People yakking away on cell phones in public really piss me off. A rant.

[Shine]

Must we ALL have to listen to your entire conversation? Do you really have NO concept of social manners?? Do you really think I give a shit about the concert that you may or may not go to, and how much the tickets cost, and oh-don't-worry, you'll pay them back?? NO!! I don't give a shit and I would appreciate it if you had the common decency to at least move the fuck over to another area and have your oh-so-thrilling conversation somewhere the fuck else. If you had ANY shred of sensitivity, you might have noticed (as you were sitting RIGHT NEXT TO ME) that I was actually reading a book and using a highlighter BEFORE you arrived to sit down, underscoring my attempt at concentration....an attempt that did NOT include enforced listening to your stupid prattling on and on. You came across as a narcissistic, inconsiderate idiot.

:grr:

In retrospect, the more assertive thing for me to have done would've been to calmly ask you if you'd move elsewhere.....instead of coming in here and venting my anger.

Oh well, I feel better now. LOL!

Lesson learned. I will NOT let that kind of bullshit behavior stand again.

[SoxFan]

1. ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TSprF1Zpjw

[Ikonoklast]

2. Get off my lawn!

Damn kids these days...

[lunatica]

3. What pisses me off is people driving and talking on their cell phones

It's fucking against the fucking law! It's fucking dangerous! Yet I see just as many people as ever doing it.

[laundry_queen]

7. here's one for ya

The other day my parents saw a teen riding their bike across a busy highway (with the pedestrian lights flashing), texting the whole time and not looking up while crossing. w-t-f?

[alphafemale]

23. He was riding your parents' bike?

Did they call the cops?

Wait...your parents only have one bike?

[Shine]

14. I know, lunatica, I totally agree.

fucking crazy jerkwads.

[guitar man]

22. It's not against the law here in OK

But it is dangerous. :grr:

[Seneca]

56. So it's OK in OK?

[Skittles]

47. I not only do not use a cell phone while driving

I refuse to speak to people who call me while they are driving

[Touchdown]

4. 3 years ago, I heard the best argument in a Target.

Man on phone walking back and forth in the bed & bath section... "I know you want to go, so you can take the kids and go by yourself... No! Your mother hates me, and I refuse to spend another Thanksgiving putting up with her shit (he actually said shit)... I don't care if you go to her house, or take the kids. I'm just not going myself. I refuse to put up with her!"

My friend and I were looking at each other like... Is this for real?

[Haole Girl]

5. I know those people! They'll come into the break room, while I'm eating lunch...

and stand right in front of me-- and stare at ME while they are talking to someone 5X louder than a normal person would speak. Sometimes, if someone sits down with me as starts up another conversation, I'll say very loudly "I AM SORRY, BUT I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER *THAT* PERSON ON THEIR CELL PHONE!!" That has worked before.
:evilgrin:

[CBHagman]

15. Someone actually walked into my department and treated it...

...as though it were his personal phone booth (Think of a moderately sized room with cubicle dividers and desks for half a dozen busy people). This twit just marched in there as though he hadn't registered actual people were at work there...
:grr:

[seabeyond]

6. i dont know, kinda fun. listened to one woman yell in the phone, getting your hair and nails done

is NOT a necessity.

i laughed. and gave her a huge thumbs up. had just told my niece that, as she cant pay her bills.

[femmocrat]

8. That drives me crazy too.

I think they are talking to me at first and it makes me jump! LOL

One time I was in the dollar store and had to listen to some jerk who was breaking up with a girl--- while another girl was hanging all over him. The girl on the phone didn't know how lucky she was!

[foxfeet]

9. "He's got diarrhea. No, diarrhea. I said, 'Diarrhea.'

He's got diarrhea! HE'S GOT THE SHITS!!!"

Because everyone else on the bus apparently needed to know this.

[hippywife]

10. I hear you, sweetie.

It seems manners and any consideration for those around them have completely gone out the window. We can't even keep the younger people I work with off their cell phones while they are supposed to be working, which is another peeve of mine.

:loveya: :*

[Odin2005]

11. AND THEY ALWAYS ARE YELLING INTO THEIR PHONES!!!

God, I hate that!

