Man Decides To 'Do Something' About Cursing Cell Phone User

[Lady Effingbroke]

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Even lawyers were giving the thumbs-up to a man sentenced in a Minnesota court Tuesday.

Bill Stevenson pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after tussling with a man half his age at a restaurant in July. The man was shouting obscenities during a cell phone call and Stevenson grabbed the phone when the man refused to take his call outside.

The 79-year-old retiree says at the time, he thought "Somebody's got to do something."

Stevenson got three months probation. He says he's had over 30 calls and letters and e-mails, adding "They're all on my side."

LINK

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. I'm on his side too!

Good job Stevenson!!!! :thumbsup:

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Me Too, Mrs. G!

And, he was willing to suffer the consequences for doing what he thought was the right thing! Stand up guy! Yeah, what he did was illegal, and there's no law against being an idiot with a cellphone. But, nobody gets hurt and Stevenson stood by his actions and took his medicine. Good for him.
The Professor

[Tempest]

3. I would have taken the phone outside and thrown it in the street

And hopefully it was a busy street.

[johnnie]

4. I would have kicked the old fool's ass

That's all I need, is some old guy to grab my phone and act like he owns the restaurant because HE doesn't like other people talking on the phone. The younger guy probably wasn't really that loud, it's just that some people seem aggravated over anything someone does that they don't like. There are a lot of people on this planet and some people should learn that the world doesn't spin around their ass.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. "the world doesn't spin around their ass" - hence, the reason

why people whouldn't talk on cell phones in restaurants. Certainly not loudly swearing.

[johnnie]

9. I know that once in a while somebody cuts me off on the road

I have yet to ram my car into theirs because they were being inconsiderate to me as a driver. I can't stand when people wear so much cologne or perfume that I can barely breathe, I don't tell them to go stand somewhere else or push them to the floor and tell them they are pissing me off.
Some people are just rude and only think about themselves, that's the way it is. Grabbing someone,s phone because they are making you angry is just as rude as the person yelling on the phone. Are we supposed to attack everyone because we don't like the way they are? Oh yeah..this is America, we do attack people for everything that we don't agree with...forget it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

30. Yeah, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

blah blah blah blah blah blah let me offer an irrelevant analogy blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah no I didn't read the article blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah here's how one can take something entirely out of context and build a strawman out of it blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

[Donkeyboy75]

6. Which is why you shouldn't be cussing

on a fucking cell phone in the middle of the restaurant. I would think that talking on a cell phone in the middle of a restaurant would imply that you think the world spins around YOUR ass. It's not hard to take it outside. It's also simple courtesy.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. I Would Have Said That About The Phone User

You must not get out much. This is an EXTREMELY common and highly irritating problem.

People, in a public place, carrying on a phone call, of which we are privvy to only half, speaking in a loud voice. Either they don't care that they're bothering others, or they're too ignorant to know it's annoying to others. Either way, it's obnoxious behavior, indicative of someone who thinks the world spins around THEM!
The Professor

[johnnie]

10. So when someone irritates you

You decide that you are more important than they are and take action? If a couple is having a "loud" conversation at the table next to you in a public place you tell them to please leave because they are being too loud for you?

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Gee, I Don't Remember Saying Any Such Thing!

Can you cite EXACTLY where i said i would do such a thing? I'll wait.

Don't be such a punk!
The Professor

[johnnie]

13. You DIDN'T say such a thing

If you read my post there these things that look like this "?". Those are question marks which means I am asking you a question. I am asking because of the way you expressed your view made me think that you were sticking up for the old guy and he had the right to do what he did. So I ASKED you if you would do the same.
You are funny.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Glad To Be Amusing

Ever heard of the words "inference" or "implication"? How about "connotative"?

You're post was OBVIOUSLY attempting to place motivation. So, no i wouldn't have. I would have called the police. Happy now?

Swearing loudly into a cellphone in a public place meets the definition of public nuisance. (Cite: General Law, Mann & Roberts) So, just so you are aware, you are defending someone who was breaking the law!

The guy who did take the phone away, also broke the law, but he fessed up and took his medicine. Your obnoxious little buddy has not. He will get ZERO sympathy from me. He's a punk! And, you're defending him. Birds of a feather, i guess.
The Professor

[johnnie]

18. That's twice you have called me a punk

Unfortunately you need to call people names cancels out your attempt at trying to impress me with big words. I think if you read my posts you will see that I wasn't defending the "punk" (you must like that word), I was just saying that the old man had no right to do what he did in a private establishment.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Yawn!

