What is considered acceptable these days regarding cell phone calls?

[ThomCat]

It seems to me that people take/make personal calls and speak loudly, inflicting their personal business upon everyone around them almost anywhere these days.

In restaurants. On public transportation. In waiting rooms. In closely packed lines in stores.

It even seems like people will have very personal (intimate, potentially embarrassing) cell phone conversations, loudly, in places where they wouldn't have the same conversation if they were face to face.

Are there rules about where people can and cannot talk on the phone anymore, or can anyone talk anywhere at this point?

[Starry Messenger]

1. My students answer them in class.

I hear that's getting pretty common. I teach ceramics and it's pretty casual, but I still make them take it outside to have their call. I can't imagine what it would be like to have that happen while trying to give a lecture.

Funerals?

[ThomCat]

3. A lot of people wear bluetooth earpieces all the time

so you often don't know if they are on a call or not. That has to be even more frustrating. When you look out at your classroom are some of your students wearing those, and constantly prepared to answer their phones at any moment?

That seems like it must be very distracting for the professor.

[Starry Messenger]

6. Oh no! Nothing so subtle.

:) Usually a loud ringtone song and they flip them right open in class. "Hi! Oh, I'm in class! Yeah, she's looking right at me!" I teach classes at a high school where the kids get college credit through the local JC when they take my class, so they're still a little immature. Usually pretty funny, though!

I hear it goes on at big people college, too. I'm sure it must be a total PITA.

[whistler162]

42. Have you considered one day....

taking a phone call at the beginning of class and carrying on a conversation all during class.

Then a minute before class lets out end the conversation. Then announce that there will be a test on what was learned in that days class next week.

[Oeditpus Rex]

2. What's acceptable is ripping the phone from the hand of anyone

talking in the situations you describe and throwing it as hard as you can, preferably against something large and made of concrete.

[ThomCat]

4. I often wish I could do that.

Ever since the stroke, or whatever it was that happened to me (They're still trying to figure it out) too much competing background noise really bugs me.

I get confused because I can't filter it out anymore. If I'm trying to listen to one person who's supposed to be the one talking, and other people are chattering nearby, I would really love to be able to break those phones. :)

[Oeditpus Rex]

7. Maybe while I'm soupin' your scooter

I can put lasers in your eyes. :evilgrin:


Ooooo, and web shooters! :bounce:



Seriously, man — I wonder if the folks who started cellular technology envisioned people acting like patoots with 'em.

[ThomCat]

9. Yay! I want Lasers!

And a horn that says "Get out of my way you Damned Tourist!" :evilgrin:

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. That'd involve electronics

which is my weak automotive point. :(



I could install it, though. :)

[JenaLaw]

20. oh PLEASE!

You really do need that...when do we officially declare it 'tourist season'?

[ThomCat]

21. Tourist Season!

:woohoo:

[JenaLaw]

32. well...

if they can hunt ducks/deer/rabbit in that season (and keep in mind that I am an amimal friendly peson and very anti-hunting..._

then, isn't it logical that we hunt tourists in Tourist Season?

but to be fair to the tourists, we can post notices of when the hunting season is coming up...something like "CAUTION: TOURIST HUNTING SEASON...JAN 15TH--JAN 13TH. FOLLOW SAFETY GUIDELINES"...

What do you think?

[BlueJazz]

46. I'd LOVE to have one of these fuckers. >>>>>

http://www.phonejammer.com/product.php?productid=16139&cat=249&page=1

[TreasonousBastard]

5. I was on the Long Island Railroad a while back...

and after being forced to listen to some asshole talking business casually pretended to make a call telling my broker to dump all his stock.

And then "called" a lot of friends.

[ThomCat]

8. That's got to feel like being a captive audience.

:(

On the subways most people either don't have signal, or they're packed in too tight to use their phones. So there is a limit.

On the ferrys you can usually move to get away from the loud people.

But on the above ground trains like the LIR you're stuck, and everyone else can have their phones out. x(

[DarkTirade]

11. That's why I ended up getting unlimited text messages...

completely non-intrusive, and you can send silly pictures with it. :P Last text message I sent had this one.



No, wait... maybe it was this one.

[ThomCat]

12. Text messages are preferable IF

people aren't walking while they are texting.

@#$%&! If someone is texting and walking at the same time they aren't watching where they are going. They need to put down the damned phone, look up, and watch where they are going.

If they want to text, they should stand someplace to the side, or sit down. Then it's fine. :)

[DarkTirade]

14. Yeah, driving/walking while texting is bad.

[Mollis]

16. I can walk and text at the same time.

But...I usually step aside and finish it up before I continue on my way. :)

[mwooldri]

13. That's why on some trains in the UK they have...

...quiet coaches, where cell phone and multimedia device use is highly discouraged.

