I know I have blogged about this before, but the problem seems to be getting much worse…so I thought I would write about it again.
In a public bathroom — I am still amazed that people will be in the bathroom and think nothing about being on a cell phone. Yes I love to multi task but please that’s a bit much!
In the elevator — are you really that important that you can’t call a friend back to tell them what you are doing tonight? Here is a thought: Chances are, you will get disconnected as you go up 30 floors. Why not say to the person, “I will call you back in two minutes.” Besides…no one needs to listen to your call when you are in a 5×5 area.
In a rental car bus — last year I actually overheard a guy yelling at a staff member for five minutes while the Hertz bus was taking me to the airport. That five minute trip seemed like an hour.
In the movies — to me pretty obvious. We are paying to watch a movie, not listen to you. Yes I have witnessed on a few occasions heated discussions that I thought would be elevated to a punch being thrown.
I realize emergencies happen. And yes, doctors need to be close to a pager or cell phone 24/7.
Your turn……
I wish people wouldn’t be on their cell phone ____________?
I look forward to reading your comments.
P.S. Very soon, there will be “turn your cell phones off” in most public places including some of the ones I mentioned.
Drew Judge says:
Ummm do you really need a fill in the blank when a mere period will do the trick just fine?
Robert Harrell says:
…when they are driving 70 MPH about 3 feet from my bumper.
Stephenie Gordon says:
IN THE GROCERY STORE LINE, it’s rude to the cashier and the fumbling with the phone and the credit card and the car keys and products just wastes time! Just hang up and call the person back when you leave.
AT A RESTAURANT! Don’t answer your phone or check your blackberry while at the dinner table. RUDE. Don’t even think about it at your home dinner table either.
When in the car with another person. A quick call is OK, but a long conversation is just rude. Pay attention to the person you are with, don’t subject them to your one sided conversation.
My belief is that we are overly accessible these days. Use common sense on what is TRULY important. Pay attention to the person right in front of you and the situation at hand. I believe in most cases the person on the phone can wait. And if it is an emergency, apologize then remove yourself from the people you are with, grab the call quickly! Apologize again when you return, and then continue on.
Can you tell this is one of my pet peeves????
janet savoie says:
in the gym. We have signs all over my Y prohibiting it but it is routinely ignored. It’s especially annoying when you are in a class like spinning and a phone disrupts the mood.
on a hike. I do not understand why people come to a beautiful outdoor area to find some peace and quiet and then talk on their cell phones the entire time. I think being alone with themselves is diffcult for some people.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Janet,
The gym is ridiculous – when it happens do you say something to the person?
Merrill
Merrill Dubrow says:
Drew,
WELL PUT! I spend alot of time on the phone but now are much more conscience about when I do it especially in public places.
Thanks for your comment.
Merrill
Ed Sugar says:
Ditto with all the comments above. For all the reasons given above, please keep the cell phone ban on all airline flights.
janet savoie says:
I give them “the look”, as my kids call it. They usually get the message! 🙂
Merrill Dubrow says:
Janet,
I have seen the look and probably would get off the phone quickly once you gave it to me!
🙂
Merrill
Rick Johnson says:
In church, at a funeral, wedding, and the list can go on and on. What did these people do before cell phones! I like have the technology, but there are times when I don’t want anyone to be able to reach me.
kath says:
Merrill,
I’m sorry… is that a picture of Carrot Top?
-kath
Merrill Dubrow says:
Kath,
You know how much I love him! Plus he has cell phone commercials.
Thanks.
Merrill
Bob Graham says:
I find myself most annoyed when cell phones are used while shopping, usually by a customer who just stands in front of a group of products and tells the person on other end “Well, they’ve got this and it looks like this…”. I find it really rude.
I have never encountered someone on a cell phone in the bathroom, but if I did I would fight back. Like making a loud flush at an opportune moment, or stealing a line from Austin Powers, yelling “Hey buddy, can we get a courtesy flush!” from the stall.
