Cell phone etiquette (or not)

[donheff]

Gotta have my Blackberry. Phone, email, Google Maps on the go. And I think your problem must be rude Hawaiians, I don't ever seem to have any of those problems around here. Or maybe, its like the smell of cigarettes - if you are a participant you don't notice

 

[Alan]

I love the duck quacker Gotta get me one of those.

I never talk on the phone while driving and after an incident last summer don't even check who's calling - I let it go to messages. I was on business in Houston and had left the office about 10 minutes on my way home to Louisiana. It was lunchtime so plenty of traffic and I was on the I-45 feeder. I get VERY few calls so when the cell rings I expect it is work - must have left something I reckon. In the seconds it takes me to lift the phone from the easy to use belt holder and look to see who's calling someone launches themselves from a strip mall right in front of me and I have to stamp on the brakes. Lesson learned!!!

PS It was a wrong number.

 

[Walt34]

We must be stuck in the 20th century. We have a land line phone with unlimited long distance (in WV everybody is long distance) that DW would die without, and two Tracfones that collectively get at most 5 minutes of calling time a month.

The Tracfones are used most when meeting with relatives.

DW's would be more useful if she'd actually turn it on once in a while. That way when she disappears into the labyrinths of some mall she'd be easier to find.

 

[Martha]

I was an early adopter, with a big box phone from work in the car, plugged into the lighter, with a long cord and a big antennae out the window. Is that a cell phone?

I got used to most interruptions in conversations when my friends were coordinating with their kids all the time. But my power user friends had decent etiquette: Different rings for different people, take kid calls but get to the point asap. Other calls were muted and not taken.

People in stores or restaurants talking on their phones are really conspicuous and distracting. Why are these one sided conversations so noticeable? I avoid it or keep it really short: I'm at Menard's right now, need anything?

When working I frequently lunched with coworkers and clients. I would leave my phone behind in the office. Lunch partners taking a series of phone calls is not fun and a bit insulting. Anyone can wait an hour. If not, don't go to lunch. I had a client who talked on his cell phone all the time, took calls in the middle of meetings, and as a result everything took twice as long as it would have if he just would get down to business. I billed the time he was on the phone, I am not off the clock sitting there listening to him do other stuff.

My sister has a very long commute and we talk everyday while she drives. It used to bug me that she might get into an accident. Now I just enjoy the conversations.

 

[growing_older]

I was at a conference once and there was a short break between speakers. A guy took his cellphone and stepped behind the curtains near the podium. I'm guessing he thought that was a private place to make a call, but then entire hall could hear every bit of his side of the call. We couldn't see him behind the curtain, but we could all hear everything. I guess it wasn't as private as he thought.

 

[travelover]

No cell phone here unless MegaCorp gives me one. DW has a prepaid one and that is good enough.

Be careful of what you wish for. After Megacorp gave us all cell phones (and took away our land lines) it was assumed that we were all on call 24/7. I had a manager that would call me on a Sunday with an assignment to be done by Monday AM. That sure made the early out offer an easy call.

 

[scrabbler1]

I have no cell phone. No interest in having one, no need for it. When I am out I DON'T WANT to be found. Not that I make or receive many calls while I am at home. I can call home to retrieve messages from my answering machine if I need to, so I can call people who tried to call me while I am still away.

Over the years, these cell phones have only annoyed me and made my life worse. On the trains was the worst part. The commute to work was already lousy, but to have to listen to them ringing and the loud (and long) conversations which followed was maddening. The train crew were not very good at shushing people, and sometimes the offender was sitting far away if he or she could be identified at all. Not having to listen to that garbage any more is one of the biggest benefits to being retired.

I have a new story for rude cell phone use not listed here: Even at my square dance class one woman has been on her cell phone a few times while she is on the floor DANCING with us. Square dancing is a big hand-touching activity, so to not be able to touch the hands of the other dancers, especially at the advanced level I dance at, makes it a little tougher to follow the calls from the caller. Furthermore, her talking on the phone makes it tougher to hear those calls. Luckily, she is a good dancer so she can (usually) follow the calls even while she is on the phone. But it is pretty darn rude to do that. And she is the first to openly complain if someone ELSE does something which upsets her. A typical dance "tip" lasts only about 10 minutes. She can't call back during the break?

Then there was time I saw man handling not one but TWO cell phones at the same time while he was driving! Could he be given two traffic tickets instead of one?

