I take it they are a bit racist, the to women. The earbud thing is funny. I wonder how many people can be fooled that way?

This is so true! As soon as someone wires into something, they’re assumed to be shut off from the world. Sometimes falsely.

Nicely portrayed. I would recommend spacing the paragraphs more. This format is so compressed anyway, having it all in one chunk can make it seem a bit squished and harder to read.

Good point about the paragraphs, Lightly; I added an extra space and it does add to the readability.

ElshaHawk, it’s interesting that you read the reaction of the other characters as being racist. I hadn’t intented it that way; more just as a comment on how language and technology can be walls as well as bridges, and we often don’t know which they are. Not saying yours isn’t a valid interpretation, of course, just that it was an unintentional one. Writers only ever know a little bit of their characters, eh? :o)