http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/no-quacking-in-the-quiet-car/
New
York Times
13
July 2012
Metropolitan
Diary
By
RUKHL SCHAECHTER
Dear
Diary:
As
I sat in the subway at rush hour with nothing to do, I playfully scrolled
through the various ringtones on my iPhone. I suddenly realized the train had
reached my stop, Grand Central, and I hurried out to catch the Metro-North
train home.
As
usual, I walked down the Metro-North platform to get to the first car, known as
the quiet car, so that I could read my Kindle in silence. I sat down opposite
two men who proceeded to chat about mutual acquaintances.
After
a minute or so I leaned over and said: "I'm sorry to bother you, but this
is the quiet car. The first car on the train during rush hour is the quiet
car."
They
looked at each other, and one of them stretched his neck to confirm that there
was indeed no other car before us. Seeing there wasn't, he took out some
reading material, and his friend opened up his laptop.
As
the three of us sat engrossed in our silent activities, a loud quacking sound
seemed to come from one of their briefcases - apparently, his phone was
ringing. He didn't answer it, in deference to the "no talking" rule,
but the quacking was so loud and annoying, it seemed even worse than
conversation.
Finally,
the ringing stopped. But then five minutes later, once again - the same
quacking. "Why doesn't he just switch the phone to silent, instead of
subjecting us all to this ridiculous noise?" I thought irritably.
As
the train reached my station, I gathered my belongings and stepped off the
train onto the platform. And then, as the train pulled away, I was mortified to
hear the quacking once again - coming straight out of my shoulder bag.
