Cell Phone Uses and Abuses

[HobieSport]

This subject has been mentioned here and there around the forum, but I just thought it might be fun to have a thread about all the funny and grump-worthy observations we may have about folks using cell phones in a sometimes rather aggravating manner. Breaches of cell-phone etiquette so to speak.

Things besides the obvious one of all the cell phone abuse in cars.

One general thing I notice is the cell use in our local grocery/general store. It's really a wonderful store,  over a hundred years old, but very well stocked and with all modern conveniences. It's truly a joy to shop there. One thing though is that although everything is very well and conveniently laid out, is that it does have rather minimum aisle spaces.

Enter the cell phone. They get used a lot by customers in the store, and that makes perfect sense, and I have nothing against it, as usually it sounds as if they are not just gabbing blithely, but are talking to family or friends about what to get while shopping. I can see the convenience of it, and usually it's not any problem. It's just that sometimes you do see "Mr. or Ms. Oblivious" who are so wrapped up in the conversation that they don't notice all the other folks trying to maneuver around them.

It's funny, because the store is probably the most common day to day place where locals meet and chat together, but people in live face to face conversations are still usually very aware when other people need to maneuver near and around them.

It's just that I guess something about the distraction of a phone conversation sometimes pulls people away from their awareness of the present reality.  Anyway, more of an observation than a gripe, really.

[Dan]

At my dental office, I will be in the middle of a surgery, filling, root canal,etc,  then BOOM! A loud obnoxious rap song pops out over the patient's phone. Most silence it immediately, in a few instances, I've even had people stop me and answer it. My assistant (not me) asked the patient once if they would like to reschedule their appointment because of the importance of their call , and I think the patient got the point. Cell phone ettiquitte is fast becoming a lost art.....

A little trivia, the man responsible for thr technology that make  cell phone ring tones (that is the ability of phones to play songs ) is none other than Thomas Dolby. He was a British pop synthesizer  musician from the 80's know for his hit 'She Blinded Me with Science."

[McHeath]

I may have told this tale here before, so bear with me.

Went to go see Star Wars, The Phantom Menace when in came out in 99'.  A guy and his family come in late, he's talking on the cell phone.  Loudly. Crassly.  Lots of profanity.

He sits in the only remaining open chair, next to me.

He proclaims loudly that he does not know what @#$!* movie he is in, he thinks it's *&^%#@ Star Trek or something.

And to make it all the more fun, he outweighs me by a good hundred pounds and has probably 5 inches height on me as well.

Yes the joy of cell phones was never more obvious.  

[HobieSport]

Wow, that's a good one, Heath. I can't say that I've seen anyone behave quite that crassly and so inconsiderate of others while on a cell. Mostly what I see is just general obliviousness.

[Phonesrfun]

I work in a large office and the other day I was pretty galled when we were in a conference and someone whipped out their cell phone and just started texting away, oblivious to the meeting he was participating in.  I was relieved to find out that he was chewed out pretty mercilessly over that one.

Dan,  I cannot imagine anyone having the gall to actually take a call while sitting in the dentist chair!  For me, I hate my cell phone any way and being able to ignore a call would be the best thing that could happen to me.  I can see a patient needing to stop the procedure if they get sick or suddenly have to go to the bathroom, but to take a call??  Don't they realize that not only are they taking up their time, but that of you and your staff??  Especially if you then need to get everyone back to where you were and even have to re-do the last 10 minutes of work!

Another thing I hate is telemarketers.  It used to be that they did not have my cell number.  Then a business I was dealing with let some employees go that stole his contact list.  Then I started getting calls from those guys wanting to take business away from their old employer.  Suddenly, I was getting a couple of unwanted telemarketing calls a day  Fortunately by ignoring those calls that has now gone back to normal, but for a while it was really getting irritating to have my phone ringing all day long with nuisance calls.

-Bill

[HobieSport]

Another thing I hate is telemarketers.
-Bill

I used to get quite a few telemarketers but after I registered on the "do not call" list, that cut them down to nearly zero. Either way, I always let my answering machine answer first, to screen my calls between friend and foe, so to speak.