Brad Larson says:
Bob,
Unfortunately, I HAVE encountered people on the phone while in the restroom! Don’t know if I would have the ____ to actually use the quote, but I like your style!
Daniel Allen says:
I wish people would not be on their cell phone on the Golf Course. Chances are they are talking while someone else is putting or on the tee box, and/or their conversation is slowing down the pace of play.
Nancy Domenichelli says:
Picture this: A woman with a cig hanging out her mouth, her left hand holding a cell, her right hand shifting gears–obviously using her knees to steer the car, but SHE WAS PULLING OUT OF A PARKING LOT, making a left turn into a line of traffic, no less!!
Yep, I truly think I have seen it all…
ron crane says:
in a foreign language which is much harder to tune out, especially on the train while trying to nap
Lynn Stalone says:
Of course there is the driving issue. My husband and I were out with our daughter over the weekend and while stopped at a light, he started counting the cars with people holding a cell phone to their heads as they went by. Out of 20+ cars ONLY TWO were not holding up a phone. It’s scary.
I am totally with Stephanie on the stores. But, it’s even worse when you are walking through a retail establishment and the person walking toward you is making eye-contact and saying “hi there” or “hey, how are you?” Now, I have no idea who this person is and I’m racking my brain trying about to come up with some response when I see the earpiece and realize they are talking to someone on the phone. I refuse to use my phone in the store unless it is urgent and, then, I walk outside. Same thing at a restaurant. But I am guilty of checking my Blackberry and I take Stephanie’s point to heart and will try to put an end to my bad behavior.
The truth is that we are far too connected now – it is difficult to have even an hour away from work unless you really make an effort. My staff knows they can find me 24-7 and they do. This is a good thing for the business, but I doubt my family likes it much. What the heck… I say enjoy the meal you are having in peace, do your shopping and get it over with and, for Pete’s sake, please get the @$!#* off the phone while you’re driving if you don’t have a hands-free device.
Jim Steber says:
While in a Restaurant / bar last valentine’s day I went to the men’s room. A guy standing at the urinal while talking to his wife on the cell phone. He claimed he was working late and stuck, would be home soon. I flushed the toilet three times throughou the conversation. The excuses he gave for the “noise ” in the office” were fantastic. He was irritated at her for doubting him, upset with me, and dropped the telphone. Enough said.
mark sutin says:
In any public place! I find it absolutely rude of people having private conversation in public. They are loud, obnoxious and sometimes way to personal. When my cell phone rings in public…I ALWAYS TAKE THE CALL OUTSIDE OR WILL CALL BACK LATER.
I also hate when people are multi-tasking with their cell phone while driving
Very SCARY
I liked it better when birds delivered the messages
Magda Cooling says:
My Family has pointed out many times – Mom, quit checking your Blackberry, the Office will call when they really need you. I forgot to pack my charger once (and only once). So I actually had a few days of vacation while on vacation! That was nice!! So to answer your question… I wish people would not be on their cell phone in the restroom (yes i have experienced this many times – what, like we can’t hear you just because we can’t see you?), and in restaurants. Just plain rude. Take it outside, away from others please.
Hey Lynn – July 1st – the law says… hands-free cell phone usage in California.
Karen Dawson says:
My pet peeve is on the Driving range…I have enough problems with
my golf game, without having to listen to some person chatter endlessly there. When still living in Boston, I waited a solid twenty minutes for a spot on the Driving range one night, and this idiot had the nerve to take a phone call for several minutes, knowing that we were all waiting patiently. I let him have it…and how rude he was!
My other annoyance is in restaurants….it makes me crazy.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Jim,
I must admit that is a classic. So not only is the guy lying to his wife, he has to explain the loud noises and than he drops his cell phone – i for one hope it ended up breaking or worse in the ______!
Thanks for sharing.
Merrill
Merrill Dubrow says:
Mark,
As you know (since you have driven with me enough) that I will talk on the cell phone and drive at the some time. I now try NOT to do it at all. Most days at lunch I leave my blackberry in the office out of respect to people i am with, the staff at the restaurant and the other customers.
