Cell actions ring louder than words
"OH MY GOD! YOU ARE SO … RUDE," the woman exclaimed, apparently struggling for the right word.
"WHO IS HE SEEING?" she asked, but not to anyone standing in the same zip code. "WHAT DOES HIS MYSPACE SAY?"
I never found out what his MySpace said. But myself and a terminal full of anxious airline passengers could have let our minds run wild. Some could be seen snapping and whispering "soap opera," to their traveling companions, while others rolled their eyes when the talker began pacing the rows of seats in the waiting area.
Suffice to say I was not trying to eavesdrop on this decibel-breaking cell phone conversation. It seems in this instance, the show came before the flight.
Cellular phone technology really is a miracle for the masses. You never know when you're going to find an entertaining story. But I never thought I'd need to turn the volume up in my headphones so I could tune it out.
Before I bought my first cell phone I would have thought it unforeseeable to hear a complete stranger divulge the secret ingredients in Crystal Pepsi while sitting next to me on a park bench. Just last week I got a great stock tip while sitting next to a New Yorker going on and on about the offerings of his company to his phone buddy, and the rest of us within earshot.
"Don't do that," the Wall Street baron described to his coworker, "that's a bad deal. Make sure when I get back that we sell it to them this way…"
If only I had a pen and paper with me, and the desire to find the name of the suit's company, I could have had my very own ImClone stock turnaround.
My feeling toward the gadgetry of cell phones has always been similar to Macaulay Culkin's reaction to aftershave in the "Home Alone" movie. I was late to join the craze, but raring to take part once the need presented itself. I've since been all too guilty of all the blunders, like talking too loud in a quiet study lounge or choosing a ring tone which may be a little too provocative for an office setting.
It seems we've all been guilty of making our private conversations a little too public. Between that and driving while talking on the phone, there are a few bad phone habits I'm sure we'd all like to break.
Who are these people, and why are their cell phone conversations so "AMAZING" that they have to share with the metro area? A good stock tip, the latest segment of the teenage melodrama, these episodes add whole new meaning to the phrase "Can you hear me now?"
I'm not complaining, but if you're going to make the effort to schedule making your "important" phone calls while others are around, see if you can relay the other half of the conversation too.
"How was the trip? What kind of stomach sickness? Yeah, I understand if you don't want to go to the fish fry."
Can't these decibel-ignoring folks relay the latest NCAA tournament scores to those of us who don't have our ear connected to another zip code? Just that one caveat if you're going to invade my lunch break cone of silence, a little bit of riveting midday talk to engage others in your very public private conversations.
Or else I guess I'll have to blare the music up into my headphones. How's that for raising the bar?
Brad W. Gary is the city and politics reporter for the Columbia Basin Herald.