[KurtNYC]

18. and pacing back and forth so that they are harder to ignore

[wickerwoman]

12. Skype is even worse since the connection is so bad.

I was (quite obviously) trying to study in the lounge before a test- books spread all over the place- and this asshole comes in, walks past half a dozen empty couches to sit right next to me, flips up his laptop and spends the next forty minutes shouting "hello... hello... can you hear me... this isn't working" at it.

Just f*in instant message with them if you can't get a good connection!

[Bennyboy]

13. Yeah, I am with you on that..

I run outside when my cell rings. i don't want anyone hearing my convos. I wish others felt the same way.

A story from my Journal about this time last year:

What a weird freaking night.

Went to my fvorite watering hole. Sat at my usual spot at the bar. Friends next to me on both sides. A few margaritas, some chips, good times.

My friends to my left leave.

Some guy, about 5 foot nothing, comes in the bar. I try to vibe him away from me, he is wearing a toupee, a sport coat (it's 90), has chains and jewelry on (READ:REPUBLICAN), and I can tell he is someone I don't want to have to talk too.

He sits right next to me. Orders a Tall Dos XX and then he pulls out his cell phone. Then proceeds to have the single most inane phone conversation in the history of phone conversations. He talks about his fake hair, how he had the grey died out of his real (and assuming) sparse factory intalled hair. He talks about how he goes to anger management and how he is always getting into fights. he talks about being dumped by some chick, someone else owes him 22 thousand dollars et. STUPID STUFF.
I cannot get awy from the guys conversation, it is like plugged right into my brain, he is so close it dominates my world.

And yes you coudl say "Why don't I just move"/ Well FUCK THAT. My bar, my stool, my corner etc. I am not the rude one here (at least not yet).

While he is going on my dinner comes. I still have my friend on the right buy the dude on the phone is dominating the area. Blah blah blah. On and on. I sit there, eat my multi item combo meal and the entire time the guy is on teh phone. "I have a date from match.com" and "I can't keep a woman" etc. Ad naseum.

I tired to make a motion to him to put the phone away, but the guy is ignoring me. I make the throat slitting motion. I give him THE LOOK. NOTHING. Finally, I am like 'Dude take it you office", again he ignores me. 40 minutes. He finishes his beer and, without hanging up, orders another one.

By now, I am just slightly pissed off. This guy has ruined my evening (or so I thought)and certainly my mood. Not to mention the entire time I was dining,I was seething and all I could think about was shoving that cell phone up his ass.

I can't stand it anymore. So I let the guy have it. I tell him how rude he is being etc. "Got that toupee where? "How is Shannon" (the girl that dumped him), "how are those lifts working out for you" "Can't wait to gon Match.com and see how your date worked out". The guy, to his credit, just keeps talking. like nothing else is happening.

I pay up, so I can get the hell away from this guy (I would have stayed but for the guy) and went to my friends house.(where the story will continue)

[riderinthestorm]

16. Fine, so I'm the nosy bitch. I love overhearing other people's convos.

I probably would have been one of those who listened in on the old party phone lines back in the day. I think it's hilarious what people will put out there in public.

[hibbing]

17. ugh...on the bus???

Hi,
I am totally with you on this. I take the bus to work and back and good lord, people sit next to people on a bus and have a conversation on their stupid phones. If someone does that to me I will get up and stand, although of course they are talking so loud it really would not matter where I sit or stand, can still hear every word. Keep in mind this is a crowded bus.

Peace

[CBHagman]

21. And then there are the walkie-talkie phones...

...which helpfully provide both sides of the conversation, plus an accompanying beep for each utterance.

And don't get me started about people who play music and/or videos on their phones without using a headset. :grr: One night some guy played Madonna's "Vogue" repeatedly most of the way up 16th Street...

[northzax]

19. you do get worked up easily, don't you?

this annoys you this much you just get all worked over? may I suggest just taking a deep breath and relaxing? unless you're in a library, people are going to be around you making noise. deal.

[hippywife]

24. Apparently everyone in this thread so far does

except you. Does that tell you anything? Anything, at all?

It's not a matter of people around you making noise. It's a matter of someone being disruptive and annoying, not having common consideration for the people around them. It's called being an oaf with no frickin' manners.

[Haole Girl]

25. Between northzax's personal attack & all the copycats...

I would be surprised if shine ever comes back to DU. :-(

[hippywife]

26. She has a pretty full and busy life

so she isn't here often anyway. I wouldn't worry about her, she's a pretty centered person and doesn't let a little snark get to her.

