Most people deal with obnoxiously loud phone talkers in public by silently suffering through the conversation.
One woman decided she had a better idea.
We’ve all been there.
You’re in a public place and someone else is talking on their phone. If you’re lucky, they’re not using the speaker option (OMG, how I detest that! No one wants to hear your entire conversation, people!). But they’re still loud. REALLY loud. Like, you’re several feet away and you can still clearly hear every word they’re saying, LOUD and clear.
Some people actually want passengers to have the ability to do that on planes (and I’m all like, “Are you out of your mind? We as a society already have no self-awareness, and you want people to be able to speak on the phone on a plane?”). But so far, thankfully, it hasn’t happened.
But you can do it on other forms of public transportation, like trains and buses.
A few years ago, Stacey Patton was on an Amtrak train and got stuck in the train car with someone who must have wanted everyone to know his business, because he made his voice volume up to an 11 on a 1 to 10 scale.
Patton, who is Black, apparently had had enough of it. So she figured out a rather ‘unique’ way to deal with the annoying passenger.
Patton is a journalist and associate professor at Morgan State University. She was on an Amtrak train ride from Washington, DC to Trenton (NJ), when she noticed one of the passengers talking loudly on the phone.
Meet “Chuck”
I’m on an Amtrak train. Business-class from DC to Trenton. There is a white man. Southern. Loud. And important. Let’s call him Chuck,” she wrote on her Facebook account.
She revealed that ‘Chuck’, the annoying passenger, was about 8 rows behind her.
“He’s been on his cell phone since we boarded. He’s talking loud as if he’s in his home office. Everyone else in the train car seems unbothered. But I’m annoyed.”
She then says that Chuck said his phone number aloud, “HERE’S MY CELL NUMBER. SEVEN ZERO THREE.. . “
She decided to handle it herself.
On hearing him yell out his phone number to the person on the other end of the call, she decided to write it down and call him. The rest is well…kind of genius.
Chuck’s phone rang and he said: “GIMME A SEC. GOT ANOTHER CALL COMIN’ THROUGH. YELLL-OOOO?”
Then, Patton whispered.
“Hello, this is Black Jesus calling. I’m riding on the Northeast-bound train 176. I hope y’all find the right interns for your search. You will make it to New Brunswick in time for that Teams meeting. I also think your pitch for the new project, with some minor adjustments, will be well received by the rest of the team. And I recommend either the Frog and the Peach or Steakhouse 85 for dinner. But for right now, Imma need you to lower your voice while riding this train. In my name, Amen.”
Then, she saw Chuck stand up and begin looking around frantically.
But Patton said she kept looking at her computer like, “I’m not Black Jesus.”
Patton’s Facebook post, originally published in 2022, was eventually made private, but copies of it are all over the internet. Here’s a copy posted by someone whose last name was also Patton:
The internet loved it.
Patton’s original post might be gone, but not before she had accumulated over 10,000 comments:
“Genius!”, said one person.
“Priceless!”, said another.
Several people chimed in to say, “Not all heroes wear capes.”
And apparently “Chuck” did indeed lower his voice.
Honestly, most of us probably would have just sat there glaring quietly and hoping the person would eventually lower their voice on their own.
But Patton chose a much more creative solution.
And while randomly calling strangers probably isn’t something I’d officially recommend, you do have to admit: it apparently worked.
Because in the end, “Chuck” finally quieted down — which means the rest of the passengers probably owed Black Jesus a thank-you. 😏
Honestly, if this worked every time, public speakerphone conversations might finally become endangered.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
