Posts Tagged With: cell phone users

Does this not give further support of my cell phone meanderings in my Dec. 20 post?  Last night I walked into an elevator in Queens in which a man was jabbering on his cell, facing the wall, and he says in a perfectly loud voice “oh wait, I can’t tell you now,..no, yeah someone is listening….” Door opens and he’s out before I can can tell him…what?  That I am not listening?  That he has an exaggerated sense of self-importance?  I don’t know but it’s a good thing for him he got out fast…couldn’t even say for sure if he was wearing his pink tie!

What is it that’s so annoying about a person talking at length on their cell phone in public?  (I was reminded of this while waiting in airport lines as of late.)  The same person could be talking to an embodied person and I wouldn’t notice; it certainly wouldn’t irk me this way. But put me in line with this person on their cell phone—or put us on the bus or in an elevator together—and I can’t help but feeling just the tiniest bit outraged.  But by what? Their bloated sense of self-importance?  Why do I find it so obnoxious?  I’m guessing I’m not alone*, yet it seems somewhat irrational (assuming the issue isn’t the loudness).  It’s worst I think when the user is just shooting the breeze, or sounding as if they’re closing a deal, or describing (in “real-time”) being in line. Continue reading →