| We as human beings in this post-2000 era have come to
depend on the telephone for its convenience, usefulness, and quite frankly,
its magic. It's cheap, it's effective, and it's also ridiculously-handy.
However with it has come several new problems, mainly in the arena
of common decency, etiquette, and manners. We as human beings suck
anymore when it comes to thinking about someone other than ourselves, and
this now easily spills over into phone usage... and I'm sick of it.
The first area where common courtesy and decency has gone down the tubes
is talking to someone else while you're on the phone already with another
person. It's one thing if the person on the other end of the line initiates
such behavior ("Oh yeah, well tell him he's a goober and I still want my
$20 he owes me!"). But it is a completely different thing when you
being talking to another person who's not on the line, and practically right
into the phone, without the person on the other end knowing what is going
on or who is actually being spoken to. For god's sake people, if you
need to chat with someone off the line for a second, tell me to hold on just
a second, cover up the receiver, hold it away from your head, and then get
done whatever you need to get done. Don't sit there yakking away to
someone else for 8 minutes with the phone still at your ear making me
sit and listen to the whole thing. I don't want to, and all I'll want
to do is hang up.
Secondly, and probably more infuriating, is the use of Speakerphone at
wholly-inappropriate times. Speakerphone is meant for meetings, and
other similar situations where you have no alternative. Not because
you decide you want to do something else while talking to me (because apparently
YOUR time is important, but not mine?!).
When you flip me over to speakerphone without a really good reason, not only
does it insult me by telling me that you have other more-important things
to deal with besides me (and in many cases YOU called ME you ingrate!), but
you then sound like a complete idiot because your voice is muffled and then
you can't figure out why I'm having trouble understanding what you're saying.
And by insulting me in this manner, you only lower my own personal
evaluation of yourself, and you WILL be relegated to the second-class treatment
you deserve by doing such.
And finally, you saw this coming, but maybe not quite this way. I'm
torn in regards to the existence of cellphones. I think they're pretty
dang cool, to be honest, even though I'd never get one for myself if I could
help it (if I want you to get a hold of me, I'll ensure you can.
Otherwise, it can wait). They ARE pretty handy sometimes when there's
just no other option. However they are ugly, they're tiny, and most
of their owners are amongst the rudest bunch of ingrates on the face of the
earth. Not all, but most. And everyone unanimously agrees that
cellphones in cars have to go. Their existence isn't the problem though,
it's their usage (abuse). There's another more-sinister problem with
cellphones, and that comes with people yakking away on them all day who have
no business or need to.
If I see you in line at Arby's, yakking away to a friend on a cellphone while
in line, not even pausing the convo while you place your order, you immediately
are placed two levels down on the evolutionary scale by me... right where
you belong.
If anyone is working on a project to make all the active cellphones in the
world explode simultaneously while people are speaking on them (the closer
the explosion to the head, the better), I'd be more than happy to help fund
the project in any way I can.
Your time is not that important. No more important than mine. And
the greater lengths you go to trying to convince me that it is, the more
you prove yourself to be nothing more than a whiny, spoiled, unimportant
peon desperately crying out for attention because you are lacking something
in the area's of God's true gifts such as charisma, intelligence, humor,
and common decency.
And if you're that lacking in those areas, I have little compassion or interest
in your pitiful existence.
-- Rik A. Kyser. |
