Eavesdropping
The Work Office
Dumbo Arts Festival
Brooklyn, NY
2010
Monday, September 12th 2010, 8:50am
2 strangers, male, mid 20’s,
L train Lorimer platform
- This a Jewish calendar including all the holidays
- Cool, thanks so much
- Hey, let me ask you; where are you off to?
(Both are walking off together)
Monday, September 13th 2010, 8:55am
Two women, mid 20’s,
L train between Lorimer and Union Square
- I told my boyfriend that I had to pick them up today (pause) my new pills (pause) I call my mother and she is like ‘sorry’ but now this is funny: It turns out that my doctor has called like every pharmacy in New York, not all pharmacies carry all these drugs, for starters, so I had to get half of the sleeping aid from you (pauses and walks away while coughing)
Monday, September 13th 2010, 6:20pm
Two girls, ca. 16 or 17 years old, one is seated on the subway floor, the other is standing in front of her;
N train, Canal Street to Union Square
- If you puked on me, I would never forgive you, ever
- (Making puking sound)
- Do you remember the incident at my birthday? (pause) I would not do anything, but I would never talk to you again. Like, I would not do anything to you because I love you too much but I would never talk to you again. Just getting that straight (pause) I bought these jeans when I was in like 7th grade and they still fit me; it is funny because my friend Sheila had the exact same pants and we wore them the same day at school and she was like: ‘You are wearing the same pants as me……why???’
Monday, September 13th 2010, 6:40pm
Two men, late 20s
L train between Union Square and 1st Ave
- And you will know how serious I have been (pause) I have not lit up a cigarette in like three weeks or a month
- (interrupts) woooow
- And I have been out twice so I have been tested to see if I could still go out and have a good time
- (interrupts) exactly, yeah, you could
- of course I can
- exactly, you could, no no, you could, yeah, I mean, you still get a kick out of …like, you know, sitting there and being ‘yeah’
- (interrupts) as long as them dancers are there, I am game (laughter) if the dancers go, I might have to leave but ahem
- (interrupts) yeah but if the dancers are still there you got some sort of vibe, you are like wohooo
- But it is so weird because I was talking to Leigh yesterday(pause) was it yesterday or was it the day before on BGC? And I was telling him and he was like ‘what?’ and I was like ‘nobody knows why they haven’t seen me’ and he was like ‘where have you been? I told him I was in the hospital and he was like ‘what? Are you serious? Stop playing!’ I was like, I said: ‘all you had to do is ask Rico and they would tell you, he would have been like ‘that bitch was out’
- I know, I haven’t seen you, I was worried
- In the house that Rico and I are renting, it all started from me putting my air-conditioner in my window, cause that’s when I popped the muscle in my shoulder and I got a slipped disc in my ankle.
- From the AC?
- (Ahem) it was 15.000 BTU’s, I thought I was going to work it. Because it was hot one day and I was like ‘I can’t take this anymore’ and all I heard was a pop and I sat down, and about 10 minutes later the pain went away but honey, (pause) like about a week or two later, it came and never left
- Oh (pause) I hate that
- So me going to my doctor and getting all pissed off and depressed and then he was like ‘you know you pulled a muscle in your neck and you have a slipped disk’ and my whole spine is fucked up, I was pissed, but I carried on (pause) and the next morning
- you would have woken up
- (interrupts) this is my last stop
- Oh OK babe
- I will definitely try to get there on Friday, you know me
- Do what you need to do babe but we will be there on Friday so have a good one
- (kisses) bye bye
Tuesday, September 14th 2010, 8:40am
Mother to her circa two year old son
62 Bus, Manhattan Ave. and Meserole Ave. to Driggs and 7th Ave
- I’ll bite you spiderman, and if it’s the last thing I do awwwww
Tuesday, September 14th 2010, 8:55am
2 white males, early 30’s
L train between Lorimer and Union Square
- Crazy, but there are not that many (ahem) places like a nice beer garden in this area you know? And that was one of the main attractions, there is another beer garden, the German beer garden (pause) I don’t know (pause) getting off at Union Square?
