Mobile phones

[lafrancaise]

Is it only me or does it get on your nerves too when someone comes to visit you, their phone rings and you sit through a 5 or 10 minute one-sided conversation only to hear once they've hung up they have to go (OK I exaggerate a bit but that's what it feels like). It also gets on my nerves having to listen to these phone calls on trains, buses, at bus stops... Surely, there should be a mobile phone etiquette as I'm sure some people don't really realise it can bother others. What do you think?

[drchasuble]

I used to work in a book shop and people would come to the till and expect to be served whilst they blanked me, avoided eye contact and yappetty yapped cr4p into their phones. I couldn't ever quite believe the rudeness.

I do have a phone but I don't answer it if I'm on the train or bus. I don't really want people to know my business. I always feel voyeuristic listening to other people's conversations.
If I'm at a friend's house, I will ignore the phone if it rings and pick up any messages later.

And is it just me or are other people's conversations really boring and cr*p and make you wonder why they bother phoning anyone at all?

[Mikeyd2]

Makes me laugh in a pub or cafe etc when people are out together and then spend the whole evening ignoring each other and chating or playing with the bl00dy things .

I also commute and am driven up the wall by inane conversations daily ...." I'm on the train , I'll be there in 5 / 4/3 /2 / 1 minutes etc ...."The trains stopped I might be 30 secs late " ...Give me strength !!!!!!!

Give me one of those phone blockers please ....!

[makemesmile]

I have a friend who does that - arranges to meet me, then spends most of her time answering calls from others. Doesn't exactly make me feel like scintillating company! I always put mine on silent and check for calls/messages when on my own.

But what really gets my goat is when I travel on Virgin trains, and sit in the 'quiet coach' and someone uses their phone. IT MAKES ME VERY ANGRY!!!

[CosmoK]

today as i was walking to the library with my friend, she got a call on her phone. She then STOPPED walking and started a 10 min converstation. So I stood there like a spare part, while she walked round in small circles gabbing into the phone! We eventually got to the library! slowly.

[lafrancaise]

Wow, thank you. So I'm not the only one. drchasuble (incidently how did you make that name up?!) I used to go into a shop and it was the person on the till who was the owner who would chat on and serve without the least thank you or eye contact. As I said, a shop I 'used to' go into.
So how can we go about creating an etiquette for this????? It's not the phone companies who are going to do it. Me thinks it'll have to go onto a soap, that's what catches on nowadays unfortunately....

[lafrancaise]

Hi CosmoK so what did you say to your friend? probably nothing as we don't want to cause any bother etc. That's where we have to come up with something like walking away or something... but what?

[shaneystar2]

They drive me to distraction ...I feel like ripping them out of peoples hands and shoving them down their throats .They are brilliant for emergencies etc but the mindless drivel that you have to endure on the bus or on a train is awful. The last time I went down to London on the train it was full of lap top tapping mobile phone junkies and by the time I got there I was ready to commit murder !!
Yesterday I was trying to get an item off a shelf in the supermarket and had to keep dodging a woman who was walking back and forth in front of the display whilst telling whomever was on the other end of her phone that she was in Somerfields near the bread !
I used to work in bakers come takeway shop and I used to loathe the ones who chatted on their phones whilst you were getting their stuff ready and would bark their order at you whilst conversing. Even worse were the ones who would get on their phones and ask everyone at their office what they wanted instead of having a ruddy written list .Can you imagine it ...."hang on so and so wants cheese on brown " ..no she doesn't she wants ham on white ...hang on ....chat chat chat ........make that two cheese on white ".Oh hang on she's changed her mind ...............
Grrrrrrrr !!!! Rant over !

[bednobs]

stop listening to peoples conversations then if it annoys you! There is no difference than eavesdropping on two people having a convo on a train, exceot you're annoyed you cant her the other end of it!!!

[makemesmile]

It's strange that we whilst we have more or less accepted various levels of etiquette on a lot of social things - it doesn't seem to have 'evolved' with mobile phones. Too much too soon, do you think?

Whilst it's a brave person that goes without one nowadays, I do wish I could bin mine. I hate that someone can get hold of me whenever/where ever I am. But, after approx 13 years of owning one, I'm hooked!

[shaneystar2]

Most trains and busses are jammed with passengers ......when the majority of them are jabbering into mobiles it just sounds like a cacophony of noise to me .You couldn't eavesdrop if you wanted to ! And by the some of the cr@p you do actually hear who would want to eavesdrop.The point is we are not eavesdropping ......we are being FORCED to listen to other peoples drivel because you can't get away from them on a train or bus or in public places .
And when you work in a place such as retail and your customer is jabbering on a phone while you are trying to serve them.... that to me is the very height of bad manners.

[makemesmile]

Even worse - when you want to pay for something and the sales assistant is gassing! You just can't get the staff....

[shaneystar2]

Lol ..makemesmile...don't get me started on gassing sales assistants !! We were allowed to gas but not in front of the customers !!
The other day I went to buy a birthday card and the assistant didn't even stop for breath ....when I said I had the right money a hand shot out ...took it ..rung it up ..and then carried on " I said to him... I said etc .." ".Oooh did you etc "....said her colleague......I may as well have been invisible !

[drchasuble]

Hi Lafran�aise.

Doctor Chasuble is the name of the little bustling vicar in The Importance Of Being Ernest.
My dachshund Charlie reminds me of him when he's beetlng about so his nickname went from Charlie to Chas to Dr Chasuble.

[JackDanielsU]

Some people seem to have them surgically attached to themselves

There was a program where they tried to see if a family could last for a week without them....they couldnt...they had two daughters who though being in the next room to each other...would txt and ring the other sibling...mind-boggling!

Whats really bad though are the people who stride down the street yakking into it, and dont look where theyre going, --- walk out onto the road, barge into other pedestrians etc.

[lafrancaise]

Is there not some kind of thing we can bring up like ' You know , it's really bad manners to talk on the phone when you're with someone' or something to that effect???????? come on, you can come up with something........ I don't just want to hear complaints I want to know how we can get around this. Sometimes I just feel like going onto another island or something just to get away from the things for a little while..

[willowman]

Next time you're annoyed by a man on the mobile, stand next to them and say in a loud voice "Are we allowed mobiles in this massage parlour?"

[willowman]

Going off on a slight tangent, it's as bad as somebody you are speaking to on the phone suddenly saying "Oh there's someone on the other line" and just leaving you hanging whilst they see who else is calling them. Makes you feel really important and valued.

[lafrancaise]

I agree willowman though it's only happened to me twice, once I apologised as I said i didn't know they were expecting a call and hung up (it had been me who'd rung them) the second time as it had been them who rang me I put the phone down whilst they were answering. What I'd like to know is, how do we get these bad manners checked. I sometimes wonder if it isn't better to start in the schools and let the kids teach the parents!! Strange world!

[lankeela]

Maybe it was an excuse to cut short the visit!