Why Cell Phones Suck

Did you know you speak much louder when you pick up your cell phone than when you’re sitting across from someone at a restaurant? Did you know that I heard every word of your conversation about the dog needing to see a vet for that “oozing, pussing foot” problem? Did you know I heard it just as my entree arrived? Did you realize how freaking rude it is to talk on a phone A) in a restaurant, B) when you’re with someone else, C) loudly, D) and expect privacy?

I wish it were just the general public behaving badly. Alas, every conference and trade show I’ve attended proved otherwise. At the start of every session, there was a reminder to switch off the cell phone. In each instance, someone’s phone went off in the middle of the session. Each time, the phone owner invariably would start talking, getting up to leave, making all sorts of noise. And of course, no whispering.

I’ve overheard some strange conversations that normally no one would hold in public, including the seemingly adult young woman who disintegrated my opinion of her by ranting on about how stupid her mother was. This in the lobby of a hotel. And she gave me a nasty look when she saw me look over at her. Right.

Then there was the man sitting by pool at a Florida hotel relaying his sexual escapades over the phone – and the little kids in the pool got to hear him, too. Unlike our lobby talker, he was dying for someone to overhear him. He was in town for business, as he loudly and proudly announced. Had I ever found out what his business was, I would have avoided that company like it was toxic.

I’m not against cell phones. I have one. I’m against the inability in a large segment of the population to discern between a simple call and a rather large, inconvenient interruption. My phone is a convenience – for me. It’s also in my power (and yours) to not answer, to allow the caller to head to voice mail and, gasp, to miss a call. In our quest to become connected and always reachable, we’ve failed to ask if we should be that reachable.

Your phone is a business tool. Use it wisely lest it become a business liability for everyone within earshot.

What have you overheard?