- Yeah
- It is right across the street from the bookstore, so if you go and make a trip ahem (pause) ahem, it’s really right where (pause) have you been to Pequenios? (pause) Or you know BAM right?
- Yeah but I wouldn’t know where
- The G, Lafayette or the C, ahem, not sure exactly where (pause) ahem (pause) The G Fulton, the C at Lafayette, it is right between those two stops. And you can also walk there from Atlantic (pause) which is not that far. It is so funny that the G and JMZ do not cross?
- Yes (pause) Yeah, I don’t know how there is any way for you to get there
- It is so convenient. Why do they not cross? You can take a bus or something (pause) or drive (pause) unless you get out to (pause) or get out to the ahem Alabama Avenue (laughter) and come back in (pause) well, that does not make sense
- yeah (pause) assuming you would be going at night anyways
- yeah (pause) it is a good, I mean it opens in the afternoon and it is a good afternoon, I mean it is a perfect Saturday afternoon I think, and ahem and (pause) and it is ahem less busy in the afternoon, I mean it gets pretty busy towards the night (pause) and as I said it may not be open but they usually do open in summer (pause) like summer months (pause)
Tuesday, September 14th 2010, 12:30pm
One woman and one man, 70s
6 train between 96th street and Canal Street
- You see her and her daughter came from Italy and she never even mentioned? When she came here they had no money and people that helped them out with catholic charities and to this day, she gets a lot of help from catholic charities, they set them up in an apartment and everything. She is a good business woman
- I mean she is (pause)
- And then all the others she is partners with; and she lives in Queens
- She does?
- She must have a big house on the water.
- There is little neck and great neck
- It is Queens; but it is nice, especially if you are in one of the houses on the water which I am sure she is
- And the son is partners with Mario. Maybe we will see them there again today. I was surprised [INAUDIBLE]
- Did you talk to your friend, are you going to call them this time?
- Yes, yes, I talked to Rosemary yesterday
- No, I meant the ones…
- Oh no, I will call them; maybe I will get to see them I don’t know. But I am going to see them in November for their anniversary
- Where is the party? Do you know?
- Yeah it’s at. It is owned by Russo. That’s where it is going to be. Should be about 1100 people or so; they have a lot of friends, you know?
- Is is their 50th right?
- Yes, they were young
- Now Ray and Nador are going to be married 50 years
- Imagine?
- Imagine that
- It is hard to believe
- He was telling Pat a story, so funny, when he was 25 and met Val, he went to the family, he thought he was in the right family, they gave him a big party (laughter) it was the wrong family, it was someone else who was going to have a party
(pause)
- how old is she now?
- 75, she told me. She looks good, doesn’t she? For 75? How old is he?
- He is 70, he will be 70
- So she is 5 years older. She looks great.
- Fabulous
- Annabelle is 67 and Bobby is 64 so she is older than Bobby
- Didn’t she say she broke a hip or something?
- Yes. She fell last year
- She is still pretty. She looks good
- Yes, she put on a little weight. She must have had a face lift
- I don’t know. Well she does nothing to get lines. Always had the life of a princess, you know?
- I guess she did not lay in the sun either.
(Long pause)
- she probably wasn’t a model but she looks like what would be one. She wasn’t very tall, but she was very beautiful. She really looked great
- Well you know what, she couldn’t have been a model because fashion [INAUDIBLE]
- And she wasn’t very tall
[INAUDIBLE]
- It’s so weird, who would ever wear that?
- Yes, it makes you look like you have 300 pounds (laughter)
- I wonder why they would be wearing clothes like that?
- It’s a stupid look
- Even the rich people would buy this
- I did not see one pretty thing. Not one. (pause) there is one thing, in New York, you see so many beautiful young girls
- [INAUDIBLE]
- And she ran right into him. I saw it coming. She just drove away. And I said to the man ‘what if you are not OK? What if tonight you realize that you had an internal injury? You don’t even have her name and number’ she was wearing big glasses. She was looking at other cars but not the people who might be crossing the street
- She was an older woman?
