A cancer is growing in our societyFollow

I saw this article today, and it got me to fuming again. Personally, I've found cell phones irritating for years. First, it was because those who had them were typically pompous and arrogant as[/i]sholes who carried them more for a status symbol than for their practical use. Then it became more of an irritation based on what this article talks about.

I do not talk on my phone while driving. It's fu[i]cking dangerous. I don't multitask well to begin with, but driving a 3,000 pound vehicle and talking on the phone is a recipe for disaster. If my phone rings I let the voice mail pick it up, and once I'm parked I'll check the message.

The other thing I don't do is have long conversations in public places. At first, this didn't bother me so much as I figured "What the hell, if they want to air their private bullsh[/i]it out in public so be it." As time went on it bothered me more and more. If someone is walking in a grocery store talking about how they think so-and-so's husband is cheating on her, or how thier mother's gastic by-pass surgery went, guess what? I don't fu[u][/u]cking want to hear about it.

I was in the grocery store Friday night (because there's much fewer people there, and less people means less people to **** me off) and I ran into one of these people. I'm going along throwing the typical bachelor food in my cart and meanwhile there are stockers in the isles restocking the shelves. No biggie, I work around them and they work around me. I come down this isle and this fat ***** is parked with her cart talking on her phone. She's going on about her brother's court date and how he's getting screwed over by his ***** of an ex. Meanwhile, I'm stuck behind her and now another person is behind me. Normally I would say fu[i]ck it and turn around as these types of people never notice you, and if they do it's not their problem.

So after about 30 seconds or so of her not noticing me, I pipe up with a polite "Excuse me m'am" (military training, be polite even if they don't deserve it). And she kind of half turns and you can tell by her glazed look that she's only about 20% aware of me, and continues on with her conversation. Finally, she turns and says "Do you mind? This is a private conversation."

I'm a red-head, so I have a temper. Typically I keep it in check pretty well, but if you give me time to get steamed, I'll snap.

So as she's turning to dismiss me and continue on with her private conversation I say "If you want a private conversation I suggest you have it in a private place, not in the middle of the fu[i][/i]cking grocery store."

She looked aghast, and finally moved her fat *** out of the way. The guy behind me busted out laughing.

It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that you are a looser and had nothing better to do on a friday night?

Seriously though, I don't think that the use of cell phones is the only problem in the story. There seems to be this growing egocentric attitude in our society. People are acting more like they are the only thing that matters, and everyone else in the world is just a means for them to reach their end.



And Samira, I have been saying for years that restaurants should have a cell phone section, just like a smoking section. If people want to be rude and shout during their dinner, that is fine, but take it to a place where I don't have to hear it.

How do we know that the noise isn't giving my ears cancer?

Edited, Tue Oct 18 19:36:35 2005 by PsiChi

The only time I have found myself irritated at cell phone use is when students in the middle of lecture answer their phones and walk out of lecture to talk. If I was the professor, I would lock the door and not let them back in.

Manners are nothing more or less than good home training. We reap what we sow.

That's my point, actually. We allowed a generation to be raised by a generation that was given a television for a babysitter without doing anything to reverse or even halt the trend towards SELF.

I have no sympathy for us and our predicament. We deserve these people, we ARE these people.

Speak for yourself, varlet. I don't watch television. Nor do I own a cell phone. Neither do I plunge heedlessly down a crowded sidewalk elbowing the elderly, the lame and the blind out of my way.

I do, however, eat meat, so I'm still going to hell. Yay!

Ooooh! Cone of silence. I'm sooooo there!!! ;)


On a real technical note:

Actually, it's a lot harder and more expensive to do this then you might think. It's relatively easy to make it so that signals don't penetrate *well* into an area, but hard as hell to block them completely. What you often end up with is phones getting enough signal to ring, but then disconnecting, which will just result in more rings, and a lot of people shouting into their phones with a bad connection.

I'm no rf expert, but there's basically two approaches to do this. You either physically block the signals, or you use electronics to interferre with the signals.

The first method can be *really* expensive. You need a material of the correct wavelength to block the signals. And lots of buildings do that reasonably well already, but not perfectly since they aren't specifically sized for the job (just happen to do it most of the time). You've seen the mesh that blocks microwaves in your oven, right? Similar stuff put in the insulation in a wall will block cell phone signals completely. But that's a lot of money and requires rebuilding the walls of your building. You're essentially building a faraday cage around your "zone of silence". ;)

Interferrence is easier and cheaper, but can be less effective. You've got to saturate an area with rf signals which will essentially scramble any incoming signal so that it doesn't get through. Well, it does, but the reciever doesn't know what to make of it, so it doesn't recognize it as an incomming phone call. The problem is that you're saturating an area with rf. Know all those people who claim cell phones cause cancer? You're probably not going to get their business. There are also some very real risks. Know what rf saturation can do to a pacemaker? Not really a great idea...


The change has to be cultural IMO. It's not about the cell phones. It's about rude people. I agree with the statement above that there's a trend in society for people to think only of themselves. Certainly, the woman blocking the isle fits that model perfectly. I'm not sure what the solution is, but it's definately a problem...

Shhhhh... you'll blow my cover as the resident cool kid on the block.

You said it. I had a friend call me at work today. When I answered, he stated he'd just called my cell not two minutes before and didn't get an answer. I told him that was because the ringer was turned off and he tried to take affront at the fact that I didn't leave the ringer on my personal phone turned on while at work.

I could, if I wanted. There's a policy, but I've never seen it enforced. But that's not the point. The point is that *I* object to having personal calls come in on my cell while I'm at work. He couldn't understand.

I finally broke down and just turned arrogant on him. I told him my cell is for my convenience, not his. I have it so that I can call people, not for people to call me.

Me and my charming self, neh?

Usually people talking on cell phones about useless ******** in public get an earful from me.

Case in point.

Three days ago I was riding the bus and a girl (around 18 or so) is speaking somewhat loudly in a very obnoxious New England accent. I waited until I was about 5 stops from mine and proceeded to go over from my seat and sit down next to her. This seemed to surprise her since the bus was only half full. After a quick glance and a pause in her conversation, she went back at it. At this point I tapped her on the shoulder and asked "Excuse me, can I have a moment of your time?" She sighed, rolled her eyes and told her friend she'd call him/her back in a minute. This is what I said to her: "I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for dribbling your stupidity all over me and the others on this bus. I hope your cunt rots and your labia falls off from leprosy. I hope you have a nice day, and **** off." This was followed by the middle finger as I got up and exited.

I walked the last two blocks to work whistling Zip-Ah-Dee-Doo-Dah and had a fantastic morning.

Edited, Tue Oct 18 21:30:28 2005 by SilentPaskil

If you were as cool as you thought you were, you would have cone this right off the bat, instead of waiting for you to be close enough to run away if a problem arose.

I remember a time when all kids wanted to do was get a break from work or run across the street in between class to have a smoke. Now, those kids just want to use that time for cell phone calls.

Some of the departments where I work practice this religiously. I myself do not own a cell phone because:
A) I am a loser with no real friends
B) I do not know enough people to warrent cell phone usage
C) I do not want a big tumer to grow out of my ear

On an episode of Jay Lenno a few months back they did a segment on new cell phones which came on the market. There was one specifically designed for ages 4 and up. yes, the "egocentric attiude" is right, and now you can look forward to it from 4 year olds

Hoo hoo hoo!

Is there a state in the union where I can marry you and still stay married to the husband I have?