Indoor Voices, Even Outside

One of our neighbors has this kid. A little boy who seems to think the fastest way to get what he wants is to SHOUT. He will shout about anything, no matter what it is. No matter how far from him the object of his loudness happens to be. Shouting gets it done.

"C'MERE PUPPY!"
"MOM! MOMMA! MOM! MOMMY! MOMMA!"
"I FOUND A SPIDER!"
"THE SKY IS BLUE!"

Doesn't #$^&ing matter what, he makes his point as loudly as possible at all times. Otherwise, the neighborhood children and particularly the neighborhood adults are all normal people. Aside from the occasional random squeal of a little girl and this boy's obsessive desire to shout at everything -- it's quiet around here. This is a nice place to live.

So I've begun to wonder, quite frequently actually, just why this child thinks that this is acceptable behavior. Who taught him that shouting was the answer to every problem big or small? Surely it couldn't be his parents. I don't hear them shouting from inside their apartment. Maybe it was a classmate at school? Perhaps he has an undiagnosed hearing problem and he shouts because he doesn't realize it?

Nope.

The mystery was solved this afternoon when, for no real reason whatsoever the father came out onto their patio and began SHOUTING for the boy from across the courtyard. Some mere 20 feet of distance between them. To make matters worse, rather than respond by going over to his father to continue their discussion, the kid just shouts his replies back at dad and this goes on for some five minutes. wtf? In what parallel universe is this acceptable behavior? Especially from a grown man?

How inconsiderate.

There is no reason to shout, let alone shout at another human being unless either they are on fire or about to catch fire. Otherwise it's completely unnecessary and rude. I'm a pretty tolerant person, but people yelling at each other isn't something I cope with well. It is one of the few things, actually, that can boil me to a rage. The second you shout at me -- the conversation is $#^@ing over. You can go sit on it and spin for all I care.

And that's really the better of two options because if I respond to you in kind, shit is hitting the fan. I might even punch you in the face, which is saying a lot because I've never really punched anyone in the face and I've been in some situations in my life where physical violence was actually a necessity to avoid being murdered. So can we all agree to use our indoor voices, please? Even if we're outside?