Let me stick that cellphone up your rear since your head is already there.
OK, I was at a business dinner last night with a co-worker. Towards the end of the meal her phone rings. Now, not so long ago, I bit the bullet and got myself one of those, but a cardinal rule I've set myself is to not answer the phone in a restaurant if I'm with someone and to only answer it long enough to tell a person I will call them back out of respect for other diners. Well I guess I didn't send out the memo. My associate commences to chattering away. It was a small restaurant mind you, and my acquaintance is by no means a small woman, and quite boisterous to boot. Trying to be diplomatic, I finalize the bill and provoke payment from her, "hint hint" let's go. No joy. 15 minutes or so, I can feel the ire rising from the other patrons, so I get her attention, "ready to go?" Eye contact but no acknowledgment. So I excuse myself, "I will be outside," attempting to distance myself, hoping to imply "Take note, I am not with this woman and take no responsibility for her actions" Still nothing but loud yapping and guffaws ring out for another 15 or so minutes before she realizes I'm not coming back, I suppose. Through the glass in the front I can see other customers getting ever more frustrated as she drowns out their conversation. Finally she gets up, and just as she walks out the door she ends the conversation, a quick, oh sorry, that was my sister. Now this wasn't an apology or an acknowledgment of the rude behavior, but just a trite pardon me. How can this woman find her behavior acceptable? She has just made an unpleasant evening for a group of people and kept me prisoner for an additional 30 minutes of my life because there were some final details that needed to be taken care of before I could depart. I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt like shoving that phone where the sun don't shine. "Can you hear me now?"
posted by Grumpy at 12/08/2006 06:23:00 PM
4 Comments:
Have you encountered the rude store clerk who is texting or their phone is ringing while they check you out? It makes me crazy, it's like your job at a minimum is to make sure my items scan correctly, take my money and provide with me with the correct change and receipt. I can't tell you how many times in the last month the cashier acted like I was interferring with their socializing. I want to tell them "Hello Welcome to Life and this Thing Called Work."
What gets to me are the people who talk so loudly on their phone, that its as if they want everyone else to be included in the conversation! Now don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the usefullness of cell phones, but I find myself wondering what all these people did before they had one?
Here's a good one. While driving anywhere on I-275 in the afternoon, count how many people are on cell phones. One day, it was like 75%. Which is one of the reasons the traffic is so bad -- people not paying attention to driving. Sometimes I wish cell phones were extinct.
Well now, I definitely think they have their place, but for some reason we so-called civilized folk have yet to develop a sense of what and when is and ain't appropriate for using one. Things like driving while holding one should be illegal no buts about it, I bet the loss of attention and slower reactions have to be darn near like drinking and driving.
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