Then there was the time a woman on a train was yakking on her cell phone to another woman who was on the SAME train! At least she packed up her stuff and moved to her friend's train car.

Cell phones - all they have done is make my life WORSE.

 

[seabourne]

I'm 31, and so cell phones and the etiquette were kind of forming while I was in college. I remember that freshman year, noboday had one, but around sophmore year, we were having conversations about how rude it seemed when people were walking around campus talking on their phones, but by senior year, probably a third or more of the students had one.

Right after college, I took of on tall ships for a little while, and I haven't had a land line since - when I moved to Chicago, I bought my first cell phone, and have used it as my only phone line since. It is far better when I'm travelling by ship to be able to keep in touch, get voicemails, etc.

About two years ago I bought one of the iphone 3Gs, but it's been very worth it. I accidentally snapped off the ringer switch about 3 days after buying it, but since I never use the ringer, it hasn't really bothered me for the past 2 years. I keep it in my pocket, I can feel it vibrate when it rings, and if I'm occupied, i don't answer it.

Having the ability to get my personal email (blocked from work computers), get weather (critical sometimes on boats or while on a construction site), use maps (running around to do site visits on projects I've never been to before, walking directions when we were turned around in some backwater Paris streets, driving directions in a city I don't know) and read books (i made it through about 25 novels this summer on my phone) while flying or riding the train, all make it well worth it, though i think I pay too much for a plan (~80/month with fees and such in). The utility I get is worth it, though I'd consider getting a ipod touch to use as a pocket computer and get a disposable cell phone for calls, the data accessability while moving and not on a wireless network is key.

For conversations, it's like anything else - some people have no manners. I don't interrupt a conversation unless I'm expecting something important, in which case I've probably told them before hand (I have warned dates that I may answer my phone during a date because I was the land contact for friends doing a boat transit and was an emergency contact, or when my dad was in the hospital). I assume that any conversation in a public area is publicly heard and limit volume and topic accordingly. people have loud and annoying conversations and arguements all the time without phones in public - same matters of etiquette apply regardless of the means of conversation.

 

[MichaelB]

Do you also use a slide rule and get up to change the channel by hand as well? Not a luddite, but maybe evolving into one?

We have cell phones – going on 15 years now. They are of marginal benefit, enable bad habits and encourage less discipline in manners and lifestyle. They simply bring out the worst in a selfish, inwardly focused society. The product and service offerings are full of misleading and deceptive promises and the total cost far exceeds the benefit for most casual or non-business users in the US. If you are really thinking about breaking down and buying one, the best route is prepaid, at least until you are sure a new fixed monthly commitment has an equivalent benefit.

Now, a daughter away from home at college might make you reconsider...

 

[vicente solano]

I must be the odd one here. I find cell phones quite useful in many situations. But that doesn´t mean that I use them a lot or that I get absurd calls. And I am not a techno geek-far from it .....

 

[bbbamI]

We have a cell phone, but I use the term 'we' loosely as I only have it in my possession once or twice a year. It's a shame too...'cause it matches my motorcycle helmet and car.

 

[haha]

Now texting has taken on a life of its own. I pretend not to see, but unfortunately I do, that some of these people are reading and sending text messages throughout the class.
I keep wondering if I just live in the wrong place - is there somewhere in the US where people still have good old-fashioned manners?

It is tough today if you require someone's undivided attention to feel comfortable talking to them. Usually texting will be going on while you talk, no matter how important the topic being discussed seems to you. Since to me manners are situational, and not part of God's Commandments, I figure that the definition of manners has changed, so I had better get with it. Anyway, I am old enough to realize that the old manners weren't so great either- usually just a list of things that you could use to look down on others.

"Call me anything, but don't call me late to dinner."

Ha

 

[Nords]

Luddite:
Etymology: perhaps from Ned Ludd, 18th century Leicestershire workman who destroyed a knitting frame
Date: 1811
: one of a group of early 19th century English workmen destroying laborsaving machinery as a protest;
broadly : one who is opposed to especially technological change

I'm not opposed to technological change, but I'm [-]ranting[/-] lamenting the unfortunate social degradations that it's wreaking upon the innocent bystanders.

Do you also use a slide rule and get up to change the channel by hand as well? Not a luddite, but maybe evolving into one?