Mark.

[ThomCat]

15. We need that here.

But what do we do about noisy sidewalks and hallways and waiting rooms and everyplace else. :(

Sometimes it seems impossible to escape the noise.

[NewJeffCT]

17. There are no rules

and, if you think people with cellphones are bad here in the US, try going to a big city in China, where it's already almost a cultural norm for people to interrupt personal conversations by taking cellphone calls.

[ThomCat]

22. That would drive me batty.

x(

But I see that starting here too. You're having a conversation and they look to see who is calling to decide whether or not to interrupt your conversation to take that call.

That's what voice mail is for!

[NewJeffCT]

30. voice mail is a no-no in China

If you're important, you have a secretary/assistant to answer your calls. If not, you pretend you have one that just didn't answer the call in time. You don't listen to voice mails if you got them, but nobody would leave them anyhow.

[ThomCat]

33. Wow. That's interesting to know.

That must make for a big underground industry of receptionists and secretaries, and a whole lot of calls getting forwarded from one place to another.

[Rhythm]

18. Some woman in the restroom drove me nuts on her phone the other day

I was not feeling well, and was relieved to find the restroom completely empty, so that i could be sick if necessary without grossing anyone out. Then some woman on a phone came in, took about 10 minutes inside the stall beside me (including flushing at the conclusion)--gossiping excitedly all the while; i know i heard something about an unexpected 'love connection' between co-workers that was revealed at the office Christmas party--then continued on her conversation as she went back out into the hallway.

I wanted to yell, "Hang up and piss, already!" but somehow restrained myself. Wanted to find her in the hallway and ask her if her friend enjoyed the sound of her flushing... but just let it go.

What the fuck is wrong with some people?!

:banghead:

[ThomCat]

23. I have a friend who takes the phone with her into the bathroom.

Does anyone really want to hear her in the bathroom? I don't know why anyone would do that. :(

[hobbit709]

19. The last time I was at the movies

There was some jerk in front of me whose phone rang 3 times. After the last time I loudly told him if he didn't turn it off I was going to jam it up his ass so far that he would gag on it in the back of his throat. The people around us agreed with me-he got up and left.

[ThomCat]

24. Good for you.

I'm glad you could do that and get away with it. :)

It's not like they don't specifically ask you to turn off your cell phone before every single movie.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

25. It is interesting

As a general rule, people who use phones in public don't annoy me as much as they do others. Tht is, unless they are being overly rude, obnoxious or inconsiderate toward their fellow patrons. When I use my cell phone in public, it is usually a brief converation with a specific purpose -to confirm our meeting place for the evening or to notify a friend/family member waiting for me that the train will be arriving soon. As a general rule, I prefer keeping my private conversations private

But what really does annoy me (or rather what used to annoy me when I was university) is people who answer their cell phones during class and INSIST of having a conversation in the lecture theatre and holding up the lecture whilst they yammer on with their inconsequential conversation with their friend. I remember one annoying woman in my sociology class who did precisely this and she just sat there joking and laughing with her friend while the class class was kept waiting. Unfortunately our lecturer -a nice, gentle Scottish man -was too polite to call her out on it.

I much preferred the approach of my American history lecturer. He actually explicitly warned students not to answer cell phones in his class in his course guide for the subject. Unfortunately two idiots in the class decided to ignore his warning and answer their phones when they rang and proceeded to start talking to their friends and holding up the class. On both occasions, my lecturer glared at the offenders with a passionate expression of contempt and hatred that was quite impressive. They got the message very quickly

[ThomCat]

34. My peeve is people walking with cell phones

because they invariably walk in front of me (I'm in a wheelchair) because they don't see me, so I need to stop or swerve to avoid them. And if they walk into me they yell and scream as if I ran into them.

:wtf:

Start all the bad dialog about me needing a drivers license for my wheelchair and not knowing how to drive, etc. I've rarely had anyone apologize when it was them who walked into me, and I was the one doing all the dodging to avoid them.

Unfortunately, there is no stern professor with an angry glare out on a sidewalk to put them in their place. :P

[Roon]

26. Blue tooth drives me nuts

I think that someone is talking to me or they are talking to themselves. Once I realize they are talking on the phone, I want to wring their necks! Like someone in here said once,he liked the guy more when he thought he was talking to himself.

When I am on the bus i switch to vibrate and text.

[ThomCat]

35. I wonder if people are forgetting how to be quiet.

How to sit and think. We have a whole lot of people who feel the need to be talking constantly, except when they are watching some kind of media (the universal babysitter).

