here today

 

loud talker

One of my co-workers is a loud talker. Actually, everything he does with his mouth is loud. Eating, for example. Is Loud. Eating and talking happen at the same time, too, which is doubly disturbing for anyone sharing the breakroom with him. I try to time my lunches so as to avoid this display of sound and spittle.  Alas, today I got caught in the crossfire. I read the paper and tried not to look at him. I hate the paper. It's local and it's stupid. There's a daily column about cats. There's a weekly column about someone who is in shape and wants to talk about their exercise and diet regime. Both columns have photos and the photos are always out of focus or shot from below to make the in shape people look fat.

Loud Talker sits all alone in a cube in the back because everyone else has moved away. Due to the talking. He even talks to himself when he's not on the phone but he's always on the phone.

Loud Talker - "Hey honey, have you looked in the diaper bag yet?" pause "Well, look in the diaper bag." pause "In the back pocket" pause "Because I love you." pause "No, I love you more" pause "Okay, I'll call later"

and he does. Every hour, he calls his wife and they talk like that. Or he picks up the phone and just pretends to call her. I have my theories.

Loud Talker wants to be my friend because we are both writers. He is working on a screenplay and a novel. He has been to film school in Canada. He loves to talk about movies but doesn't actually  go out to see them so we end up arguing about a movie that he's only read about.

Loud Talker "what'd you think about Eternal Sunshine..." (note the cool way he abbreviates the title)

Me "Loved it"

Loud Talker "I heard it was overrated"

Me "It wasn't"

Loud Talker "I heard that Jim Carrey did a lousy job"

Me (getting sucked in now - happens every time dammit) "But it's his best performance. Except for the scene where he's crying on the beach and the camera is shooting him from above. But I'll give him a few minutes of overacting because he made me cry. And he made me care. And he made me fall in love again with movies"

Loud Talker "I don't think I'll see it"

aeei.

Posted by: 120pages at 12:36 | link | comments |