Mobiles seem to "encourage" bad behaviour

C

claridge

Cathlete
Ill get straight to the point

People who conduct a private conversation, on a mobile, in public, REALLY. REALLY PISS ME OFF!

I was standing in rather a long bank que today, that seemed to crawl at a slower pace than normal ( big sigh), so the last thing Im needing is for the Guy infront of me to answer his mobile and proceed to have a conversation.

Will, the tone of his voice got louder to whom ever he was talking to (it did sound business related), and although he didnt swear, he started to talk through gritted teeth - meaning he seriously wanted to curse, but at least for us, he had SOME manners not to.

About 2 minutes later (it seemed for ever) and to the relief of us all standing there pretending not to notice, not to hear (dah!!!), he disconnected the call. If this was at his home or office, you could imagine him slamming the receiver down, he was that angrey.

When I finally got home, I thought that maybe I should have said something to him (god knows what) but its just one example today of what Ive experienced more and more happening..........

I know I dont own "public space" but this sort of behaviour is going to intice "mobile rage" one day.

Have any of you said something to a mobile user in "your" space?

Marion
x(
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

People have the right to do as they please. Like you said, he wasn't swearing, so he did have some manners. Mobiles have become mainstream, everyone (almost)has one. They all get on our #### from time to time (the cinema is my biggie) but we can't let it bother us. And i think to say something to him would have made you look worse than his behaviour.

Good motto...think twice before saying nothing!
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

Marion - I've never understood why so many people are bothered by other people on their cell phones. Why is someone having a conversation on the phone any more bothersome than someone having a conversation with a person standing next to them? It seems like the man was doing his best to exercise control. I get very bothered when ANYONE gets hot-headed in public, even if their target is right there. Actually, that would be worse because I would have more empathy for said target and would probably say something I shouldn't.

Is it because a cell phone conversation grabs your attention more that it bothers you? (and by "you", I mean people in general). I seem to be more distracted by this myself, but don't get bothered by it (unless I see a parent at dinner with his children and ignoring them while he's on the phone). And when I was in college at SUNY at Buffalo, which is an extremely diverse campus), I was always bothered when people of different cultures sat near me in the lunch rooms and started having a convesation in a language I didn't understand. If they were speaking American, I wouldn't have even registered their conversation - but as soon as a couple Japanese or Indian people sat down - I couldn't read my book anymore.

Weird.
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

What's truly amazing about the Cell Phone Addict crowd is the type and number of private matters they feel appropriate to discuss in bank queues, bathrooms, buses, cinemas, churches, restaurants, plane seats, produce areas of grocery stores, gym locker rooms, studios during group fitness classes . . . and then they have the nerve to act surprised when you quote back to them the results of their latest pap smears, their credit card numbers, their break-up woes, their latest argument with their mistress, their children's latest bowel movement problems, what have you.

Rights, folks, confer responsibilities. Where do the rights of hapless, involuntary listeners to cell phone drivellers begin? You can't shut your ears the way you can shut your eyes.

A-Cell-Phone-Phree-Jock
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

For me it depends on where I am. Like, I REALLY hate it when I'm having dinner in a nice restaurant & someone's cell at the table next to mine rings, & they actually answer. I won't even bring my cell into any social setting b/c I think it's very rude.

But my major pet peeve is when I'm on one of the cardio machines at the gym & someone's talking on a cell. Partly b/c I read when I do my cardio (it seems to go faster when my mind's occupied) & it's distracting, & partly b/c if you can have a long, complicated conversation on the phone when you're working out, then you're not working out hard enough.
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

A colleague of mine once remarked that there's something really distracting about hearing 1/2 of a conversation. For some reason, it's much more distracting than two people having a conversation, possibly due to the fact that someone talking on a cell phone does so much louder than two people talking face-to-face.

The only thing that bothers me about public cell phone usage (not all users, of course) is that some people become completely oblivious to what's going on around them when they're using them - i.e. a woman walking to her car in a grocery store parking lot stops in the middle of the lot to answer her phone, and continues to talk while traffic can't get around her (I was one of those drivers).

Maybe cell phone radiation really does affect some users' brains.}(
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

Let me rant with you!!

I cannot STAND use of cell phones in public, especially when it seems that most people who use them don't use a "private" voice, but talk as if they are speaking to someone right next to them.

They're great for emergencies, and I have no problem with people using them when they're sitting in their (PARKED) car, or off in a corner somewhere, but not while driving (I once saw a man smoking AND talking on a cell phone trying to make a left turn...not too easily I might add, and with no turn signal because, of course, the cig and the phone were more important than letting anyone else on the road know what he was planning to do).

I was at the post office the other day when the woman at the front of the line, who was on her cell phone, stepped up to the counter, NEVER stopped talking to the person on the phone, and pretty much ignored the postal employee who was helping her. When I got to the counter, I asked the employee (who knows me well from all the Ebay mailing I do!) how he liked people talking on phones when he's dealing with them, and he agreed it was rude.
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

There is a sign here at the post office near my work that says, "we'll be happy to assist you when you've finished your call" or something to that effect. They will defer to the next person (who is not on the phone) in line.
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

You wouldn't believe the number of times I've had crime victims, from whom I'm taking formal tape-recorded question and answer statements for use in the prosecution of violent crime incidents, whip their cells out when they ring and start talking to God-Knows-Who about God-Knows-What - totally unrelated to the case at hand, I might add.

Not to mention the number of bus passengers who, every day without fail when they get two minutes within their destination, call home to tell their spouses they're almost home. Every. *&^%ing. Day.