- Yes, that’s what I said to her. You should not be driving if you couldn’t see me, you should not be driving.
- These old ladies, they bump into buildings every day. They think they are backing up, but they are going forward. There is a bank around the corner from me, you see that all the time
- Two more stops
Tuesday, September 14th 2010, 6:25pm
2 females, mid 30’s
N train between Canal Street and Union Square
- I didn’t, I didn’t say, say something about you [INAUDIBLE] (pause) I didn’t say nothing about you, I’m beyond that. I don’t, that’s not (pause) see I said (pause) and you know I’m wrong too. And I said ‘but this is not the first time’. I said ‘when it was happening before I ignored, because it wasn’t worth’. Me, you know touching the situation (pause) the issue, but now I’m getting upset. And I told [INAUDIBLE] one thing I don’t like is a troublemaker. If I want trouble, believe me, I can start my own trouble. I wanna make a fight? I can make it myself, I don’t need anyone to make one for me.
Because the girl in the next building, this girl’s sister, from the father, was telling me that she came to her and told her [INAUDIBLE] to fight her, something. And I said no, I’m just coming to tell you [INAUDIBLE] because she pretend to hear just one side of the story. So she said: yeah (pause) She said she was come and tell me that (pause) my sister said that I better mind my own business. I said no, why would I have to come tell you that. Your sister was calling you a [INAUDIBLE]. Just so happened that that day, that’s the day that her son stole her watch. Right, that’s the thing to her, her son stole the watch, and I was on my way upstairs, from the girl’s house to her sister’s house to talk to her and Tonya was on her way upstairs to watch [INAUDIBLE] and I haven’t make it to your house because Tonya and Susan was saying [INAUDIBLE] leave it alone (pause) you know let it be done (pause) and I said ‘you know what you’re right, I’ll just leave it alone’
Wednesday, September 15th 2010, 8:20am
A man and a woman, early 20’s
L train, Bedford Ave to Union Square
- I took the shuttle to the airport. And the doors closed very fast. And I open it and the lady was like ‘good luck getting off’ [INAUDIBLE]
- Absolutely [INAUDIBLE] Yeah but [INAUDIBLE]the more [INAUDIBLE] get through [INAUDIBLE] I thought about this a lot yeah (pause) Same (pause) when we were drunk we used to just do experiments on the train. I know we would like walk, [INAUDIBLE] sing and dance fucking with people, see if they (laughter)
- Really?
- I mean if nothing else I was drunk entertainment, you know?
- Oh yeah, absolutely (pause) absolutely we were (pause)
- You have been to Trader Joe’s?
- I love Trader’s Joe’s stuff
- About the international products that Jose provides
- What about?
- Traders Jose (pause) you never ever seen that?
- No.
- Some of their products they’ll change the name (pause) like if you go into Trader’s Joe, yeah (pause)
- I didn’t know that
- Like I think their salsa (pause) is Jose salsa
- I like that they have cheap beers [INAUDIBLE]
- I like that their tortilla chips are long board surf- boards
- The tortilla chips are [INAUDIBLE]
- They are like cute mini surfboards
- I did not know that. There is a lot I did not know about Trader Joe’s
- This is us. I guess I should walk you to your place so I know where it is, in case I am ever in the area for a little afternoon tea
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010, 6:20pm
A man and a woman, early 20’s
L train between Union Square and Bedford Ave
- hmmm? Are you going for a run? (Pause) At the gym? My gym? I mean not my gym but it’s my neighborhood. Well, I have been thinking about going there, it’s like a few blocks away
- it’s OK…
- Are you going there now? Oh, then we can all walk together?
- I don’t have my clothes and I am going to drive over there, so…
- because you are lazy (laughter)
- no, because I have chores to do after that (pause) truck chores
- what are those?
- I have to pick up people up in Canada and drive them across the border you know the Canadians (pause) refugees
- and marrying one (laughter)
(mumble)
- where is she?
- I think she is in Toronto
- that is so funny (pause) what do you do? Like she can’t possibly have clothes. What happened, they would not let her back in the country?