[spindrifter]

27. The cell phone thing is worse than smoking.

I deal with people every day who have their freaking Blackberries always within sight. They are constantly checking them to see what very important message has just arrived. I feel like telling them to excuse my presence if they are waiting for something that important. Really, like an above posting, I ache to rip the freaking gizmo out of their hands.
The worst is the clients. I have limited time, and I am a professional, so I feel it is totally inappropriate for them to interrupt our conferences with their text messages and calls from their friends.

[ThomCat]

36. Yes, in business meetings it is worse that rude.

It is unprofessional, and a total waste of everyone's time. I've been in meetings that should have taken 5 minutes that went on for an hour because someone important in the meeting kept letting himself get interrupted.

x(

[hippywife]

28. I dunno but

what is acceptable is not always what is right, no? :hi:

[ThomCat]

37. Right.

The right thing to do is often to turn off the phone, and only use it if you need to.

But many people just can't bring themselves to do that. They feel a need to be in constant contact with people other than the ones who are around them.

[skygazer]

29. Seemingly anything

I work in a grocery store and often have customers at the register with their phone jammed against their ear. They are almost always personal conversations (you can tell) and I will tell them flat out that I will be glad to help them as soon as they get off the phone. And then wait. :P

[ThomCat]

38. I hope that works.

And I hope your management backs you up on that. I can see someone obnoxious yelling at you for that.
:hug:

I like your idea. You shouldn't have to serve them if they won't even have the courtesy of acknowledging you and giving you their attention.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

31. Thank goddess for texting

I'm always mortified to have to answer my phone in an overly public place. It makes me feel like that guy from Trigger Happy TV with the giant phone who always yelled. My daughter actually channels that dude when someone else is annoying us. She'll hold the phone up and start yelling random shit about how she's on the phone and can't hear because some arsehole is talking too loud about *insert pertinent details we just learned from the other person's phone call*. It's amazing how infrequently they seem to grasp the point. (And yes, she makes me so proud.)

[ThomCat]

39. I have never seen that show,

but I can definitely see how it's appropriate humor. :P

But when people think they have a right to say or do something they before deliberately oblivious to how rude it might be to do it. When there is a conflict, they assume they're in the right.

I don't know if your daughter is being quite blatant enough to break through to them. :)

[fizzgig]

40. i don't see as being any different who have the same types of coversations face to face

i've heard people have some very personal conversations in restaurants, bars, lines, etc.

i don't really understand why people take such offense to people having loud conversations on cell phones but not when it's face to face. i think cell phones should be off limits in some settings, such as in movie theaters or while in class, but, again, i see no difference between such conversations held on cell phones and in person.

eta: people who talk on their phones while in the bathroom weird me out. i like to do that business as privately as possible.

[harmonicon]

41. i have no idea...

I remember, this was in the 90's, when someone would get a cell phone call in a coffee shop, they'd go outside to take the call, because taking a cell phone call in public like that when people were around trying to read, study, have a quiet conversation, etc. was considered rude. Now just taking the call is completely acceptable - I do it too. People are weird - that's all I know.

[rainbow4321]

43. The worst place I've seen one was at the gym..the lady next to me

who was on the treadmill was on her cell phone..I increased the volume on my iPod as I loud as I could tolerate but I still heard her yammering. She was going at a snail's pace on the treadmill so she could talk on it and not lose her breath while doing so, I assume. I did finally take my iPod earplugs out and request she get OFF the phone.

Cell phone use on mass trans drives me nuts. brief calls using inside voices I can tolerate, but when the phone user is LOUD and the call goes on forever...arrgggh. Thank goodness for my iPod.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

44. I was talking to my girlfriend while standing in a bank line today.

It was a LONG line.

:shrug:

If the others in line don't like it, that's their problem.

[jmm]

45. A phone should never be more important than the people in front of you.

As long as people follow typical face to face conversation etiquette I don't have a problem with cell phones. Once in a psychology class while a classmate was talking about having schizophrenia somebody took a call until the professor took the phone out of his hand. About four years ago I overheard a guy getting dumped via Nextel on a commuter rail ride. A friend and I got on the first stop and got off the last stop and literally for the entire 40 plus minute ride we heard the two of them going at it. At one point he kept telling her she was a bitch for embarrassing him on the train yet he still didn't turn the phone off or down when she went on about the time he spent in jail or all the women and men he cheated with.

Yeah there are always going to be rude people regardless of if they have a cell phone or not but many think a phone entitles them to disregard those around them.

If I'm forced to hear a conversation then somebody's made it my business so I've been known to jump in the conversation.