[Dan/Panther]

What gets my butt is the pewople standing by themselves in a crowded store talking to themselves, ( using a headset). Then tey look right at you and start talking, it's like do you answer or what. Don't they realize how absolutely stupid they appear.
D/P

[HobieSport]

D/P, that is so true! Folks really do look silly in public places while talking on hands free sets. Like a bunch of loonies, walking around talking to themselves.

[Dennis Markham]

Some great stories here.  I'll bet someone could publish a book of them and make a small fortune.

Back in February we had a thread of the Do's and Don't of Cell Phones.  For new members that may not have seen that posting I will re-post a portion of my contribution to that posting.  This experience was from my career as a police officer.

I stopped a young lady for speeding one day.  Now I was the easiest guy on the planet and didn't write a ton of tickets but did what I had to do.  Most everyone got a warning of some kind.  I stopped this 17 year girl for doing about 50 in a 25 mph zone.  I noticed she was talking on a cell phone.  As I walked up to her window she was still gabbing.  Now if it was you or me we probably would have said good-bye and paid attention to the big bad cop at her window.  But she never took a breath.  With her window down about 3 inches she turned to me---still talking, saying to her sister (I learned later)..."I gotta go, will you shut up..." or something to that effect.  She handed me her license and registration through the narrow opening and continued to talk to her sister---absolutely ignoring me.....which was beginning to irritate me just a little bit.  I said to the young lady, "That must be someone real important you're talking to.  Are you talking to the President of the United States?"  She said, no it was her sister.  I replied to her that at that moment in time, other than the President of the United States there was probably no one more important than me and that she should probably be talking to me.  She finally got the idea and hung up on her sister.  She drove away with my autograph in her pocket.

Original link:
       http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=676.msg8044#msg8044

[jsowers]

The rudeness is what I hate too. It automatically says to the people around you that they are not as important to talk to as the one on the phone. My cousin was visiting my mom along with my aunts and uncle. The first phone call she took on the porch, which was nice, but it took ten minutes. The second call she took sitting with us and it started to go on and on and my aunt, her mother, said "we need to go." I bet my cousin got an earful in the car on the way home. She's older than me--55--and seemed to know better, but I guess not.

One of my pet peeves are the people who keep talking on the cell phone while in line at the grocery store. I always wonder what could be so important? And years ago I sat in a booth next to someone in a restaurant who was yelling into his cell phone the entire time. I wanted to turn around and tell him to take it outside, but I figured someone yelling wasn't in the mood to hear that.

[Dennis Markham]

I was in a small restaurant one day having lunch.  A woman seated alone got out her cell phone and called in for her messages.  She had the phone on speaker phone AND the volume was full blast!  Everyone around her could hear the automated voice telling her to press 7 or whatever.  Then we all had to listen to each of her messages.  I could not believe.  I sat there shaking my head.  You're right Jonathan...it's just plain rude.

And for all you Bluetooth users out there I'm sorry but I'm about to insult you.  What looks more ridiculous than someone wearing one of those things while not even engaged in a telephone conversation?  I mean people have those blinking things in their ears while they're talking to other people, or shopping, or mowing the grass or whatever.  It's pretty strange (to me).  I keep waiting to hear them say....please pull to the second window!

[HobieSport]

Just an evil thought, but what one needs is a discrete pocket sized short range cell signal blocker. So when someone is being totally rude and inconsiderate in an otherwise civilized public place (restaurants, movie theaters, etc.) you just push a button and all the cell signals withing say 50 feet go dead for about half a minute. (Evil laugh)

[foots]

Hobie, I'd have a blast at the theater with that. For some reason people like to spend a lot of money to go to the movies and instead of shutting up and watching the movie they'd rather  text people sitting a couple or rows away and talk the entire time they are there. There ain't much that gets on my nerves worse that that. 

[HobieSport]

It is of my humble opinion that folks who insist on talking in theaters, on cell phones or otherwise, deserve to be locked in the popcorn machine (with automatic buttering feature) for one running cycle.

[benhutcherson]

What gets my butt is the pewople standing by themselves in a crowded store talking to themselves, ( using a headset). Then tey look right at you and start talking, it's like do you answer or what. Don't they realize how absolutely stupid they appear.
D/P

That reminds me of a quote from the Red Green show

"20 years ago, if you saw a man walking down the street talking in to thin air, the word 'cell' came to mind, but not the word phone"