I didn't see any copycats. :shrug:

Hope you are feeling better today. :hug:

[Haole Girl]

30. Maybe you have those DUers on ignore?

;-)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9411580

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9411808

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9411881

I hope shine wasn't offended.

And thanks, hippywife, I feel a little better every day. :hug:

[Shine]

31. Nah, I'm not offended at all. People are funny and clever here

and will use ANY excuse for a copycat thread. Should we be surprised? No.

:)

[Haole Girl]

32. Whew!

When you left, I got worried! :hi:

[Shine]

33. I'm not around much lately and hadn't started a thread in forever

but I hadn't forgotten how snarky people can be sometimes. No biggie. It's all good. I'm cool.

:hi:

[hippywife]

37. That's quite possible.

;)

Glad to hear you are better. :hug:

[bigwillq]

40. Good post.

I agree. The talking on the phone in public doesn't bother me. It's their phone, they can talk on it where and when they want, unless I am paying the bill, then I really don't get to determine where and when people can use their phone. Yes, people should use discretion, but most don't. I've learned to get over it a long time ago.

[northzax]

44. just seems to me

that is people being what you consider rude (when it's something that happens all the time) really chaps your shorts that much, then it's going to be a long, annoying time on this here planet. people are people, whatever their foibles, it's what makes being around people interesting. if you don't want to be around people, then go to places they aren't. people are obnoxious, and rude, and inconsiderate. all of us, at times (unless you spend your days doing everything possible not to cause offense to anyone, and that's no way to live) you either learn to deal, or let it work you up.

[LanternWaste]

61. Seems to me that if we can...

Seems to me that if we can vent out those smaller distempers and frustrations we may sometimes feel in a wholly non-threatening and non-destructive manner, we are staying ahead of the game. That we are in fact, denying our more toxic and visceral emotions to overwhelm us by creating a controlled burn.

Some people get frustrated over traffic, others over bad service at a dining establishment, and still others at a particular lack of civility in the public forum. Yet to equate our own personal dislike of any of these as "not wanting to be around people" is disingenuous at best.

Although I realize there may be some people who never feel frustrated or annoyed by the lack of civility of others, I imagine those people to be far and few between-- and also sympathetic enough to not say in so many words, "get over it". Far and few between indeed.

[hippywife]

50. Most people

have gotten so extremely rude about it, though. They don't care how loud they talk, or as in the example Shine gave, that someone else around them is trying to study, they pick up their calls anywhere, anytime regardless of what is happening around them. I have kids at work that are supposed to be taking care of the dining room and meal set ups for our elderly residents walking around wasting payroll talking on their phones instead of working.

Not to mention the people who don't turn them off or silence them when in some kind of event, meeting, movie, etc.

It's a symptom of the degradation of manners in society.

Howdy Will, with the cutiepie smile. :hi:

[northzax]

63. no, not most people

some people. you just don't notice the others. if you're in a movie theater with 300 people, and one phone rings, does that mean that one person is a jerk, or that it's the only one of 300 people (all of whom probably are carrying phones) who got a call? I've carried a cell phone for 13 years now. only once has it rang during a movie presentation at a theater. since I see a movie a week, on average, that's over 500 movies where it HASN'T disturbed people. i'd wager most people are the same given the reality that almost every adult in the US carries a phone with them (especially in cities) the fact that most people aren't annoying you means that it isn't the phone that's the problem, it's the user.

and yes, I know this is the same argument people use about handguns. first off, there are many more cell phone users than gun users in the US. and cell phones rarely kill people by accident. there's your difference.

[HEyHEY]

20. Cry me a river, try living in China

Here it is considered rude NOT to speak loudly over the phone with the idea being that the person on the other end hears you. So, on the subway you'll have people literally yelling into their cellphones, sometimes standing right next to you. I almost hit a guy once who yelled right in my ear.

[NewJeffCT]

28. Not to mention

If you're speaking with somebody and one their phones ring, they must pick it up and answer - usually without so much as an "excuse me, I have to take this call"

[NewJeffCT]

27. The US is behind a lot of other countries

in terms of cellphone ubiquitousness and people talking everywhere.

[jp11]

29. It would probably give me cancer and breaks numerous laws

but one day I'll rig up a mobile cell phone jammer and walk around cutting off calls. :crazy:

[miscsoc]

35. You're telling me, man

America is blessed with being huge, which means you can actually still find places where every son of a bitch is not bellowing into a cellphone.

