Eavesdropping is rude, and I do my best not to listen. But what is a working driver to do when people insist on using the phone within earshot? Towncars aren't equipped with a compartment divider like the stretched limos, so as much as I try to tune out, it's sometimes beyond me.
The secret is that customer phone calls often keep me awake. Even our airport trips are at least an hour one-way, so accidentally overheard private conversations alleviate the hypnotic effect of the freeway. It's a safety enhancer, right?
This morning's job is a case in point. The 4:30 am pickup was in a nice gated community, the likes of which Florida is infested - fancy golf-course, large lots, big houses, families. I know this family; thankfully they're normal.
Except this morning. When the front door finally opened at 4:45 am, I heard raised voices. An argument? Before sunup? Who has the energy?
One of the daughters was returning to college. Her mother was at her, talking overly loudly, clearly agitated. The father looked harried, still half asleep, appearing to need a stiff drink.
With the usual "Oh, I forgot my....." rush back inside, we left at 4:55, to the sound of Miss texting furiously in the back seat. Interesting, I thought, to whom is she texting at that time? Not her college room-mate, I'd guess.
After about ten minutes, she called her mother, and here's what I learned from the conversation over the next forty minutes:
- she attended college in a distant state
- she'd acquired a boyfriend eight months ago, of whom the parents disapproved
- parents had predicted it would end badly
- this last weekend, parents flew to see daughter
- they didn't tell her they were coming
- they arrived on her doorstep with the intention of having her ditch the b/f
- that didn't go so well
- the three of them returned to Florida
- it was a tense weekend
- the parents wanted to tell the b/f directly he was no longer welcome to date their daughter
- daughter thought this was an over-reaction
- daughter wanted to break-up her own way
- parents weren't convinced
- daughter now tired of parents "controlling every damn thing in my life"
- she won't have time to see the b/f this semester anyway
Thank goodness for family drama. My driving was particularly alert and smooth this morning.
Early cellphone photo from here [link]
2 comments:
Juicy story, glad for the eaves dropped.
The car phone pic is cool.
Hey guys. Yeah, isn't that photo cool? Who would have thought folks had the idea for mobile phones in the 1920s? Shows that our imaginations run way ahead of the hardware. I keep thinking there's a market for retro-style mobile phones, but the entire back seat filled with valves and antennas might be a bit over the top :-)
Ken, I know. The things I've heard would fill a blog for years.
Don, the kid was fine. It was the parents (mostly the mother) who were over-the-top with this. It wasn't like the daughter was a stoner moron, she was taking pre-law on weekends and classes all during the week. At some point the folks will have to let their twenty-year-old baby free and let her make mistakes.
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