How dare you?
Visited a coffee shop the other day. Read a good book while listening to soft music. It was one of those places where people go to sit down and have a quiet moment.
So relaxing.
Then a phone starts ringing on the table across from me. Four people sitting there and no one answers.
Ring, ring, ring…
Even though my earbuds have noise cancellation, that never-ending ringing tone cuts right through. I got more and more annoyed, thinking to myself:
“How dare you? No concern for other guests, who have paid to sit down and have a quiet moment. So disrespectful!”
Then one of them notices the lit-up display. He turns to the owner of the phone and informs him about the situation – with sign language.
Turns out it was a group of deaf people, and one of them had accidentally unmuted the phone. His facial expression explained to the whole room how sorry he was about the accident.
There I was with my judgmental thoughts, feeling stupid and reminding myself:
“Never judge without knowing the whole story.”