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Sun 21 Oct, 2007 04:16 am
I want to make buttons that say:
On Your Phone?
On Your Own.
I am sick to death of trying to wait on retail customers who apparently are also engaged in a desperately important cell phone conversation which seems to be about whether Marco went right home after school.
I now just smile at the talker, point to the next person on the line and say "Next." If they protest, I just say "I don't want to intrude." and go to the next person.
Am I rude or just out of it?
The other day I again saw some poor schlub of a girlfriend sitting at a table in Starbucks listening while her girlfriend went on and on and on with someone on her cell phone. Ten minutes of their lunch together was spent not together. The non-talker just sat there, looking at her half eaten ginger cookie and the remains of a Half-caf Skim Grande Skim Latte.
Oh, and don't you dare take another call while you are talking to me.
I am also telling every frigging cab driver when I get in the taxi.....
You Talk???? No Tip.!!!!
Joe(Okay? Just so you know.)Nation
I just so agree with you! I hate mobile ("cell") phones! I won't have one. I have never owned one, and I never will. I get on fine. If I am talking to someone and they answer their mobile without a word to me, I just walk away.
Also it annoys me to see people threatening the safety of others by using mobile phones in situations where they are forbidden (hospitals, planes, while driving). In many countries using a mobile while driving a vehicle is illegal. I was nearly knocked down the other day by a woman using one while riding a bicycle!
I think that you are doing the right thing, Joe. Cell phone usage has gotten so out of hand, that standard courtesy has gone out the window. I cannot imagine that so many people have so many critical conversations that cannot wait until the person returns home.
I have a cell phone, but very few people have my number. My husband, son and brother have it. Over the years, I have given the number out to a few people, if there were an important reason, at the time, like waiting for a call back from a doctor. My theory is that there is nothing so important that in the vast majority of circumstances the person cannot leave a message on my answering machine at home.
I wonder if this whole phenomenon of people yakking incessently on cell phones in inappropriate places, is part of the entire "instant gratification" syndrome, that seems to have befallen a lot of people, especially younger people!
I could not agree with you more.
I have a cell phone too. It serves as my business phone + home phone.
I keep the ringer silent ( so it doesnt go off in public.. which I truly dont know why I bother) and I only check the number to see who is calling in case it is an emergency. ( daughters day care has that number for emergencies, and sometimes my hubby needs me..)
Other then that, the message instructs you to leave a message for me so I can return your call.
I dont use the phone while eating dinner with friends
I dont use the phone while driving
And I definately dont use the phone while in line. That is rude to the other people, not to mention who ever will be taking my order.
The only exception- if the person on the line is making an order at the same place.
I have had hubby on the phone so I could repeat his order correctly in some places. even that makes me feel odd.
There is nothing so important that people NEED a cell phone.
Or that bluetooth thing.
That thing look so stupid. (sigh)
That really threw me, too, especially when their hair was covering the darn thing and I was clueless to bluetooth existence. It was kinda scary.
When I was working retail (furniture) a couple of years ago there were numerous people that you would see get out of their car, lock the door, dig through their purse (always female) find their cell phone and dial a number AS THEY WALKED INTO THE STORE. They were obviously using it to avoid a salesperson and would stay on it the whole tme. On the ocassion they really were there to buy, they would hang up and look around for a salesperson wondering why they had been in the store for 30 minutes and no one had even offered to help them.
At the check out - Next please. I love it. That's perfect Joe.
Hey, don't get me wrong. I need my cell phone. I wear it all the time. I use it to contact clients, place orders, confirm prices. I use it's Tasks function, the Calendar and even the Mobile Excel.
I text people to let them know something they have asked for is in stock or is on hold for them.
(Why talk when all you are going to say is "It's here."??)
It's vital to business now.
BUT
I don't answer it if there is a live customer within ten feet nor do I use call waiting. (The Last shall be First Function) arrrgh.
And why aren't those cyborgs with the blue-tooth thingie EVER talking about something important? You never hear them say "Ed, this contact is worth hundreds of millions to the firm. Handle it, my man!" It's always, "I dunno, what do you feel like doing?"
Joe(They have the technology, they just don't have a life.)Nation
I'm pretty laconic on my cellphone: yes, no, bye!
I'll cheerfully agree with all of the above--but I have a caveat.