[miscsoc]

34. why not lean over, smile toothily, ritually say "sorry" and then ask him to keep it down

because you know (gestures at book) I'm kinda trying to do some work here.

Or alternatively do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI3I9NTHtAQ

[Shine]

36. LOL! Classic.

I actually considered calling someone on my cell while she was speaking and talking as loudly as she was, so she'd have "payback".....but I didn't.

I love being immature sometimes. :evilgrin:

[GoCubsGo]

43. I just join in the conversation.

It shuts them up every time. Or, it makes them go away. Either way, I no longer have to listen to them.

[rucky]

38. Is it much different from two people talking face-to-face?

it's the ringtones that bug me more than the conversations.

[NewJeffCT]

62. It is slightly different than two people having a conversation near you

You only hear one voice instead of two.

[Posteritatis]

39. My favorite is still the ones having *fake* cellphone conversations. (nt)

[bigwillq]

41. Question

Where were you when this event happened?

[6000eliot]

42. But they're so much more important than you are.

[RandomThoughts]

45. LOL, depending what you mean by phone.

LOL

Maybe this is how some feel about that concept.

J Geils Band
Centerfold.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqDjMZKf-wg


I like this song set, very lovely.

Drive, (The Cars)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbTjzZzfR7w

Steve Winwood - Back In The High Life Again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K82nMSy-IWQ



Its a good thing, notice the bad freddy attire in the first video :) I think it is more about being free :) And the red C crashing in on him.

[SunnySong]

46. I love talking on my cell phone during otherwise useless task (waiting in line at the post office

for example.)

I'm sorry you have no friends or acquaintances and therefore have no-one to call.

I understand you need complete silence to contemplate the futility of life.


Why standing stoic in like like some drunken durák is a better way is beyond me.

[Skittles]

48. WTF

it is RUDE, RUDE, RUDE - and WHY do you assume that those of us who practice SIMPLE COMMON COURTESY have "no one to call"? ARROGANT.

[SunnySong]

57. I just don't understand the annoyance...

Now don't get me wrong I wouldn't use a cell phone in a movie theater courtroom or quiet restaurant. But why not multi task while grocery shopping or waiting in line at the DMV...


Though I do admit like a poster above noted those walkie Talkie phones have got to go.

[Skittles]

59. WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR BUSINESS

what is it that people cannot understand about that? IT IS RUDE TO FORCE PEOPLE TO LISTEN TO YOUR PERSONAL CONVERSATIONS. Excuse yourself and GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. For example, I stand in line at the post office a lot - I mail packages to the troops. The GENTLEMAN in front of me received a cell call and turned to me and said sorry, he had to take that call and could I hold his place in line while he stepped a few feet away......THAT IS CALLED COURTESY.

[Initech]

49. Bill Maher had a great new rule about that a while back:

"New rule: Cell phone headset wearers must wear something to remind me that they're on the phone and not dangerous schizophrenics."

[SunnySong]

58. I say give schizophrenics bluetooths and let them be accepted by society...

and yes I too have mistaken someone talking on his bluetooth for a crazy person.

[Darth_Kitten]

51. I love you.

:)

[Gormy Cuss]

52. Oh yeah? Well I think

Hi Shine!
:hi:

[Swede]

53. They sure do know a lot about yaks.

[Zavulon]

54. When I have to put up with this,

I respond by starting up my own one-man conversation at equal volume so that the rude fuck in question and his / her partner in conversation can hear it all.

Example:

"Yeah, so it turns out that you were right, but it can be cleared up with one shot. What? Well, sure, there's a rash, but as long as it isn't dripping I figure I'll be okay. Huh? Well, no, it's not like I'm going to publicize it. She'd never get reelected if this got out."

And so on.

[Lucian]

55. I used to ask people nicely if they could move while doing that shit...

now, I go on MY cell phone and try to out-talk the asshole sitting next to me who's doing what you described.

I've decided to take the Dr. House approach on problems like that. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

[flying rabbit]

60. I butt into their conversations

asking inane questions about what the hell they are talking about. Usually it annoys them, sometimes they actually think I give a fuck. Oy.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

64. You know what's worse than that?

Kids. On my lawn.

[Skip Intro]

65. K&R!

[dembotoz]

66. my work extention is sent to my cell --there are calls that i HAVE to take