To the person who talks to me while I’m wearing headphones:
I am fairly certain that you are not blind, and my headphones should be playing just loud enough that you can hear at least the melody of the song I am listening to. However, I cannot fathom why you have gone out of your way to try and talk to me.
I thought that headphones were the universal signal for “please do not talk to me,” and yet here you are. Listen, I am trying my darnedest to be polite because that’s the kind of person my parents raised me to be, but I think you also need to respect my personal space. There are tons of open seats around here, and yet you have somehow chosen the one directly next to me.
You know how dudes feel when someone stands right next to them at urinals? Yeah, this is kind of like that. You are invading my personal bubble, and I do not like it in the least bit.
Let me ask you something. What compelled you to sit down next to me? Granted I did look up when you sat down, but I do not know you, and therefore was not compelled to pull my headphones out to greet you in any way, shape or form.
Maybe a slight nod or smile, sure, but that is just common courtesy. Like we say back home, “Don’t mistake my aloha for flirting.” Translation: Don’t mistake my niceness for flirting.
Just because I am nice to you does not mean I want anything from you.
If I were younger and more naive, then yes, perhaps I would have indulged in your self-serving conversation. However, I am older and wiser than the cute girl that would have accepted your yapping with a smile and put off whatever I was doing to indulge you, no matter how important it was. I could have been applying to my dream college, and I still would have given you the time of day just because that’s who I was.
Now that I am thinking back on it, I realize I only had so much time to give to people like you, and over the years the amount has been steadily decreasing to the point where I no longer care. Or rather, it has gotten to the point where I no longer give a damn about your personal agenda for why you are talking to me.
I am not sure why you seem so entitled to think that I owe you my time, but perhaps that is what society has taught you, yes? That somehow, because I am a girl, I owe you my time. Well, I am sorry to be perhaps the first to inform you that this is not the case. I hope that wherever you go later, you will learn and remember that I owe you nothing.