Uhh, because it’s rude for you to ignore him/her? Just because the cashier is not a buddy to you doesn’t me you should ignore them.
That’s how I feel, anyway.
- The cashier is a person attempting to interact with you, and deserves your full attention. Maybe he or she needs to ask a question or tell you about a discount or ask to see your identification or tell you that you DIDN’T pay the right amount because you were too busy paying attention to your phone. Also, if you are talking on the phone, you are probably not greasing your interaction with the teller with such niceties as “please,” “thank you,” and actual eye contact.
Please, take the ten seconds out of your day to be polite to the cashier. It won’t kill you to ask your friend to hold on for a moment, and your friend won’t shrivel up because he or she was deprived of the sound of your voice for half a minute.
- What you think is a low tone and what others think is a low tone may be two entirely different things. In a small space like an elevator, in fact, there is probably no such thing. Also, there is just something very annoying and/or distracting about listening to only one side of a conversation.
It’s not that hard to be considerate of other people.
Oh, I should’ve added this before, too. I used to work in a library, and people’s cell phones would go off all the time while either sitting at tables or better yet while I was checking out their books. If the person’s ring was a particular tune, like the Winnie the Pooh theme, I’d get it stuck in my head the rest of the day. It just drove me nuts how I’d be checking out their books and have to ask them a question or just tell them the due date, and they’d a) take forever to find their phone and answer it, and b) speak reeeally loudly right in my face. It’s a freakin library!
—snarkasm—
So cry me a river. Can’t use a cellphone in an elevator. You’re the type that gets all huffy and fussy if someone talks to a friend (standing next to them) in said elevator aren’t you? It’s not some Holy McJesus Sacred Ride to the Top or anything, THERE’S NO NEED TO BE QUIET.
You know, I wish people would stop talking. No matter where they are, no matter who to, if you’re out in public, YOU CAN’T USE YER CELLPHONE, waaaah. Because it’s SO INCONSIDERATE to have to listen to someone’s voice. In fact I nearly exploded fecal matter over the last person who dared use their vocal cords to create sound to communicate to another person. It’s so goddamn inconsiderate, these goddamn phoneys and their goddamn cell phones.
I think the only place people can use cell phones is in their houses, where it’s nice and private and doesn’t disturb anyone.
—end snarkasm—
Theatre, Library, Cinema, Opera: NO
Coffeeshop, Elevator, Public Park, Street: YES.
BZZZZZT Wrong. But thanks for the overblown personal attack.
And by the way, yes, I do have a cell phone. I do use it in public. But I also keep in mind that everyone is not as fascinated with the sound of my voice as I am.
Well said. It’s always bothered me that people think people standing behind cash registers are vending machines. When I ring through a sale for someone using a cellphone I am silent. Not a word. No hello, no declaration of the total or the total change, no “please sign for the Visa,” no “would you like a bag.” I place the change on the counter, I place the receipt on top of the item, I smile if they bother to look at me and I move on. Sometimes I suspect these people are pretending to be at work or doing something important instead of farting around a bookstore so I think I’m doing them a favour by being discreet! Honestly though I can’t help but think they’re creepy. It’s like they think they’re 1980s-style yuppies or something. I picture them laughing at homeless people for not knowing about wines. It’s such a wannabe playa way to behave.
I’m going to chime in and agree with what most everyone else has said.
Before I got my cell I used to think that cell phone bans were a good idea. Now that I have a cell myself I realise that it’s not the phone but the moron using it. I rarely ever use it when driving and then I’m very to the point. If what I need to say can’t be said in a few seconds I pull over. As for theaters, libraries, etc I set the damn thing to silent. While that means I’ll (horror of horrors) miss a call it’s better then pissing everyone else off. If getting a call is that damn important then don’t go some where that you can’t be noisy. If I need to use it when I’m in a store I either go stand in an out of the way corner or go out side.
If you can’t grasp these simple things then you are too stupid to be let out side without supervision, let alone given a cell phone.
Around here, I would guess that the majority of people who use their mobile phones in public - usually on the street is when I notice them, but also in stores or on the subway - have these little microphones that hang down on cords. While looking cool and being convenient, it obfuscates the fact that they’re talking on a phone at all. There’s nothing wrong with this if you’re used to it, but it startled me for the first few weeks I was here to see someone talking to nobody in particular as I rounded a corner. The only thing I would like is for people who use these devices to avoid making eye contact; I get nervous when I think a stranger is talking to me unexpectedly. 
I have a cousin whose cell phone might as well be glued to her face. I love her dearly but her attachment to that thing drives me up the wall.
We grew up together but a few years ago I moved away. I see her maybe twice a year now. At Christmas I was in town and we went out to lunch together. We’re sitting at our table when her phone rings and she stops our conversation to answer it. She proceeds to have a five minute conversation with some friend that she had already spoken to two or three times that day. After she got off the phone and placed it on the table (in anticipation of her next phone call), I reached for it and tried to find the off button. I couldn’t find it so I asked her how to turn it off. She asked why and I said I wanted to turn it off because I wanted to have a conversation with her without her phone interrupting us for once. She freaked out and grabbed it back and REFUSED to turn it off. She asked what the problem was and I simply told her it was rude. She just said “No it isn’t”.
The phone rang about two or three more times throughout our lunch and she answered it every time. I just don’t get what was so important about talking to the people she talks to a hundred times a day that she couldn’t wait half an hour for.
My position is, don’t use it when you’re in someone else’s company unless you’re waiting for an important call (even then I wonder what could possibly be so important); turn it off in any theatres, church, any place where there is supposed to be quiet.
It’s also rude to use a cell while driving if that means you can’t drive in a straight line at the same time. It’s rude to terrorize your passengers and forces them to engage in the unpleasant exercise of mentally composing their last will and testament (clue-- if you survive you won’t be getting anything) while envisioning ripping the damned phone out of your paw and throwing it out the window.
Benson, your cousin has a problem. Maybe she needs some sort of twelve step program for cell phone addiction.
That’s what I was going to say! It’s really weird; most of the time it looks like the people are talking to themselves. It’s even worse when they’re having a really animated or loud conversation.
And for the love of Pete, yes on the ‘no eye contact’ thing! It always startles me. I think, “Is he yelling at me?”