People on Cellphones--"Get a Room"?

[3113]

So I'm at the coffeehouse and some lady is sitting at a table, phone glued to her ear, chatting with her friend at length. I mean, at length, like an hour. Non-stop conversation about anything and everything. And I'm wondering...why is this so annoying to me? I mean, if her friend was there they'd be having the same conversation only with two voices rather than just hers. Why is her one voice--and that image of her with phone at her ear--so annoying?

Is it that we can't stand hearing just one voice yammering away? Is it that the person on the phone is louder than if someone was with her? Would she and her friend be more considerate of the other people in the coffeehouse and keeping their voices down if they were both there?

I'll tell you one thing, and this is probably not true of the up-and-coming generation raised with cellphones and used to them...I see someone on the phone like that and I feel like they ought to be in their own home, in their kitchen or living room.

Am I feeling the same "Get a room!" discomfort some feel when they see couples going at it?

 

[trysail]

I was out running yesterday and unfortunately happened upon one of my all-time "hot button" pet peeves. I run a course through the woods. There are a number of reasons I do this— not the least of which is that the ground afoot is not as hard as pavement and I especially like the solitude, the quiet and the serenity.

As I neared the end, I encountered a fat, dumbass woman waddling along the path loudly jabbering on her cellphone. It's not the first time I've come across a similar obscenity. This one was a beaut; she could be heard for fifty yards in every direction. And— by god— ten minutes later, while cooling off from my run, she emerged from the woods STILL BLABBING AWAY ON THE GODDAMNED PHONE!

I have no wish to be accused of sexism, nevertheless, I swear it seems to me that women are the offenders every goddamn time. Why in fuck do these birdbrains feel a need to stroll through the woods blabbering and making a din on their cellphones? It is incredibly self-centered and inconsiderate. Believe it or not, there are some of us out there who'd rather hear the blue jays, the cicadas, the doves, the bullfrogs, the cardinals or the crows than your insipid conversation. It makes absolutely no sense to me. How can someone fail to realize how annoying it is to those who go into the woods for some peace and quiet?

... and it's not just individual women on cellphones. In another area of the country where I spend some time, I'll frequently encounter two or more women out jogging in the woods while they simultaneously carry on a full-blown, non-stop conversation. It's all I can do to restrain myself from commiting assault and battery— they are, after all, assaulting and battering my peace and quiet.

 

[GinaTina]

You're not alone.

I don't have a cell phone and I never plan on getting one. We were just fine before they were invented.

I have a land line - and even that one gets on my nerves when it rings. If I had it my way, it'd be used for 911 and nothing else.

But then again, I'm an extreme introvert.

 

[sr71plt]

A couple of years ago we took one of those small, one-SUV tours to the rim of the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas. All four of the two couples with us were on their cell phones the whole time--including while we were at the canyon. They only got out of the vehicle to go to the can--and were still on the cell phones when they did that.

 

[3113]

You're not alone.

I"m not fond of phones either, but I do find cellphones useful enough that I don't want them gone. I'm glad that I can make phone calls from hotels without having to pay extra to the hotel (not to mention figuring out what I need to dial to get an outside line), that I can call a restaurant from my car if I'm late for a reservation, or to a friend if I'm not going to be able to meet them, or if I just can't find where they're sitting. I also like that I don't have to search for a pay phone or change for a pay phone when I need to make a call, no matter the emergency. I'm sure I'd be very happy for having a cellphone if I were trapped or in trouble. I like that I can make a quick call to my husband while at the store to find out if the milk has expired or call him if he's out and remind him to pick up cat food (better than having him come home and be sent back out for the cat food).

All positives in favor of cellphones. For all that, I can't understand coming to a packed coffee house and acting like you're alone in your own home, as if there was no one else there.

A couple of years ago we took one of those small, one-SUV tours to the rim of the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas. All four of the two couples with us were on their cell phones the whole time--including while we were at the canyon. They only got out of the vehicle to go to the can--and were still on the cell phones when they did that.

