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You see, I currently drive to work each day. It's fantastic. I get to choose my music or radio station. I control the temperature in the vehicle. I even have control over how fast I travel. In fact, for a control freak like me, driving is tops. But the absolute height of my enjoyment when it comes to travelling to my current job, is the fact that I am ALONE. I get up to half an hour, depending on how long it takes to find parking, to myself. I don't have to listen to anyone else's public conversations on their phones. I don't hear some angst-ridden teen's extremely loud goth music through their poor quality ear phones. I don't have to keep up a hood on my jumper to avoid sneeze germs coming from the diseased folks going to the doctor. I get peace, quiet and isolation. The closest I come to being in contact with people when I drive is when some idiot on the road does something stupid and I flip them off. All of that however, is about to change.
I used to ride the bus to school. The very public bus. And I used buses to get around before I could drive independently. And when I head into the city, I catch a bus as well. And whilst it is sometimes great not having to focus on the road, or to worry about the fool in the right hand lane trying to cut me off, I have had far too many bus rides to know this is going to go smoothly.
The lonely old lady desperate for human contact, or the seedy old man staring down my top. Or even the talkative middle aged woman with a lot to say and very little audience. You name them, I've endured their conversations. Bus rides punctuated with random conversations has been my life's story, as others have seen fit to expound upon me their life story. Unwelcomed, by the way.
I've stepped off a bus knowing more about the random Ukranian woman's family than I do my own, having heard about it for forty-five minutes. Each tale has been littered with bits of advice, wholly unsolicited advice, mind you. "Never tell your daughter she was too good for her ex-boyfriend anyway and that he was a directionless loser and she's done well to be rid of him. It could blow up in your face when they get married." Gee, thanks for the advice. I'll keep that in mind, twenty years from now. I've also been instructed to become a doctor. To never do drugs. To stay in school. To avoid hanging out with the "menaces who vandalise fences" and that if I were to ever get a dog, to keep it on a lead. And pick up its poo.
I remember one bus ride where an old man sat next to me, even though there were about ten empty seats, and proceeded to tell me about his childhood, growing up in Maroubra. It was rough, apparently. And apparently, I was supposed to care.
I suppose lonely old people don't bother me as much as the unqualified, but still highly knowledgable pseudo doctors, telling me old wives' remedies to cure all sorts of ills. Or the drunken slobs trying to find their way home after a really messy night. Or the suspected paranoid schizophrenics who scream at everybody around them. But either way, people are too free when it comes to dispensing their unwanted, entirely unsolicited advice on unsuspecting victims like myself.
If I don't ask about it, clearly I don't want to know. If I don't show interest in the conversation, like say for example, I don't acknowledge your existence after you begin talking, I think I've made my point. Going ahead with the conversation seems pointless, no? So please, don't be offended if I walk away mid-conversation. If I put in ear phones and start playing music. If I roll my eyes, sigh repeatedly and look boredly out the window. And for the love of God, don't look so offended when I tell you to quit your blabbering because I've no interest in the crap currently being projected in my direction. I've had it, and trust, you'll hear about it. Whether you want to or not.
If you too have often been a victim of unsolicited advice, especially on public transport, drop us a line. It would be great to hear from you, and let us know what you think.
Jessenia xoxo
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