Not to mention the people walking around on the street with those frightful handless jobs and talking to thin air. They look like people who were released from psychiatric facilities in error. Makes me want to put them in pairs so that they look like they're having a real conversation.

A-Jock
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

>Not to mention the people walking around on the street with
>those frightful handless jobs and talking to thin air. They
>look like people who were released from psychiatric facilities
>in error. Makes me want to put them in pairs so that they
>look like they're having a real conversation.

That's funny!!
Also, people can't seem to exit an airplane and whip out their cell phone. In most cases though, I'm just glad they're not talking to me.
>
Susan C.M.
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

Personally I think it is very rude the way some people act while they are on their cell phone. Most of the time when I see someone talking on their cell phone in public they become oblivious of others and become very impolite. For example, taking up the whole aisle in the grocery store and then when you say "Excuse me" they look like it was your fault and how dare you bother them. My MIL gets tired of saying excuse me so now she says "Get the f**k out of my way" when someone is intentionally being rude. What can I say? She is very outspoken. I could never do that because that is rude too.

I do not own a cell phone, but I used to just for emergencies. My question is what is so important that someone can't reach you in the privacy of your own home? I realize that emergencies happen and it is a great thing to be able to be reached at a moments notice in those circumstances. However, most of the time the conversation could wait until you get home. Personally I would not like for anyone to feel free to call me just to bullsh*t while I am in public. Besides with identity theft on the rise, when someone is on the phone they give out more info than they think they do because they are engrossed in the conversation.

Also, driving while on cell phones should be illegal. On more than one occasion I have almost been hit by someone talking on their cell while driving, and in all of those cases had the accident occurred it would have been there fault.

All in all I believe cell phones are okay in public as long as they are used responsibly, but too often people are engrossed in their mobile conversation that they "forget" about the people around them, i.e. friends sitting at the same tabel meeting them for lunch, clerks, etc. and forget about common courtesy.

I guess it all boils down to manners. Those who don't have good manners to begin with certainly won't display them if they are talking on the phone.
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

I too have a mobile and am generally not bothered by them but, I think the behavior that bothers me is the louder voice and when the user becomes oblivious to those around them. The other day in the parking lot, we were stuck behind someone on his mobile, and he was veering from side to side, extremely slow (practically a crawl), etc. while people were stacked up behind him. Or at a store or mall and a child is crying or misbehaving and mom is oblivious because she is chatting, etc. That type of behavior bugs me. I am all for them, but just as long as people realize where they are, what is going on, etc. Anyway...
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

I ask that question all the time--what's so important that these people can't wait til they're in the privacy of their own homes? Before my boss forced me to carry a cell phone (and agreed to pay for it, so I gave in) I left mine in the car 24/7 b/c it was for emergencies only.

Which reminds me of another pet peeve--people who take calls on their cell when they're at work. They're supposed to be working, not chatting w/their friends/spouses/family/whoever.

Talking on a cell while driving is illegal in NJ, but it's not enforced. I have to admit I've done it myself on occasion, mostly b/c the stupid hands free thing only works half the time & ends up being more distracting than the phone itself.

Do you ever wonder what Thomas Jefferson or Ben Franklin would think if they were transported into 2004? How freaked out would they be to see people driving around in big machines while talking into little ones? :)
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

Well, I have been in a room with a Doc before who was doing a pap smear on some woman that was busy talking on her cell with her legs spread open on stirrups. Go figure. Doc was not pleased.

Marla
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

I hate my cell phone but DH lives on his and he thinks everyone else should have one to, so he went and bought me one.I often let the battery go dead OR I forget to take it with me.And then when he is trying to reach me and he can't....he's not so happy with me(least of my worries):)
It is great is you are stuck somewhere or whatever but I am either at home or work, no one needs to get me that fast.
We were at a SPA a couple of monthes back,nice quiet area, and there was a lady in the waiting room ,chatting on her phone, she was loud and very annoying,you could hear her all over the SPA.She was talking about her kids shoes.I swear to God that she thought she was the only one in the place.I thought it was very rude and so did everyone else.
Lori:)
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

>>
>Not to mention the people walking around on the street with
>those frightful handless jobs and talking to thin air. They
>look like people who were released from psychiatric facilities
>in error. Makes me want to put them in pairs so that they
>look like they're having a real conversation.
>
That's my husband! I know he looks crazy and he is one of those nuts who turns it on as soon as he gets off the plane. But usually it is just so he can call his lonely wife and two beautiful daughters and let them know that daddy is finally on his way after a long week away from home! So, I guess that I don't care if he looks looney or is annoying the person next to him to give us a quick call. Most of our communication throughout the work week is via the cell phone.
Gotta run - my cell phone is ringing!;-)
Bobbi
 
RE: Mobiles seem to

I could come up with a ton of examples that make me crazy, but the top 2 are:
1. The doctor where I work is examining the patient. He needs to ask the client (owner) questions because he sure as heck can't ask the dog! And, he needs to listen to the heart...sometimes for several minutes if he thinks he's hearing a murmur. And you know what happens! The polite ones excuse themselves from the room just long enough to explain they are not available & will call back later. The oblivious ones...vast majority...will stand there next to the doctor yakking away about all kinds of nonsense and yes, the voice is always louder than normal.
2. The clerk at the store who waited on me (and the 5 people in front of me) while conducting a trivial and...yes...loud conversation on his cell the entire time. When I needed to ask him a question, he was quite obviously annoyed that I had interrupted him! For crying out loud!! x(

~sigh~
Ruth
 
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