Just One Sec, I Need To Take This Call
Author: Stacy22 Aug
So I was reading this article about high-tech manners this morning, and it reminded me of an experience I had at my allergy doctor’s office a couple of weeks ago.
I was in the waiting room, flipping through People magazine and the gentleman sitting next to me picked up his ringing cell phone. First off, he had a booming voice - and I almost felt like I was being shouted at, even though I wasn’t directly involved in the conversation. Here’s what I found out about the guy:
- He was interested in purchasing a home warranty, but due to financial issues, couldn’t pay for the whole thing right now.
- He has rather significant financial issues, as he outlined most of them for the entire waiting room.
- He did have enough money though, to pay half now and the remainder next month.
- I learned his full name, credit card number, expiration date, and card security code.
In this case, it wasn’t just the fact that he was so enveloped by his warm & comforting bubble that he didn’t realize there were four people sitting around him while he was engaged in this conversation, it was the fact that these four people could have very easily written down all his information and stolen his identity.
Cell phone rudeness is definitely on my top ten list of Things That Piss Me Off. Call me old fashioned, but it drives me batty when I’m with someone and they engage in a long, drawn-out cell phone call. I don’t care if it’s a quick call, but if you push more than 60 seconds on the phone…that’s really just rude.
Every day I drive around my neighborhood and see stay-at-home moms pushing their kids in strollers, with their cell phones attached to their ears. I always think, “That poor kid. Mom can’t even be bothered to enjoy a walk with her child.” Sure, I suppose it’s a good time to catch up on whatever needs catching up on…but talk about a missed opportunity. I see people on their phones while walking their dogs, too…but I guess I can’t pick on them because I’m probably one of only a few people who engages in conversation with her dogs while walking them.
I remember back when I was in the dating scene, I was having drinks with this one guy and his cell phone rang. He picked up the call and proceeded to spend ten minutes on the phone with one of his friends. I remember the thing that really stuck with me…was the fact that he didn’t even say, “Excuse me” when he cut away from our conversation. Obviously he wasn’t all that into me, but even if he was…is it arrogance or a misguided definition of “multi-tasking” which somehow validates this behavior as acceptable?
Remember when similar fur flew around when that antiquated notion called Call Waiting first came into existence? How rude to put someone on hold and take another call! I tended to agree, and was very happy when Call Waiting ID came along…so I could at least know who was trying to reach me and ignore that call if I so chose. And hey, at least the person on the other end didn’t have to listen to you talk to your third wheel.
Recently, the ladies who work at my nail salon have discovered the joy of Bluetooth headsets, and now happily chat away while they do nails. My regular nail ladies rarely (if ever) talk on the phone while taking care of me, but I did have one substitute nail tech awhile back who spent the entire 40 minutes yapping away and doing a rather lousy job on my nails. I didn’t leave her a tip and, as a nearly 10-year customer of this salon, I told the owner I thought it was really rude for her techs to not consider their customers the #1 priority.
Don’t even get me started on texting…I’ve quickly figured out I can’t IM co-workers and talk to CU at the same time while at work, so at least I know my personal limitations. I’ve started using my iPhone more and more than I generally used to use my cell phone…and am trying my darndest not to become one of “those” people. Then again, I think I’d need to have more friends who call or text me for it to become an issue.
What are your pet peeves about high tech manners? Are you guilty of living in your own cell phone bubble? Do you do horribly dangerous things like text and drive? If I glare at you and tell you to pipe down with the cell phone call, will you be embarrassed or will you tell me to stuff it?
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8 Responses for "Just One Sec, I Need To Take This Call"
I agree with you 100%! The thing that pissed me off the most was the time we had another couple over to watch a football game with us. They use their cell phone as their home phone and brought it along with them. I was rang several times during the game and conversations went back and forth with us sitting there. She also made a couple of calls to others. I thought this was extremely rude.
I agree with you, too but in my case it’s hard when it’s my husband on the phone for work.
He owns his own business and clients call all throughout the day. He only does this with me but he knows when to stop…right before I reach for the cell phone to throw it out the car window! LOL!
Well…that’s a whole other ball of wax. During business hours, work trumps personal conversations…that’s why I kept checking my IM while we were having lunch last week…LOL!
Stacy, I think you should have written down that guys info and after he was done with his call, handed it to him and said, “This is what anyone of us could have written down and taken with us while you were in here. You might want to keep your personal information “personal”. Maybe he would have finally gotten the hint that he was too loud in public on his phone.
I get equally irritated when I am involved with a conversation and my husband calls, so I mute the phone which sends it right to voicemail and then he call back 2 seconds later! So I have learned to keep my phone in my purse and let him IM if he needs to talk to me, that way I can attend to it when I have time.
Angie is way too nice. I would have written his info down too, but when Rude-dude got off the phone, I would have LOUDLY asked “Was that last digit 5 or 9? And the expiration date was ‘08 right?”
But I’m not a very subtle person.
I think you pretty much captured all of my peeves. Most doctor’s offices that I go to have signs that ask people not to use their phones. I never answer my phone when I’m in the company of others, unless I knew it was a work emergency thing (when I was in real estate) and I usually gave my friends the heads up when I first saw them. And it’s really rude when you’re paying someone to do service you and they’re on the phone — I wouldn’t leave a tip either.
I’ve actually conducted interviews where people took calls. I nearly always ended things right then and there.
I was always a fan of people who would call meetings, then get up and leave the conference room every time their phone rang.
Expanding on this topic…at my last job, they installed wi-fi hot spots throughout the building right before I left, so people would come to meetings with their laptops and answer emails and surf the net rather than contribute to the meeting.