Sometimes in his errand running Mr. Noddy runs into a snag. My apologies to the rest of the world, but I prefer my judgement to his judgement in matters of household economy. A sixty-second cell phone call contributes to overall marital harmony.
Also, we're a one car family. A phone call to the Keeper of the Kitchen Calendar before making an appointment can short circuit chaos (which is always just around the corner).
Okay, but hang up before talking to a live present person.
Shewolf, you can ask hubby what he wants and say "see yah in a minute." Then place his order, Why should the folks behind you have to wait for you to get the word from him before re-telling it to the wretch in the paper hat. Can't remember it? Write it down.
At Subway, one noontime, there was woman, strike me dead if this isn't true, who was describing all the condiments and ingredients, it must have been to a child (or I guess a husband).
Her: "Do you want tomatos?"
Silence.
Her: "Well, they ARE sliced thin."
Silence.
Her to the sandwich maker: "Okay. Tomatos on that one."
Her into phone:" How about peppers and onions?"
Silence.
Her: "Well,sweetie.... they look like green and red peppers. I can't tell what kind... .
Woman Badly Beaten By Lunch Mob
Joe(The DA was in line behind her. No charges filed.)Nation
I worked with a guy that lived on his cell phone. He had the ear plugs and walked around all day, looking like a crazy man, babbling at himself. It was not easy to break through, to ask a question or deliver an order.
I resisted having a cell phone, untril about six months ago. It does have its uses, but I restrict its usage to only truly necessary calls.
Hmm...
I dont mean that I will stand in line while placing an order, holding up everyone else to literally repeat word for word what someone ont he phone is saying.
Nor will I do that horribly rude " what do you want " type of phone order.
WHat i mean when I say I will use the phone in line is if I am at the back of the line, and it is a bit of a wait, I dont mind calling who ever else wanted to make an order and getting what they want by phone.
I wont stand at the front of the line with out knowing what I want/need from that store.
The people you describe drive me batshit.
Especially if they WAIT until they are first in line to call someone to take their order.
They had a few minutes before they got to the counter to do that.
dyslexia wrote:Francis wrote:I'm pretty laconic
Interesting.
Only on my cellphone, you sardonic, wolf's hole living creature!
I live surrounded by half a dozen universities, so I see a lot of student behavior, much of it on cellphones, some quite strange, like the couples, obviously out on a date, both talking on their phones, staring straight ahead, and ignoring the person they're actually out with (I am assuming they didn't call each other and that's who they're talking to--but in a media-saturated culture like ours, where TV may be more real to some people than real life, gods know, they might actually be talking to each other).
And there's the guy who sometimes rides down a fairly narrow two lane lousy potholey lumpily-patched-pavement Cambridge street, on his bike, no hands, with his cellphone held to his ear (no Bluetooth)--I drive WAY over in the other lane when I see him coming. Talk about death hovering over your shoulder.
This past week I saw a school bus driver, with a bus full of children, talking on a cell phone while driving the bus!
I like the "Next" thing too, Joe!
The was a story about some famous actor (sorry, can't recall which one it was!) who was on stage performing in a play one evening, when someone's cell phone ringer went off in the audience.
So the actor stopped right in the middle of his lines, looked out in the audience and said, "We'll wait while you take your call."
Cell phone companies are the only ones I know of that make commercials about how crappy the the product is. They hightlight people screaming "can you hear me now!" or show people talking and at the crucial moment the line cuts out so you only hear dead air at the climax of the conversation. Imagine if car companies showed cars breaking down in the middle of traffic or people gaining weight while eating fries in a McDonald's commercial. It's a very weird approach to marketing - "Yeah, our product sucks and your only option is find which one of us sucks the least."
Phoenix32890 wrote:shewolfnm- I worked in the mental health field, so it was not unusual for me to see people mumbling to themselves. When Bluetooth first came out, and I did not realize what it was, I couldn't imagine why so many people were apparently having conversations with nobody around.
yep, I still get freaked out by someone walking through the grocery aisles speaking at full volume to ?????
I love the 'Next' in line approach.
I think I've told this story before... I was in a Starbucks sitting at a table near 4 20-something women. One of them r'cd a call and answered her cell. She started yakking and within 30 seconds the other three had found their own phones and started making calls. It reminded me of the days when one person lighting up a cigarette would result in a smoke-fest.
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