Oblivions

Mike Straka has penned a Grrr! about a recent top subject of mine - the rise of the Oblivions:

The only thing that has Oblivions' attention is exactly what they need at any given moment.

If they need a cup of coffee, somehow an Oblivion will hear the Starbucks clerk announce “Next guest,” and no matter how far back in line the Oblivion is, he or she will yell out their order as if nobody else existed.

Or, an Oblivion and his spawn will commandeer an entire down escalator at a mall near you.

More than likely, the Oblivion spawn will be sitting on the escalator, playing with a toy fire engine with its siren blaring and lights flashing.

As you maneuver your way around this despicable display of selfishness, tsking or giving dirty looks to the Oblivion parents of these Oblivion children who are gleefully using the escalator as their personal playground, you will be wasting your energy.

Because Oblivions don’t notice you.

I have a particular Obliviot that annoys the crap out of me 3 days a week in my physics class (in an earlier post, he repeatedly asked aerospace questions, even after being told it was beyond the scope of the class!). This guy, on a routine basis, will walk in late to class and as he's walking to his desk will ask the teacher to restart his lecture and then prattle off excuse after excuse as to why he was late (small sidebar: I've also overheard him begging the professor for more time on a test due to his handicap - his ADD handicap! That didn't work out so well for him). During lab, he'll walk up to the front of the room and stand there, in everybody else's way, as he copies down notes from the board.

As with most other problems, the finger (you choose which one) may be pointed at the parents. Usually, they're easy to spot; when out at the mall, or a restaurant, they don't even look up as their spawn engage in a game of tag, pin the tail on the fat guy, or some such other kid's game that should be done anywhere but there. That's where the seed is planted - "You don't have to pay attention to others when you're out in public, my precious darling little Johnny - you just do whatever your little heart desires."

Footnote: I don't have kids, therefore my opinion, if I'm allowed to have one, doesn't count.