As a matter of fact I do know how to use the two slide rules (my father's and my grandfather's) in my desk drawer, and I watch so little TV that with my prebyopian eyes it's faster to use the front buttons rather than looking for my reading glasses or the remote control. Yes, our TVs are so old that they still have front buttons. And CRTs. And spouse & I still have our TI-55 IIIs from 1980.

We have cell phones – going on 15 years now. They are of marginal benefit, enable bad habits and encourage less discipline in manners and lifestyle. They simply bring out the worst in a selfish, inwardly focused society. The product and service offerings are full of misleading and deceptive promises and the total cost far exceeds the benefit for most casual or non-business users in the US. If you are really thinking about breaking down and buying one, the best route is prepaid, at least until you are sure a new fixed monthly commitment has an equivalent benefit.

Exactly. Instead of spending money to have valuable benefits conferred upon us, we'd be spending it to avoid having further inconveniences inflicted upon us.

Or we'd turn off our phone ringers and largely become hermits. The jury's still out on that one.

Now, a daughter away from home at college might make you reconsider...

We'll have to see how that goes. I'm happy to talk with her anytime, but I suspect that she might be more eager to reach us in a timely manner than we'd be to reach her. And while I suppose I could check her Facebook status (for which convenience I guess I'd need a Facebook account), that info might come under the heading of things that I wish I didn't know...

 

[MasterBlaster]

Rubber Band Justice

Suddenly, while she is talking, a duck can now be heard, going "Quaaaack quack quack quack quack" over and over. She shuts up for a moment, the duck has gone silent at that instant, and she looks to the side, then the other side. After a pause, she's back to blab at high volume. The duck returns. The duck only quacks while she is talking, and only in measured bursts. When she stops, the duck stops exactly then or right before. She looks around more each time. Looks at me, sees a guy looking quietly at a product on a shelf, or picking something out, or checking his list. Looks at me another time, sees the same.

I prefer to carry a pocket full of rubber bands. When I hear one of those loud conversatons I shoot a couple at em right in the nose'. When they break off the conversation to yell at me I just say "Oh was I bothering you ?" When they start up again they get a couple more.

 

[deserat]

Ah yes, cell phones. Love/hate relationship with them. It can be an addiction to keep checking things all the time (had a Blackberry for work in CA - became compulsory when traveling to check email, voicemail, etc.) However, I soon realized people thought you were alwayas available. One of my colleagues left me a voicemail complaining that I left my phone off. Yup, on the weekends I was on my own time.

Before in Germany, used a prepaid phone and texted mostly - they charge the call initiator and not the receiver - back then, texting was new, so was encouraged...and cheap. Now, I have a prepaid German phone (actually the same phone as before, just a different SIM card) and it is off most times. Why - I'm mostly at home where the land line is - also, if I'm doing military duty, they don't allow cell phones in any of the work areas (block of little lockers to hold everyone's cell phone for the day) so it's useless most of the day.

When do I use the phone? When traveling overseas to let my husband know I've gotten somewhere via text - just landed or will be late - actually one time forgot to bring the German phone when there was an emergemcy. My plane from Frankfurt to Stuttgart got re-routed back to Frankfurt - I was so jet-lagged I didn't know we had landed back at Frankfurt. We ended up taking a train to Stuttgart from FRankfurt - hubby had gone to Stuttgart to pick me up - tons of fire trucks and ambulances. Turns out a plane's landing gear had not deployed, so a belly-landing was done at Stuttgart - causing all other flights to be diverted. Hubby freaked out while I finally found someone with a Blackberry to send an email

Hubby hates that I don't use the cell phone and points to above incident as reason.

I also hate the way it has cheapened intersocial skills. I remember one time I went to a meeting in Chicago and most of the participants were checking their email or surfing the internet. I put the phone away and focused on the meeting - people wondered why I was so efficient. It's called focus - plus, I was being paid to attend the meeting and interact and represent my coroporation's interests. Otherwise, I was wasting my time and theirs.

 

[Katsmeow]

A data point on cell phones. Earlier today DH and I were dropping off a prescription at the drive through window at the pharmacy. I found it interesting that we were told to make sure we wrote the full name, address, and cell phone number on the prescription. Yes, cell phone number not just phone number.

As it happens, we actually do like our cell phones and I like being able to constantly check my email on my Blackberry.

One difference between my kids and me is that I constantly check email. They constantly text. Go figure.

