Thursday, May 19, 2011

Can you hear me now?

For the last 18 months, passengers traveling in the Amtrak 'quiet-car' have been enjoying the kind of peace reserved for libraries. A silence fondly remembered only by people old enough to appreciate the days prior to the invasion of the cell phone.
The latest phone from Radioshack
A cellular phone from Radioshack the 1980s
The silence was then harshly broken by Lakeysha Beard who spent 16 hours chattering on her cellphone. She became aggressive when a fellow passenger asked her to refrain from talking on her phone. It was then that the train was stopped and she was forcibly removed from the train by police and Amtrak staff.

Lakeysha Beard being removed from an Amtrak Train
Lakeysha Beard is escorted from the Amtrak 'quiet car'
Jerry McEnzie was sitting a few seats behind Ms. Beard and commented that he was not surprised that it took 16 hours for anyone to man up and complain. “Did you see the size of her? I would have been scared to ask her to turn her phone off.”

Tom Elliott, another passenger in the quiet car told us, “She spent the whole journey chatting on her phone and eating Taco Bell. How did she get on the train with that take out bag anyway?”

The ultimate question that comes from this story is 'What phone was she using?' We have consulted with our friends at AT&T and they don't know of any cellphone on the market currently that offers 16 hours of talk time.

Do you think it was fair to remove her from the train for using a cellphone in the 'quiet car'? Leave a comment with your thoughts.


5 comments :

captNaj said...

It damn sure was fair...while I'm a cellophile, I do most of mine silently (through texting, etc)...people who do things like that deserve whatever they get...she's lucky they stopped the train before throwing her off...

Anonymous said...

AT&T now stands for Assholes Talk & Talk

JaneneMurphy said...

I think that all depends on how aggressive she became. As for the original crime? Come on. I can't believe she talked 16 hours straight without someone complaining to the staff. They should have acted sooner. Me thinks they were afraid.

timethief said...

Yes she deserved to be booted off. There's no way I would have spent 16 hours putting up with this loudmouth. Such obnoxious behavior is intolerable.

Ian C - My Twist News said...

Thanks for your sharing your thoughts, timethief. I am suprised that it took 16 hours to remedy the situation. Maybe a polite interjection when she started on her phone may have prevented the situation from escalating as it did.

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