So I guess part of the annoyance is wondering why these people are bothering to leave their homes when all they're going to do is talk on their cells.

 

[Handley_Page]

Perhaps the telephone company is not charging enough for the calls?
In the UK we get charged by the minute, unless you are on a contract (so much per month), in which case there's still a top limit of minutes.

I'm just waiting for someone in my local shop to loose his/her patience with some young twerpette and either take the thing off her and switch it off, break it, or eject her from the shop.

There really should be a sign or two in more than the local Hospital;

"Please switch off your mobile 'phone."

 

[sr71plt]

So I guess part of the annoyance is wondering why these people are bothering to leave their homes when all they're going to do is talk on their cells.

That and trying to enjoy the countryside wedged in with four folks from New Jersey individually yakking about how expensive the hotels are in Las Vegas, how much pipe needs to be ordered for "the job," how expensive the food is in Las Vegas, and how her hysterectomy went.

 

[R. Richard]

Perhaps the telephone company is not charging enough for the calls?
In the UK we get charged by the minute, unless you are on a contract (so much per month), in which case there's still a top limit of minutes.

I'm just waiting for someone in my local shop to loose his/her patience with some young twerpette and either take the thing off her and switch it off, break it, or eject her from the shop.

There really should be a sign or two in more than the local Hospital;

"Please switch off your mobile 'phone."

Better, "Please switch off your mobile 'phone or else!"

 

[jomar]

That and trying to enjoy the countryside wedged in with four folks from New Jersey individually yakking about how expensive the hotels are in Las Vegas, how much pipe needs to be ordered for "the job," how expensive the food is in Las Vegas, and how her hysterectomy went.

Wasn't Snookie and the Situation and the Jersey Shore group, was it?

 

[sr71plt]

Better, "Please switch off your mobile 'phone or else!"

Best: Strategically placed trash bins with signs over them: "Place all cell phones here."

 

[sr71plt]

Wasn't Snookie and the Situation and the Jersey Shore group, was it?

Don't know. Can't watch that. The voice tones are like fingernails on chalk boards to me.

 

[jomar]

Don't know. Can't watch that. The voice tones are like fingernails on chalk boards to me.

Not a Joisey fan? Alcohol helps.

 

[sr71plt]

Not a Joisey fan? Alcohol helps.

It's not New Jersey itself--it's the accent. Probably running into accents from parts of New York. I'll start shaking whenever I hear Fran Drescher gear up.

 

[jomar]

It's not New Jersey itself--it's the accent. Probably running into accents from parts of New York. I'll start shaking whenever I hear Fran Drescher gear up.

I laughed.

Fran Drescher gives me the heebie jeebies when she talks.

 

[Khvalovsky]

I've stopped enjoying to talk by cell phone

You're not alone.

I don't have a cell phone and I never plan on getting one. We were just fine before they were invented.

I have a land line - and even that one gets on my nerves when it rings. If I had it my way, it'd be used for 911 and nothing else.

But then again, I'm an extreme introvert.