I just realized it isn’t fair to any of those people.
Merrill
Merrill Dubrow says:
Karen,
Good for you. I would have said something as well. I hope he shot 100 his next round and broke two clubs,
Merrill
Krista Joyce says:
Whether for personal matters or otherwise – folks should explore the efficiency/privacy of text messaging! Quite the savvy format of communication these days…. However, I think that there will always be people in this world who are too self-centered to consider being considerate?
Will Morris says:
I wish everybody would either turn off their cell phones or leave them in the car when they are in church. Given some of the obnoxious ring tones it is 7×70 times worse than a normal ring tone. About six months ago the same person’s cell phone went off twice in about 5 minutes. She compounded the problem the second time by exclaiming “oh s***” when she realized what had happened.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Will,
I can understand it happening once…. but only once in a 5 minute time frame…..maybe they should read the manual and figure out how to have it on vibrate.
Certainly ridiculous and VERY, VERY disrespectful.
Merrill
Fee Sepahi says:
I have to agree with all of your comments, especially Lynn Stalone’s! Being an extroverted, people person, I can’t tell you how many times people have approached me or have been coming in my direction and I thought they were interacting with me, only to find out they were on the line! The other thing that drives me, is the tellers and counter people, at service areas (the parking attendant, the movie cashier, the hostess in the restaurant at the golf club)!
One of the worse for me: imagine you’re in Zermatt, Austria. On top of one of the higher peaks, surrounded by snow and wondrous mountains. The tram is swishing up the hill, with all the passengers, laughing and awe struck, speaking German, French, English, Japanese…..as you make your way up to your drop off area, where you’re going to enjoy skiing down that magnificent slope and just as you’re all enjoying the sighting of a rare mountain goat on a distant peak, an obnoxious rap, hip hop, ring tone goes off in your ear, ensued by the loud foreign conversation, completely drowning the sights, smells and sounds that are nature!!!
I suppose it’s the age and the fact that the modern day young one’s have this tool as part of their world and there is no differentiation in the where and the how. I suppose I should be glad the prior predictions of social recluse syndrome and withdrawal from society, are no longer valid!
Diane B. says:
Just when I thought I had seen it all while commuting, I saw this on 2 separate occasions — driving a motorcycle and talking on the cell phone (the actual phone not a Bluetooth device) on the highway.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Diane,
Wow – I am glad I didn’t see that it probably would have forced me to take me eyes off the road in amazement!
I wish he would have gotten pulled over and had a nice chat from a police officer.
Merrill
Dan Ness says:
Mostly, I’ve been more astonished than annoyed.
Here on Southern California beaches I’ve seen couples walking hand in hand, each holding a phone and talking to someone else. Makes you wonder. I’ve seen little kids, probably less than 10, talking while on their bikes. Lots of skateboarders on the phone during their ‘commute’ around town. No surfers yet, though. (are waterproof cellphones the next new product segment??)
Scariest for me is simply trying to cross the street. Many times, talking drivers pull up to a stop sign, pause the car, then just go ahead, pedestrians or not. Yikes!
Funniest one was the woman in a local gift shop. She was checking voicemail with her phone set on speaker so the ENTIRE store could hear her good news: the plastic surgeon’s office called to say her new breasts were in and could she call to set an appointment…
Kelly Heatly says:
…within 10 feet of someone else. Cell phones are like cigarettes — it’s a personal choice to use them but using them effects those nearby. So, perhaps we’ll see signs prohibiting cell phone usage in more areas. I already see these signs in doctor’s offices, religious centers, and government offices. What’s next…restaurants? Probably not, but maybe we’ll see designated cell phone talking areas.
Like anything else, you can’t enforce good manners, but you can enforce behavior that achieves the same result.
Willie Martin says:
In a car and at Starbucks in a long line. Usually the one who places a big order for a bunch of people too!
I am guilty of cell phone usage while driving. The bigger question might be, what pct of people are texting as opposed to talking? It’s a problem in my restaurant as well.
Take care Merrill!