I do not know what bothered me the most. Your screen’s bright light shining in my face, or the angry tapping of your fingers on the keyboard? Maybe it was the blatant disrespect you clearly had for both the professor and the person you were sharing desk space with: me.
Don’t get me wrong. I think laptops are great additions to classrooms and thousands of students, faculty and staff log onto Concordia’s network every day. Why wouldn’t they? With a laptop, note-taking is more efficient, you can Google the terms you don’t understand, Facestalk your friends, chat with your boyfriend and go on Skype with your roommate.
Okay, maybe some of these are less advantageous to your studies than others, but for the most part I can tolerate them. At least, I can when the lights are on. But when our professor dims the lights and excitedly puts on a film, keeping your laptop open is just plain rude.
Not to mention that by the speed and ferocity of what you were typing I would have assumed you were instructing a lifesaving procedure, not adding photo captions to your weekend getaway.
As hard as I tried to not let your lack of manners affect me, I could not keep the sound of your typing from infiltrating my brain. With each crash of your fingers onto the letters of your keyboard my patience evaporated.
It was only once the credits rolled, the lights flashed on and class was dismissed that you shut your computer down and I could once again feel at peace. With the pain you put me through in that half hour, I promised myself I would never sit next to you again. Ever.
In fact, you scarred me so badly that now not only will I avoid you, I will avoid sitting next to anyone with a laptop.
So to all you loud “typers” out there please note that manners DO matter. While you may not notice how angry your keys currently sound, your classmates do and I can tell you that they do not appreciate it. Rather than use those fingers for Facebook chat, why not use them to close the lid of your Macbook pro.
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