# Shut the fuck up about cell phones now. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 19, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291 "2005-12-19T14:14:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/81 "2005-12-20T15:51:55Z")
Based on this > [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > Someone says, “Hold on a sec…” and gets up to leave, and you get that pissed off? > > Christ on a crutch, man. You need to relax a little. and > [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > I would argue that you choose what bothers you, but that’s probably another thread. it’s clear to me that you’re really missing something here. I think you and I can agree that if someone was sitting next to us in the theater playing the trumpet, that would bother us. I think we could also agree that someone sitting across the theater shifting in their seat would not bother us. Well, someone in between those extremes you have your line and I have mine. My line just happens to have “answering a fucking phone” and “playing trumpet” on the same side of it. Obviously, this shit bothers a lot of people. You want to make a case that it shouldn’t, but that misses the point. The behavior is rude simply because a lot of people are bothered by it. The good news is, you people have won. The theaters don’t care enough to stop your behavior. I simply don’t go to theaters anymore where that behavior is common. I go to theaters that cater to grown-ups to see grown-up movies at grown-up hours – and I don’t hear phones or see little blue screens popping up all over. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/82 "2005-12-20T15:55:12Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > I read what **kidchameleon** was saying as suggesting that if you were in a theater that blocked cell phones and someone had a heart attack and you needed to call 911 right then, the person having the heart attack would be SOL. Which strikes me as a very good reason _not_ to have jamming in theaters. Oh yeah? Well, back in my days, we didn’t have cell phones. If someone had a heart attack in the theater they just sucked it up until someone could go out to the lobby and dial 911 on a rotary phone. And we liked it, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/83 "2005-12-20T16:32:57Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > I read what **kidchameleon** was saying as suggesting that if you were in a theater that blocked cell phones and someone had a heart attack and you needed to call 911 right then, the person having the heart attack would be SOL. Which strikes me as a very good reason _not_ to have jamming in theaters. > > I can, however, live with someone quietly answering a phone set to vibrate and saying, “Hold on,” then going outside to talk. Since my husband is on call 24/7 every other weekend, we have learned to deal with such things; it’s possible to do it so unobtrusively nobody around you even notices. Especially if it’s a loud theater, which it usually is. But at least we sit by an aisle so if he needs to leave to take a call, he can without climbing over anybody. I’m sorry he can’t plan the timing of when the hospital computer crashes to fit perfectly around the theater schedule, but just because he may have to respond in an emergency doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to have a life, too. > > It’s the ones who are loud, rude, and obnoxious I’d like to see have their phones pounded to bits. There’s no excuse for it. Damnit! Again with the common sense! We have a nice little tempest in a teakettle going and here comes Ms. Buzzkill. Where’s the fun in giving others the benefit of the doubt? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/84 "2005-12-20T16:46:40Z")
Look, **QuickSilver** , if you’re tired of hearing about cell phones, then whenever the subject comes up, just switch the topic of conversation to something innocuous that everyone can agree on. For example, the cuteness of baby pandas. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/85 "2005-12-20T17:08:57Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > Damnit! Again with the common sense! We have a nice little tempest in a teakettle going and here comes Ms. Buzzkill. Where’s the fun in giving others the benefit of the doubt? Huh? No, it’s not common sense. **Mama Tiger** seems to suggest that jamming equipment would be bad based on the worst possible scenario that could happen in a movie theater. A scenario that never seemed to be a concern in the days before cell phones. And, she also totally overlooks the reality of the situation. In her scenario, apparently the time gap between “cell phone call made from the theater” and “phone call made from the lobby” makes the difference in the life or death of some one-in-a-million occurence of someone having a heart attack in a movie theater. Common sense, it ain’t. It’s an example of extreme thinking playing to fears that are very unlikely to be realized. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/86 "2005-12-20T17:31:25Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > I think you and I can agree that if someone was sitting next to us in the theater playing the trumpet, that would bother us. > > I think we could also agree that someone sitting across the theater shifting in their seat would not bother us. > > Well, someone in between those extremes you have your line and I have mine. > > My line just happens to have “answering a fucking phone” and “playing trumpet” on the same side of it. > > Obviously, this shit bothers a lot of people. You want to make a case that it shouldn’t, but that misses the point. The behavior is rude simply because a lot of people are bothered by it. I agree that taking calls on your cell phone during a movie with no thought as to how it affects others is rude, and I have said as much in this thread. What I have also said is that there has got to be a way to cut down on it without punishing the rest of us who know how to act like civilized adults. I don’t like the fact that the theater decides that I shouldn’t be able to get a call if someone needs to reach me. We’ve had several dopers in this thread talk about how they need to be reached for whatever reason, with work being the most common one. You say, “Then stay at home.” But that’s not fair. Everyone deserves to have a life, which should include going to the movies. The asshole minority shouldn’t dictate the consequenses to the majority. > [@](#): > > The good news is, you people have won. The theaters don’t care enough to stop your behavior. I simply don’t go to theaters anymore where that behavior is common. I go to theaters that cater to grown-ups to see grown-up movies at grown-up hours – and I don’t hear phones or see little blue screens popping up all over. “You people”? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/87 "2005-12-20T17:46:43Z")