- Its all (pause) she just has bad thoughts
- I don’t know what you do; I mean it’s going to be a lot of money, too
- She was in Peru and they would not let her back in right?
- How do you find an overnight flight from Peru back to Canada in the same day? You know what I mean?
- I don’t know, rough times (pause) really looking forward to
- you have been using her as a mentor as well?
[INAUDIBLE]
- He is fun though
- He is a joke
- He is like one big joke. It doesn’t stop. I like him. is funny.
- He actually did something very, very helpful.
[INAUDIBLE]
Thursday, September 16th 2010, 6:05pm
Four kids, ~8-9 years old, and a man, late teens or early 20’s
N train platform Canal Street
- Stuff happens there too, like in this movie, this guy, he let out (laughter) [INAUDIBLE]
- That’s what happens when they hurt my little dog
- you know this guy on the train who let out chickens and they put it in a movie? Have you seen the movie Borat? He just went on the train and let out all his chickens and he is trying to collect them. It is really funny
- I used to take this train to Queens. It is far though.
- Where do you live?
- Now I live in Brooklyn. But I used to live in Queens. (pause) Hey Luke, please let this guy go on first, he has a baby.
- Two baby’s
- OK, now we can go. Don’t worry. We will all going to make it.
Getting on the train [INAUDIBLE]
- Dude
- I am a dudette
- Dudette, dude (laughter)
- She is a dudette, I am a dude
- Ah, OK
- Girls are dudettes and boys are dudes
- everyone is a dude
(laughter)
- This might be something not to do on the train, but it’s fine. Try not to mess with that on the train because I don’t want you to hit someone with that and they might sew me. (pause) You guys are lucky you are kids; if I did that they would beat me up
(laughter)
- Where did you learn to laugh like that? At school? A lot of people say that I look like spiderman. No? A little bit, right? (laughter)
- Only not because you are darker
- Yeah I know. I already know what I will be for Halloween
- A skateboarder?
- No, I am already scary enough. I need to be someone else.
- Will you be a dead person?
- I will be someone from a movie guys. Have you ever seen Fear and loathing in Las Vegas? I will be Johnny Depp’s character.
- I will be a Greek god
- Really? A Greek god? Will you guys go trick or treating downtown?
Friday, September 17th 2010, 8:40am
Two women, mid 20’s,
L train between Lorimer and Union Square
- It is bordering on disrespect, you know what I mean? She tries to like embarrass her. And Terra is fine with it because she knows its joking; but when she does it in front of coworkers, it is like, you know, it hurts her values, her reputation, you know, like people like Marc and stuff hear that, you know, it’s too bad (pause) nobody has really good boss relationships (pause) maybe Elliot and Marc. [INAUDIBLE] He is so funny, this little tiny voice, this little personality
[INAUDIBLE]
- Do you think so? What’s Marc’s title?
Friday, September 17th 2010, 7:20pm
2 men, late 30’s
L train Union Square to Jefferson
- So what? It’s not the same shit bro. There is all the money down that is supposed to be my PC. All the money that was supposed to be for my PC, I gave it straight to you. Don’t fucking tell me
- 2 weeks. In 2 weeks.
- So what the fuck, where is my, do you understand?
- That’s not my problem
- Yo! That’s not your problem? So your problem is not my problem. Don’t come telling that this is not your problem.
- You know, I really needed somebody’s help, man
- Alright, you did not need nobody’s help. You could have done it by yourself
- If I could have found a way. Of course. Because that’s my place. I did not say you did not do nothing. You did. You did a whole lot for me. OK, I say you did a whole lot for me. And I thank you. And I know, I am not saying I am not appreciative of that because you did look out for me, I am not saying you didn’t. You know? But don’t get mad about it if you were going to help me. You helped me a little bit. You helped me a couple of times. OK thank you, but don’t get mad because you helped me
- I am not saying anymore. That’s all I have to say. Just give me some of that bro
(Exchanging a bottle in a brown paper bag)
- Cool man
[INAUDIBLE]