I hope you find the following article and links on cell phone etiquette to be a valuable adition in "Your Sanity Stop."
My dear friend and fellow consultant, Patricia Katz is the publisher of a weekly e-zine called PAUSE. Pat is a brilliant author and is definitely the calming "Voice of Sanity In A Speed Crazed World." I highly recommend visiting her website (http://www.patkatz.com) and signing up (http://www.patkatz.com/resources/newsletter.shtml) for your own weekly copy of PAUSE.
When Pat sent out this e-zine I found my head in a constant nod as it was quite refreshing to hear someone else's opinion. I quickly emailed Pat to ask for permission to include this particular article on the website for all our visitors.
Questionable cell phone usage has been a sore spot for me personally over the years. Not too long ago A friend of mine came to visit and as usual her cell phone was attached to her side. After numerous interruptions from her cell phone that day, (none of which were urgent) I finally asked her if she would be so kind as to turn it off during future visits so we could have more quality time together. She graciously agreed.
Recently I stopped by to see her during a planned visit at her home. To my surprise the first thing she did was grab her cell phone and turn it off! Needless to say we both had a wonderful time catching up.
Much Aloha,
Julie Signore
P.S. Please note that in the time Pat has publisher PAUSE -- I have never seen her rant. I'm sure glad she did this time!
So here I am in the Denver airport with three hours between flights and a hunger for lunch. With that much time to spare, I opt for sit- down service instead of a grab and run sandwich. Within moments of placing my order, it becomes clear that I'm dining in a phone booth not a restaurant.
For the next hour, the woman beside me calls friend after friend leaving voice mail messages until she lucks into someone who is 'in' with time to spare. A 30 minute gossip-fest ensues. I'm inundated with way too much information about this stranger's life.
Across the aisle, two business men share a table, but not each other's company. The first juggles two phone calls. Switching between holds, he alternates between arguing with his wife and verbally abusing an employee. His table mate is also in full phone mode, swapping derogatory stories about Client X with a colleague at the other end of the call.
Seated at the table next to the dynamic duo, are three young business types - all ignoring each other and each engaged in a separate telephone conversation.
For the record, I do enjoy people watching. However, I have no desire to be an unwilling participant in someone else's daily soap opera, or privy to their marital secrets; and, for all businessman #2 knew, I could be associated with the client he was badmouthing.
At first blush, the phones seem incidental to the problem, because you can catch snatches of similar conversations between people at neighboring tables in any restaurant.
However, each of these callers was speaking, not in a moderated voice for the ears of someone just across the table, but to an audience at a distance. To a person, they projected with a volume that assured their messages made it through the phone link (and consequently throughout the restaurant).
Secondly, the situation seemed to be awkward not just for me, but for their tablemates during the bits of time they were not 'on-line' themselves. What do you do? Do you blatantly watch and listen in on the call? Do you fervently assess the condition of your finger nails, or do you manufacture a reason to leave the table?
Finally, no one seemed to be listening to anyone else. This veritable Tower of Babel was enough to give a person indigestion. And it did!
ACTION:
So what do I suggest? Can the public chatter, or at least rein it in. I'm pausing to check my own cell phone behaviour and its impact on others. I invite you to do the same. Together we need to figure out how best to manage this technology in ways that work for us all.
By the way, it's bon appetite, not phone appetite!