Rudeness is in the eye of the listener

Interesting morning at the fitness palace today. Someone described his very large dog--about 200 lbs--who ate four pounds, yes pounds, not sticks, of butter that had been put out for Christmas baking. So far, only one really bad mess (I think there will be more).

Then my friend, Joanne, and I were catching up on the treadmill after she'd been gone a few weeks. The guy on the treadmill next to her said very loudly into his phone that he couldn't hear the person he was talking to (loudly) because the people next to him were talking! Since I was saying something extremely important to my friend, I just leaned over and said to him. "And you think you're not talking too loud?"

It's not unusual to hear people on cell phones complaining about other people talking (not on their phones) talking too loud.