The Travel Diva

Hyenas

They piss me right off. Groups of people who arrive at restaurants, half sozzled, who then proceed as quickly as possible to fill up the other half and then start braying, yelping and hooting at the top of their obnoxious voices, like hyenas at a kill.

The women are the worst as their laughter is pitched higher than the men, and they laugh at absolutely anything and everything. The waiter arrives to take their order, all he has to do is stand there and the female contingent falls off its chairs in drunken hysteria. Then one of the party recounts the latest unfunny episode about Mr. Nobwick in accounts, and they all go off into paroxysms of forced mirth, banging the table and one another's shoulders.

Usually the parties are groups of people From The Office. Recently I endured a couple of hours of this torture while ten or so teachers - teachers! from a pre-school shrieked and gabbled - letting of steam, no doubt - following a term spent teaching intelligence-free children and agro from shaven-headed, pierced and tattooed parents, so fair enough. But also enough to cause me to adopt a new rule when booking a table.

Killjoy? Nah. It's just that noise pollution is a particular hate of mine, and I don't care if it’s made by jack-hammers, kids, idiots playing music in cars, mobile phones on trains - or hyenas in a restaurant. Or indeed, music in the same. But don't start me down that road...

Labels: restaurants; obnoxious; drunks; intelligence-free;

posted by Cindy-Lou Dale @ Monday, January 19, 2009