Act like a punk, get called one. You started this whole thing by saying you would have beaten the old man's ass. Thus, my inference was incorrect? I don't think so.

You asked my if i would resort to violence, as if you were above it all. However, your first reaction was a violent and visceral one. You would have beaten his ass? Really? Well, johnnie, that is the response of a punk.

The guy on the phone, who wouldn't shut up when asked to do so, more than once, also was exhibiting the behavior of a punk. And YOU are castigating the person who had had enough! Well, the idiot with the cellphone gets no sympathy from me. None!

And sorry if you're offended. But, you were the one who wanted to beat someone up, not me. I can only draw conclusions from the available data, and my first piece of data was the title of your first post. The "punk" in the restaurant got his hat handed him, and you took issue with the older man. Not one word, in your first post, about the boorish behavior of the phone caller. Only later did you get around to claiming you were not defending him. Well, actually you were the whole time. All the way to the point where you were suggesting the remedy of beating up a 71 year old man.

Does this not meet the definition of punk?
The Professor

[johnnie]

22. Well

I'm probably a punk. I wasn't trying for a pissing contest here, and maybe saying I would have "kicked his ass" was too much. I have been in 2 fights in my 40 years and I don't resort to violence in anything I do.
Yes, my issue was with the old man for doing what he did and I didn't mention the guy on the phone because I don't care that he was yelling. I still say that the old man went overboard in someone else's place of business and he is no hero of mine. You can pat the vigilantes on the back all you want, but I believe in other means.
Maybe "kick his ass" was strong, but if somebody was taking my property out of my hand I have every right to defend myself and my property in the means I would find necessary. To each his own I guess.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Well, We Have Arrived At Common Ground

If you didn't mean that you would really kick his ass, then i didn't mean you were a punk. I only went by what i read.

We can disagree civilly on who was the real culprit in this case. But, if you say you're not a violent person, i believe you. Thus, the only punk in this case is the boorish twit with the cellphone.

Also, note johnnie, i never said the older gentleman didn't deserve his 3 months probation. He did. But, sometimes people just feel they are serving the greater good, even if it breaks the law. (I presume the initials MLK will ring a bell.)

When someone is truly exhibiting nuisance behavior and will not cease and desist, the greater good is sometimes served by ignoring the misdemeanor laws. That's sort of what civil disobedience is all about.
The Professor

[johnnie]

33. I understand where you are coming from.

I just look at it differently. Sorry if I came across the wrong way.
:toast:

[TXlib]

32. He uses big words because he is well-educated

Something which, I suspect, you are not.

[Rabrrrrrr]

34. LOL!

Give 'em hell, TXlib.

:hi:

[johnnie]

41. Yeah, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

:eyes:

[ProfessorGAC]

35. Well, Highly Educated Anyway.

I went to school for a long, long time, so i've got LOTS of education. Whether i was WELL educated is strictly a matter of opinion. johnnie and i are ok, now, though.
The Professor

[johnnie]

37. No..not really

I went through high school, but we didn't have the money for further education. I went out into the work force and joined the union at 18. I tried to get more schooling in, but just never could get the money.
I did put myself through tech school and I am the only engineer at my company without a degree, but that is just because I worked hard.
I read a lot and try to educate myself when I can, but I never had the ability to grow my vocabulary. I try.
Unfortunately, I get lost when someone uses a lot of big words because I don't take the time to look them all up.

[TXlib]

46. Sorry for my being an ass.

I guess I came online lookin' for a fight today...

[johnnie]

47. It's cool man

I don't like to get into any sort of argument on here. I have been here two years and try not to cause problems. I like the people here and don't want enemies. We are cool ..I hope. :toast:

[skygazer]

12. Judging from the article

It sounds like he was asked to take the call outside since he was disturbing others and he refused.

Sounds to me like he decided HE was more important than anyone else. Why are you sticking up for a rude, foulmouthed, noisy boor?

No one here is advocating beating people up without provocation but when someone ignores the wishes of everyone around him as well as a polite request that he take his conversation outside, I think firmer action is justified.

[johnnie]

14. I'm really not sticking up for the phone yeller

I was just saying that there are a lot of people who are irritating in this world and instead of the knee jerk reaction this guy had, I think he could have handled it better. Maybe making a complaint to the manager might have been better. If we all go off on people that irritate us we would all be fighting.

