I'm going to take a turn off our normal course here. Call it a right turn or a left turn, but trust me, it's a turn way off from what I normally speak about here at RT.
You can't escape it on the news...cell phones needing to be banned from the highways. It's on the local news, it's on the national news. Some states have enacted legislation banning cell phone usage from the highways, and let's face it, some people have a hard enough time driving without even having a phone up to their ear, let alone them having a discussion that takes their mind even moreso off their driving. Accidents happen at an alarming rate, and so much of the time, the cell phone seems to be a contributing factor. One need only drive down the road for a short distance and notice the number of people approaching from the other direction, phone planted firmly against the ear and the driver of the car heartily engaged in a conversation and the road literally taking a backseat to their attention.
More and more, however, cell phones seem to be taking over other areas as well. A walk through a mall, a store or a visit to a restaurant more than proves this to be true as person after person seems to be totally immersed in their own private world where their cell phone is concerned. It's a rare visit to a store that you don't see someone walking down an aisle, oblivious to those around, and carrying on a conversation with someone somewhere far removed from where they actually are.
I'm not saying phone usage is bad. I don't want anyone to assume this is what I'm implying. Sometime that phone call might be necessary, say for instance if you need to check and see if it was fifth or a quart of vodka you needed to pick up at the store. Maybe you needed to check on someone on the way home and you were simply being reminded by someone not to forget to do this. These calls I understand, and these calls I'm sure most of us have gotten. Okay, maybe not about the vodka, but you drink what you drink and I'll drink what I drink.
What I am speaking of is the times when you are standing in line at the bank or the grocery or the drugstore, and someone directly in front of the cashier is engaged in a conversation of totally meaningless value and is making the cashier wait until it is convenient for them to give them their attention and let them do their job.
On a recent trip to a local business, I was blessed with standing behind not one, but two customers who simply didn't care that they were holding up a busy line in a busy store on a busy day. They were more interested in their conversation about who got caught cheating on their husband the night before than tending to the business they stood in line to conduct. It didn't matter that the cashier was standing their, albeit as patiently as they could. It didn't matter about the five people that were standing behind them. They only cared about the juicy little piece of gossip they had just learned about, probably from another call they had gotten in another store. The cashier and the other customers and their time were of no concern to them. All that mattered at that moment was their own selfish and senseless conversation. Of course, when they did decide to bless the cashier with their attention for an all too brief moment, the first thing they said was, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I just hate cell phones." (and at that moment, so did the cashier and four of the five other customers standing behind this person.)
The next transaction took place at a much brisker pace. The person standing behind the person now being waited on who thankfully wasn't on the phone had terminated their own call, so I thought things were going to move along a bit faster.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Phone abuser number two received a second call at this time, and I swear, when the cute little song started playing at maximum volume, the rest of us in line decided to stage a dance right their. It came to an abrupt halt when abuser number two took their call and the music stopped. This is when we learned that this person not only must have been hard of hearing but didn't realize how loud they needed to speak on the phone, because their voice bordered on a decibel range one normally uses on the artillery range to be heard above the sound of exploding ammunition. They also had to make sure and look around to see just how many people were listening to their conversation. Apparently, they didn't think enough of us could hear, so they talked even louder, carefully choosing their choice of four letter words carefully. Something regarding a bull defecating was repeated over and over, and while I don't know who owned that bull, they had to have owned a donkey too because this person made mention of kicking it a few times.
All this time the cashier is waiting on this person to finish with their conversation regarding livestock and the fornication of something divine. I couldn't grasp it all, my head was hurting from all the yelling this customer was doing, but I don't think I was alone in my increasing anger because by now the cashier had turned a bright crimson color I thought only reserved for fresh beets.
Somehow this transaction found its end and the rest of us moved merrily through the line at a much faster pace. When it got to be my turn, I had to fight the urge to act like my own cell phone was vibrating with a call coming in, but I just couldn't do that to the sweet cashier who had done her best to remain pleasant and courteous. I didn't want to risk the chance that her sense of humor might not be the same as mine.
I've also had the experience of a clerk in a store doing their business while engaged in their own personal call while supposedly doing their job. I've actually been made to feel like I'm taking them away from their phone call while I took the time to come into their establishment and do business with them. I can honestly say that it's a long time before I ever return to do business with them again, if ever. After all, they are being paid to work, to give their customers service, yet when the boss is away, they spend their time on the phone, providing poor customer service and poor attention to their customers while being paid to visit with whoever on the phone.
I jokingly remarked to a young man one day who was supposed to be helping me find something to purchase if I should come back when he was finished with his call. He put his finger up as if to say wait just a minute before I answer. He didn't get the chance, I simply left and went elsewhere to do my purchasing. Funny thing was, I don't think he realized until twenty minutes later after he had hung up that I had left without purchasing a thing.
Then we have the maniacs who text several hundred times a day. Texting becomes more important to them than anything. A bank teller made me wait one day while she hurriedly sent off a text message to someone. After I waited a longer than acceptable amount of time, she blessed me with her expertise, only to receive and send two more texts before I finished my banking. When I left the window, I wasn't thanked for coming in, I wasn't said good bye to or anything else for that matter. And while I haven't changed banks because of this rude and insensitive service I received, I no longer let this particular teller wait on me. I will wait for another teller to become available because I can't be assured of the quality of service I might be receiving from this poor excuse of an employee.
I see managers, bosses and other people of power displaying this same lack of respect and unprofessional attitude in all types of businesses and all types of scenarios. In this economy, I can't imagine why any business would allow this type of behavior to take place.
Cell phones are everywhere and almost everyone has one, and thankfully, most people who use them use them responsibly and sensibly.
Unfortunately, others do not.
Trust me, if you are one of those who abuses their phones and uses them at inappropriate moments, it might surprise you to know that your call can be completed at a more reasonable time than right at that particular moment. Also, I don't know of any contest currently being held where you win a thing if you are the first to rub your keypad clean of letters and numbers.
Believe it or not, I wrote this entire entry without a call coming in on my phone. Well, at least I think I did. I left it in the other room on vibrate.