We met on the 21-st of September 2009 and she asked my phone number to write it down just in case of need. I'm a tutor of English and have been accustomed to giving my phone number. A young girl of 22 and a mother of a sweet baby who was in the pram of his. We've been familiar with her husband's aunt and all the four including Kolya - that's the boy's name - had talked about everything for about half an hour walking along the streets of our small provincial town. I told that my mom had died previous month and described the lonely living of mine in the communal flat without any modern commodities as something supposedly healthier in comparing with cozy life of other men, young and middle-aged, who smoked, drunk and spent their lives as the most of the Russians did long ago when we had been the citizens of the USSR. Next day I got an sms with the words of desire to start learning English in private. I'd remembered our conversation and invited Tonya to come to me for the first lesson. Usually I visit my clients myself, but that time was special as the girl had wished to visit my place. In short, after her leaving, the note had been found by me in which she wrote about her love. I had been waiting for such an occasion many years and it happened at last the thing that I called my dream... We talked by phone for a couple of honeymoon months. She could tell so much that sometimes my battery had been totally discharged. Later the time of cooling Tonya's "talking appetite" came. It was hard time of her renting the flat and living there after the divorce. She didn't like her former husband even knew or guessed about our rather rare at the time dates. She often just breaks the line or doesn't answer my phone calls now. She's busy herself or her line is busy. She can talk for hours again, but she does it with other people. As for me - I've just have been babysitting with her lovely boy and really enjoy it. Kolya is such a wonder and it's much better to take care of him than constantly hear those endless mobile calls and her tired voice. What a pity for her, my dear one. She sees nothing and has to answer her numerous friends non-stoppingly! Oh, my poor girl!!! Just the second baby for me. Will you be awaken from that telephone nightmare one lucky day? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrnOs6v09Js">External link</a>

 

[sr71plt]

I can't stop thinking of that phrase, "I'm a tutor in English."

 

[GinaTina]

I think the main gripe here is the general lack of common courtesy lately.

Be it your loud, cell-phone voice, cutting someone off in traffic, or anything else...

Anyone else ever been in the grocery store and have someone block the whole aisle with their cart? And even after you 'excuse me' a few times they still won't move it?

I hate that so much. And then when you finally get aggravated enough to push the cart out of the way, they look at you like you're the rude one?

Grrrrrrr.

 

[glynndah]

I swear there were two women on the train coming back from New Orleans, sitting across the aisle from each other, having a conversation with each other ON THEIR CELL PHONES!!!

 

[jomar]

I swear there were two women on the train coming back from New Orleans, sitting across the aisle from each other, having a conversation with each other ON THEIR CELL PHONES!!!

Pretty appalling. But I guess that's not the same as texting the kids when they're in the room just to annoy them.

 

[glynndah]

Pretty appalling. But I guess that's not the same as texting the kids when they're in the room just to annoy them.

Anything done just to annoy the kids never counts!

 

[jomar]

Anything done just to annoy the kids never counts!

But sitcoms get old.

 

[TE999]

People in public on cellphones are annoying...what do they find to talk about constantly?...but the real annoyances are people using the phone and driving. Now that's a menace to navigation. I don't think they can chew gum and walk either.

They can't seem steer and talk effectively, so their driving suffers at the expense of other drivers. They go slow in the left lane yapping away as everyone swerves around them totally pissed off. 9 times out of 10 I can spot someone in a car on the phone by the way they're driving...or not driving. It's damn annoying.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

People in public on cellphones are annoying...what do they find to talk about constantly?...but the real annoyances are people using the phone and driving. Now that's a menace to navigation. I don't think they can chew gum and walk either.

They can't seem steer and talk effectively, so their driving suffers at the expense of other drivers. They go slow in the left lane yapping away as everyone swerves around them totally pissed off. 9 times out of 10 I can spot someone in a car on the phone by the way they're driving...or not driving. It's damn annoying.

Great sunset, Tom.

And in California, it's illegal. Not that anyone seems to care . . . Perhaps if I started going around armed and shooting at people who try to talk and drive at the same time.

DEFEND YOUR RIGHT TO ARM BEARS!!!

 

[TE999]

Great sunset, Tom.

And in California, it's illegal. Not that anyone seems to care . . . Perhaps if I started going around armed and shooting at people who try to talk and drive at the same time.

DEFEND YOUR RIGHT TO ARM BEARS!!!

Thanks.

You'd run out of ammo in nothing flat. I would prefer a ray gun that would kill the phone...maybe fry it's innards...and if it fused to their ear, so much the better.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Thanks.

You'd run out of ammo in nothing flat. I would prefer a ray gun that would kill the phone...maybe fry it's innards...and if it fused to their ear, so much the better.

Ooooo . . . you're evil. I LIKE it!