have a wee. Pray silence ladies!

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Ah, but if they are silent, everyone can hear everything!

I feel that simply going elsewhere and leaving the toiletee to their work is the only answer. One evacuation deserves another,

That didm't come out right.

And neither did that!

I think I'd better stop now.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Well put. Clearly that block you were suffering has thoroughly shifted!

[ravenrigan.livejournal.com]

I draw the line at talking on the phone while someone has a number two. But for some illogical reason (possibly something to do with coming from a family who thought nipping to the bathroom in the buff, leaving the door open and carrying on a conversation while having a wee, (or while in the shower) was a perfectly normal and natural thing to do, I will cheerfully have a tinkle while talking on the phone. In fact I found myself doing it while talking to someone from work the other day, which was a bit ick. Remind me not to do it while talking to you!

Mind you, I have been called an exhibitionist. I'm not sure whether it is exhibitionism, or simply that I don't find it all that embarrassing.

I think its probably more to do with upbringing, and family attitudes to privacy and bodily functions than it is to do with generation.

[semyaza.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree that it's not an age gap thing. A friend of my parents--decades before cell or even cordless phones--had a phone in his bathroom. Dad found it very disconcerting. Multitaskers!

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

Just tell me to shut up next time. *grin*

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

The only person I've ever known do that was over 25 years older than me, so I don't think tis yoofoftoday only.

I can imagine trying to do it surreptitiously when in a hurry and dying of embarrassment if found out though!

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

ah yes, that special temperament of larpers, a combination of exhaustion, adrenalin and alcohol! I understand it in its place - a muddy field near godforsakenville. A later conversation re age and manners with the same chum revealed his surprise at my squeamishness.

'Jesus Christ!' Quoth he 'Glastonbury and Stonehenge, and raves in disused railway tunnels...didn't your generation invent the communal sh*tpit?'

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about phoning me while weeing, if this is something people do then I must get used to it. It's all part of my 'not turning into my mother' training!

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I confess, the idea of a cordless phone in the toilet bodes ill for me, cos if the phone rings and I am nearby, I answer it ; it's like a compulsion.

Some of my best phone conversations occur when I'm in the bath, though recently a friend told me she found it most offputting.

Muflfling the tinkle

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I just don't see how it can be done.

Sponges I suppose,lots of them.

[ravenrigan.livejournal.com]

It's nowhere near as deliberate as that. It's more like getting caught short during a long conversation or someone phoning at an inconvenient moment.

Re: Muflfling the tinkle

[ravenrigan.livejournal.com]

Lots of loo roll, or obsessive kegelcising so you can control the flow.

Sorry, I've lowered the tone again. You may turn into your mother if you wish. (Me I'm turning into my father,my mother is actually quite nice!)

[squeezypaws.livejournal.com]

The last time we shared a trip to a public loo I think I would have been too drunk to worry about it!

Re: Muflfling the tinkle

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I love my mother dearly, but I don't want to turn into her - she's unbelievably neat, delicate, beautiful, perfectly accessorized and crackers!

Turning into Dad's not an option either, cos he's just too nasty.

I'm out of rolemodels!

Re: Muflfling the tinkle

[ravenrigan.livejournal.com]

Sod it darling you will just have to be your lovely self. How awful ;-)

On another note, just finished a long long phone call with delicious amanda P, am trying to seduce her into LJ land, and possibly for the next ravenwing on 21st Feb, to which you are also warmly invited if you are in London.

Would it be cool to all meet up together for girly chat and gossip somewhere on the south bank some time soon. I've arranged t meet her the 27th and go to Giraffe

Methinks the lovely amanda may be feeling a teensy bit down, and would appreciate some warm company, which I for one am more than happy to do for an old chum.

my actual email r4venqueen at gmaildotcom

Hugs
Su

Re: Muflfling the tinkle

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

I would love to join you and Amanda! Will check my dates and get back to you on your private email asap.

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

Just another reason that people + mobile phones = terrible.