I think that people blabbity-blabbing on their cellphones while blatantly inconveniencing others is obnoxious behavior. For example, planting yourself somewhere and yakking on your phone while ignoring the animals (zoo) or art (museums) and obstructing everyone else’s view. I seem to be in the minority in this one, but my mom is on my side.

Yesterday this guy had the misfortune of being the final straw for us. To his credit, he wasn’t obstructing anyone’s view or stepping on children or blocking an exit. His real crime was, to be honet, just that he made himself an easy target for mocking. Although, in retrospect, he may be a bit thin-skinned to be an actor if his reaction is any gauge.

Or maybe it was just the first time it occured to him that everyone can hear him while he’s on the phone. I used to think most people learned this around the age of 7 as their levels of self-awareness grew, but clearly I was mistaken.

But I digress…

“I’m at the zoo. I have to observe an animal for 15 minutes for my acting class and then act it out.”

My mom turned to him, loudly and exceptionally cheerfully asking, “Can we all watch?”

It was excellent.

The guy didn’t just leave, I think he actually vaporized himself. Everyone else happily resumed panda-watching.

Speaking of panda-watching, we just can’t get enough of When Pandas Attack. Countdown had a lengthy segment of outtakes last night but I can’t find the link to it yet. It’s still on my tivo, I suppose I could upload it myself. But that would take effort.