[ronnykmarshall]

25. OK say it wasn't a cell phone.

Some asshole is yelling is cussing at someone sitting at the table with him/her.

They have the right to do that, correct?

What really sucks is that man should not have had to take matters in his own hands, the staff of the resturant should have thrown his selfish ass out.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. They Should Have Called The Cops

That guys behavior DOES constitute arrest for disturbing the peace and being a public nuisance. (As i said earlier, the cite is "General Law" Mann & Roberts.)

So, the staff didn't even have to take it their own hands. They could have just called the cops.
The Professor

[ronnykmarshall]

36. That's for sure.

I was in a resturant at Bally's Casino in Vegas. There was this table of three idiots. This one guy kept trying to charge the meal to a bogus room. Then put a piece of fruit in his water glass and complained to the waitress and was basically being a childish drunk jerk. All three of them were just jerks. They were in their early 30's to late 20's.

The manager of the resturant did NOTHING and the poor waitress had to put up with their crap. We ended up tipping her 100% of OUR bill. ($30)

As they (the jerks) left I made a comment of my own as to what assholes they were.

Funny part was as we left the resturant they were waiting for us. The loud mouth jerk wanted to pick a fight. I just turned and in my best "bad ass New Yorker" voice (I'm from L.A.) said "WHAT?" "Whadda want?", little jerk just sorta staggared off.

I felt so BUTCH!~!

[ProfessorGAC]

43. Funny Story

But, doesn't exactly make me want to visit Vegas! LOL!
The Professor

[redqueen]

7. Good for him!

People are so rude and inconsiderate these days.

[Modem Butterfly]

15. So assault and disorderly conduct are okay now?

In order to stop what he perceived to be inappropriate conduct, this old "gentleman" (using the term loosely) created an even bigger scene. It all goes to prove that there's no fool like an old fool.

[Jack_Dawson]

19. In this case? Yup

If he shot him dead I wouldn't care. Cursing Cellphone Guy got off easy.

[Modem Butterfly]

23. Wow. You're a really sick fuck, do you know that?

Man. That's just sad.

[Jack_Dawson]

28. Oh please I was kidding.

But seriously, I support the old man. People yammering on cellphones with profanity-laced tirades have no place in society.

If you're not bothered by it, more power to you.

[Modem Butterfly]

39. Well that's good. I thought you were channeling your inner Freeper

I'm not sure if I would be bothered by it or not- context is everything. In a place like the mall or a fast-food restaurant it probably wouldn't bother me much. But I do like to stare at people having very vocal cell conversations. I figure that if they're working so hard to involve other people, the least we can do is give them an audience. They usually shut up quick.

[ProfessorGAC]

29. So, Disturbing The Peace & Public Nuisance Laws Are Useless?

The cellphone user was violating ordinances as well. Think about who's side your on.
The Professor

[Modem Butterfly]

40. No. But vigilantism is not an answer

The answer to someone who assaults your ears is not to assault their person. Personally, I refuse to take sides when both parties are wrong.

[ProfessorGAC]

42. It Seemed You DID Take Sides

I apologize if that's incorrect. It appeared that you had taken sides with the boorish twit.
The Professor

[Modem Butterfly]

44. Which boorish twit would that be?

The first boorish twit who lacks self-control or the second boorish twit who lacks self-control? Not very attractive choices there.

[ProfessorGAC]

45. I Concur

Nowhere in any of my posts do i suggest that the older fellow didn't deserve the probation he received. I am not his biggest fan either. But, sometimes jerks need to have it explained to them just how big a jerk they are. For that, i do applaud him. The law breaking part, i can't defend.
The Professor

[RetroLounge]

16. Good for him. Maybe he can donate his spine

to Dems.

RL

[Jack_Dawson]

20. LOL n/t

[ronnykmarshall]

24. Good for him.

People need to use some sort of courtesy when using the phone. Cussing like a sailor is WAY out of line.

[Modem Butterfly]

38. I don't know that this is the solution though

This sounds to me like a case of two wrongs. I certainly have been disturbed by inappropriate and/or extremely loud cell phone calls. But I would be more disturbed by a physical altercation. Talk about a lack of courtesy!

[guitar man]

31. Haha

That sounds like my Dad. I remember him getting all over a bunch of filthy mouth punks in a restaraunt for cussing excessively in front of my mother.