*“Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt your phone conversation, but you’re in a library. Maybe you didn’t realize from the 80 people who are glaring at you, but your ceaseless banter is disrupting the tranquility of the environment. Please take your conversation elsewhere or shut the fuck up.”
*
This is a phrase that I often wish to convey to people in libraries. But I can’t as I’m apparently too cowardly. I just don’t understand this behavior. I spend a lot of time in libraries, and almost every day I see people talking on their cellphones. It’s bad enough that they don’t have the courtesy to turn off their ringers; now they want to have conversations too! And it’s not the “hey, i’m in a library, I’ll call you back” sort of thing. It’s 5-10 minute long conversations that bother nearly everyone in cavernous study halls.
I don’t mean to be too judgemental here, but I find it unsettling that people who use cell phones in places that demand silence are devoid of the slightest tinge of self-consciousness in their behavior, and apparently oblivious to the legions of annoyed glances coming from those around them. Grr!
People who are rude are never going to look around to see if they are interrupting anyone. Glaring at them isn’t going to do anything. Until someone walks up to them and points out that their behavior isn’t appropriate for the setting, they will continue to act like assholes.
This goes for libraries, movie theaters, hospitals, and other similar places.
My library doesn’t mind cel phone calls as long as you step the hell away from the desk and don’t disturb other people. If you do disturb other people, security will Speak To You.
Seriously, tell them to STFU. If people don’t make the point to the legions of rude idiots on cell phones that they can’t blabber in the library they’ll never learn. I’m 100% for cell phone blocking technology in the library, the movies, wherever there should be no cell phone use.
To be fair, there are times when people-- like doctors, for example-- might need to have their phones active when it is inconvenient for others… but come on, at least take the calls outside and have the phone on vibrate. yeesh.
What I have done that seems to work on inconsiderate mobile telephone users is to go sit right next to them, especially if there are plenty of open seats elsewhere. Apparently realizing that someone has made a point to come closer just to listen to the conversation has a chilling effect. If they move, you move too, until they move outside or shut up.
Oddly enough, I’ve never been confronted by someone asking “What the hell are you listening to?”. I wonder why.
And some people with cell phones are generally as discreet as possible in an environment like a library- if they can’t take the call outside, they talk as quietly as they can, for as short a time as they can. People like that don’t generally get 80 people glaring at them.
The people who do use their cell phones in such a way as to get 80 people glaring at them mess it up for everyone else- they bring on blanket “no cell phone” policies, and make life harder for the ones who actually might need to use their cell phone, and who hopefully know how to do so without bothering everybody.
The problem with allowing any cell conversations is, by default, you allow ALL cell phone conversations. Make an exception for doctors and you make an exception for everyone. If there isn’t a strict ban on the devices rude people will gather like flies on meat and chat away until there is a confrontation.
What did doctors and others do before we had cell phones?
Hubby says he will never forget what happened two years ago in a class he was teaching at our local university campus. In the midst of his lecture, a cell phone rang, and the young lady who owned it, answered it.
“Hello? Yeah? Oh, nothing. I’m in class.”
Hubby stared at her pointedly. She held up a finger to tell him, “Just a moment.”
He jokingly tells this story to his students when he asks them to turn off their phones before class starts. Of course, now, with text messaging, you don’t need to answer the phone. He told me of one student who texted throughout every lecture, and then couldn’t understand why he failed the tests,
I’ve found that the library as a quiet place seems to be an antiquated custom.
I go to the library a lot and can’t remember the last time I heard a librarian ask someone to be quiet. It used to happen all the time. Now people (including staff) just talk at normal volume and no one seems to care. They even have separate cubicle-like rooms with doors that shut for those that really want some quiet.
At my local branch library, there’s a security guard. She WILL shush people who are too noisy. She gently tells people that the adult literacy class is about to start, and if they are not in it, they need to leave the area where it’s held. She also informs kids that the library is not a playground. She’s not harsh, but she does keep the library quiet and orderly, and I enjoy it there. She tolerates quiet conversations, and makes sure that people who have difficulty moving around can maneuver. If she sees someone with a huge stack of books or other materials checking out, she’ll help carry some of the load into the car.
Where is the librarian? He’s generally helping people find information, or showing them how to use the computer, or doing librarian things. The library pages are checking things out for people or restocking the library. It’s a wonderful place. I always make sure to put a couple of bucks in the jar for more resources when I go.
Our cell phone policy tells people to step into the lobby to take calls. We’ll compromise with them if they retreat into the stacks as long as they don’t disturb other patrons.
So this chick with a huge sense of entitlement answered three calls in a row, and placed another, even after the librarian politely told her not to. (She also had the most obnoxious ring tone in the world, but to continue…) At the final confrontation, she proceeded to scream abuse at the librarian, with her cell phone still firmly attached to her face.
Having gone well over the line, she was told to leave. She refused, still spitting obscenities. So the police were called to escort her out.
The cops dragged her outside and she proceeded to scream at them for a while. But the kicker is she never hung up throughout the protracted melodrama. Lord only knows what the caller on the other made of it. “THIS CUNT JUST TOLD ME HANG UP! NOW I’M BEING ARRESTED! MOTHERFUCKERS SAY I’M BEING DISORDERLY!”
Not a typical example, but pretty mind-boggling nonetheless.
Come to think of it, the general decline you speak of also seems to be true. I see staff members talking at normal volume, phones ringing, casual conversations going on betewen patrons, people eating pop tarts and sandwiches with impunity, a strange unwillingness by staffers to shush problem patrons…
I wonder if it’s financially feasible for a private library to operate-- one with a militant bouncer with zero tolerance for cell phones. I’m picturing that drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket.
I think the thing with libraries not being quiet is there’s just too many people in them.
At the library I work at attendance has gone up each of the last seven years. The more and more people you have the more “little conversations” carry. Add on top of that the fact that the phone has become an even bigger part of answering reference questions. So how can the librarians stay quiet?
Personally, I’m thrilled libraries aren’t as quiet as they used to be. It means they’re being used more.
Too much effort. Which is why you need to keep a handy supply of nice thick rubber bands on you. If you have even half-way decent aim, you can get the attention of the cell phone yakker from clear across a room, and THEN your scowling has a chance to have an impact.
I suggest aiming for the ear that doesn’t have a phone glued to it.
Ooh, I like that idea. Even better, cell phone blockers are starting to show up on the net now. How much fun would it be to shush someone only to be ignored and then you whip out the Cell Phone Eliminator. Turn it on and watch their call get disconnected…talk about satisfaction.
I have a fantasy. I go to Radio Shack, and there on the counter is a little device, about the size of a television remote. This device is to be pointed at cell phone users who are disturbing me. When I press the activate button on the device, radio waves are sent out to the offending cell phone, and its earpiece emits an extremely loud, extremely shrill tone – loud enough and shrill enough to tear the tympanic membrane of the idiot holding the cell phone against their head. Blood flowing out of the injured ear would be a nice bonus.
I have no idea of what technological advances would be necessary to create such a device. I wish they would happen soon.
It is just a fantasy, but it makes me smile. And then people don’t realize how dangerous I am.
There is a difference. Someone in a library who gets a call and says, “Adminster 10 mg of drug xyz and start test zyx…” isn’t going to get a dirty look from me. Someone who gets a call and says.“Girl, you should have seen what your friend XYZ was up to last night at the club…and then he went home with…” is going to get a very nasty look and would be worthy of scorn.
Half of the mobile/cell phone users wouldn’t even be aware they’d been disconnected (given that they don’t pause for breath to give the callee a chance to interject), so I doubt your Eliminator would turn out to be as satisfying as you’d hope.
