Phone etiquette

Possibly topping my list of pet peeves is the apparent lack of phone manners these days. And it's largely inescapable, especially in an urban area.

Everyone talks on the cell phone, at all times. It is particularly annoying in confined spaces - buses, elevators, etc. And since you usually have more than one talker, the noise pollution increases, and the talkers talk louder to compete with each other. And in case the noise pollution wasn't bad enough, you have the awkward, but inevitable eavesdropping. Very rarely do people have anything remotely interesting to say. It is frequently mundane or embarrassing. I really don't care about the dirty look the barista gave you when you spent 5 minutes ordering your coffee-based beverage. I REALLY don't care about what so-and-so's boyfriend did.

And the office is pure hell. My unfettered hate for loud talkers has resurfaced with my recent gig. One gentleman in the company has taken over 2 offices and a conference room, and has a thing for speaker phone. And because he is nearly deaf, he thinks everyone else must be too, so he hollers everything. Ugh. I don't need this information. It distracts me from my book. And how hard would it be to close one of your 3 doors? I had a similar problem at my old job, because my boss, with whom I shared an office, was a phone-drama queen. She spent the vast majority of her day on personal calls. Loud personal calls. Painfully inappropriate personal calls. Which she felt the need to repeat to 3 other relatives. It was like nails on the chalkboard.

I guess alot of this has to do with my own preferences. I hate being on speaker phone. If I want to talk to a crowd at the same time, I will say so. If I don't, pick up the damn receiver unless you are toggle-feeding twins or something. Also, I prefer to have my private conversations in private. This is why I love texting. No one is disturbed by my flying thumbs. Also, I'm cheap. So I am not going to bore someone AND waste minutes. (I have been guilty of the grocery store chat, but that is mostly utilitarian.)

One of these days, phones will go flying. Probably because I have snatched it out of the hand of an offender and flung it out of the emergency exit. After whapping them upside the head with it.

on the iPod: "Big Wheel" - Tori Amos