I am going to soon switch to an iphone though which I am sure I will use quite often (I do think, however, that I have good etiquette in using the cell phone and rarely talk on it in public).

 

[bbbamI]

Almost forgot about this.... One day a lady walked into the police department with cell phone in hand, told me she was having a problem and wondered if she should call 911.

 

[Achiever51]

Several years ago, I was at my uncle's funeral service, and sat next to a young guy who was dating my cousin (the deceased's daughter). During the eulogy, I heard a cell phone ring and realized it was the young guy's phone...I was shocked when he answered the call and loudly announced: "No, it's ok. I can talk now."

I leaned over and quietly asked him to step outside if he needed to complete his call. He then told his caller "no, it's ok. Just someone who needs to get a life."

I swear if I wasn't at a funeral, I would have decked the jerk. (BTW, I heard that he and my cousin stopped dating shortly afterward.)

 

[HFWR]

The fact that people are rude, and apparently were raised by badgers, has little to do with technology...

I'm a bit of a techno geek, and would have been an early-adopter, if I'd been more "prosperous". As for cellphones, I've had one since about 1997, usually the el cheapo supremo model. But this past summer, I bought an iphone for my birthday. Yeah, the bill nearly doubled, but it is useful, if not necessary. Btw, haven't had a landline for several years.

I don't feel compelled to talk/text endlessly, and am not Pavlov's dog, so I also don't feel compelled to answer every call...

"Hello"

"Hey, HFWR, what's up?"

"I'm taking a dump. And you?"

 

[target2019]

I've had a cell for 15 years, maybe. Both kids have em. One does not text, the other is too tied to the text habit. With a cell phone, I can communicate with them instantly, wherever I or they go.

Yesterday I was at home of client, who is 65-70. He prefers text, so as I worked on his two Mac systems, we went back and forth with items to fix, etc. He was working, and could field my questions at his leisure.

I am seriously considering move to iPhone or Google. It is not a question of me needing it, but will keep me closer to Gen X and Gen Y.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cell Phone danger

ROSEVILLE, Calif. – A driver whose SUV plunged into a Northern California creek after he was startled by his hands-free cell phone device escaped the sinking vehicle by blasting out the window with a handgun. The 28-year-old man, whose name wasn't immediately available, is an armed security guard at Thunder Valley Casino, north of Sacramento. He sustained minor injuries in Sunday's accident.
A spokesman for the Roseville Fire Department said the man was traveling northbound on Industrial Avenue in Roseville when the cell phone device activated. The driver was startled and veered off the road through the guardrail. The SUV landed in Pleasant Grove Creek.
He used his gun to shoot himself out, then flagged down a passerby.

 

[kcowan]

Be careful of what you wish for. After Megacorp gave us all cell phones (and took away our land lines) it was assumed that we were all on call 24/7. I had a manager that would call me on a Sunday with an assignment to be done by Monday AM. That sure made the early out offer an easy call.

We got cell phones for those on call in 1989. It worked great. The responders would carry them and respond at all hours. Customer satisfaction was up and employee sat was up, both by 10 points.

After two years, HR found out and made us give them a shift premium when they carried them.

Now we have Paygo cell phones which are only on when we are out. No texting except the bank that sends a message whenever there is a transaction. That lets us realize how desparate our handymen are.

 

[powerplay]

I am often amazed by the constant drivel I hear when people are using cell phones everywhere and all the time. My take is that very few of the conversations are emergencies or even that important. It's really kind of sad that people feel the need to take calls when at social events and also hard to believe the call can really be that important.

Several members of my investment club have iphones and love them. The iphones are great at our meetings because we can look at any stock we are discussing and see the chart along with the latest news and earnings. None of these people talk on their phones during the meetings, just use them as a research tool. I think cell phones are a good and appropriate use in this case as they enhance our discussions.

One day I was in Costco and heard a doorbell ring. I looked around and it was a cell phone with an interesting ring tone.

 

[haha]

Several members of my investment club have iphones and love them. The iphones are great at our meetings because we can look at any stock we are discussing and see the chart along with the latest news and earnings. None of these people talk on their phones during the meetings, just use them as a research tool. I think cell phones are a good and appropriate use in this case as they enhance our discussions.

So the way your friends use their phones is good and appropriate, but the way others use theirs is bad and inappropriate?

I think I have heard something like this before.

Ha