No, **Trunk** , I think common sense is trying to figure out a way to deal with the technology we now have in as courteous a manner as possible. It also seems to me that you can’t logically decry the use of one convenient-and-offering-speed-of-communication technology – the cell phone – while using another one – the personal computer. The techology is here to stay. You can’t pick and choose which particular pieces of techology the rest of the world is going to enjoy using and in what location. You may not like cell phone use in public, but most people are going to use their cell phones away from home whether you like it or not – that’s the whole idea behind them, you realize, to have a _mobile_ phone – and so the issue is not **whether** people should use them but **how** people should use them. Folks like you should probably just not go out in public, however, since apparently even efforts to find a way to use technology in the least obtrusive way possible meet with such strong objection from you. Realistically, it’s not going to do you any good in the world to object to people using cell phones _at all_ in certain venues – unless they know they’re going to get a RED CARD! RED CARD! for it – and it’s pretty obvious theater owners for the most part aren’t going to enforce the rules you’d like to see enforced. And they’re certainly not going to risk a lawsuit by preventing even emergency signals, I suspect. So why don’t you focus on ways to encourage society at large to put sufficient pressure on rude phone users to bring their behavior into line, instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water? ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/88 "2005-12-20T18:00:49Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Look, **QuickSilver** , if you’re tired of hearing about cell phones, then whenever the subject comes up, just switch the topic of conversation to something innocuous that everyone can agree on. For example, the cuteness of baby pandas. Fuck no! Fuckin’ baby pandas looking at me all snooty-like. They have that, “I’m better than you because I eat bamboo, bitch” look in their little, endangered eyes. Fuck baby pandas! The only goddamn thing fucking baby pandas are good for is cooked medium rare with a little soy sauce. Fuckin’ baby pandas. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/89 "2005-12-20T18:47:10Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Often jobs in the medical field, law enforcement and fire fighting. We have to have folks on call to respond to radioactive spills, not that we’ve ever had one. Oh, please. There are plenty of people who are on the job ‘in place’ that no one really needs to be ‘on call’ all the time like that. My husband and I are members of a volunteer fire company (he’s a firefighter, I’m an EMT), and we carry our FD pagers nearly all the time. Technically, we’re ‘on call’ 24/7/365, but there’s no way we can respond to every call. If we go to a movie or someplace the pagers would be a disturbance, we leave them in the car. I leave mine in the car while I’m at work. Sure, there are times we’ve been somewhere, a call comes in and we high-tail it for the door, but there are just as many times when a call comes in and we’re too far from the station to even bother going. There are enough other members that can get to the station faster to make up for us missing it. I’d still like to know what **adhemar** does for a living. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/90 "2005-12-20T19:05:24Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > And, she also totally overlooks the reality of the situation. In her scenario, apparently the time gap between “cell phone call made from the theater” and “phone call made from the lobby” makes the difference in the life or death of some one-in-a-million occurence of someone having a heart attack in a movie theater. Not really. [A](http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/177_06_160902/smi10834_fm.html#i1067504)[few](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10499952&dopt=Abstract) minutes has a dramatic result in the survivability rates. > [@BiblioCat](#): > > There are plenty of people who are on the job ‘in place’ that no one really needs to be ‘on call’ all the time like that. Bull shit. In your case maybe, but not in everyone. We’ve got 12 trained people and it may take everyone’s. The local FD is very hesitant about stepping in. I grew up in a town of 5000 people. Do you really think they had a lot of spare fire fighters there? EMTs? How many judges do you think they had if they needed a warrant? I’m glad that a large city like Baltimore has a large enough infrastucture to handle anything that gets thrown at it, but that isn’t everyone’s case. I mean look what a snow storm does to DC. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/91 "2005-12-20T19:06:21Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > No, **Trunk** , I think common sense is trying to figure out a way to deal with the technology we now have in as courteous a manner as possible. > > It also seems to me that you can’t logically decry the use of one convenient-and-offering-speed-of-communication technology – the cell phone – while using another one – the personal computer. The techology is here to stay. You can’t pick and choose which particular pieces of techology the rest of the world is going to enjoy using and in what location. You left out privately-owned hi-powered cellphone-signal jammers. I’m quite fond of mine. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/92 "2005-12-20T19:34:14Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > I’m glad that a large city like Baltimore has a large enough infrastucture to handle anything that gets thrown at it, but that isn’t everyone’s case. I mean look what a snow storm does to DC. 😉 I’m not in the city; I live outside the city in the 'burbs. And my firehouse is even further out in a fairly rural area. We only have about 25 active members, so, yeah, we all need to be aware of what’s going on. When there’s something big going on, yeah, we tend to drop everything and run, but sometimes we just can’t. Like I said before, If I’m someplace my pager will be a disturbance, I turn it off or leave it in the car. I can have it set on ‘everyone’ or just my station. If it’s set on just my station, and I come back to it blaring, I know we’ve gotten a call. I just can’t take it into work (I’m a teacher), so I leave it in the car. It would be a distraction there. Ditto the movie theater. (Don’t get me started on the way we handle snow. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/93 "2005-12-20T19:37:25Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > … The only goddamn thing fucking baby pandas are good for is cooked medium rare with a little soy sauce. > > Fuckin’ baby pandas. Like I said, something everyone can agree on. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/94 "2005-12-20T20:02:14Z")
I guess what it boils down to is this: Tiny annoyances that will and do occur repeatedly. VS. The very unlikely scenario that a cell phone in a particular situation made a difference in saving a life (basically a merging of two events, (1) that an emergency occurs and (2) that having the cell actually made a difference). The thing is, we trade convenience for safety every day. We just happen to have certain aspects of it ingrained and don’t want that taken away. For instance: You want to cut down on highway deaths? Make the speed limit on the interstate 15, and station a cop every 1 mile. You want to cut down on terrorists? Make every single person entering a plane take off their belt, shoes, and remove every single thing from people that could be used as a weapon including nail files and hair pins. Guess what: we did that, and it drove people crazy, and now we’re undoing it. Is there a risk involved? Sure. You want to cut down on the rash of deaths by heart attacks in movie theaters? Allow everyone to bring in a phone. But, honestly, I suspect that it’s not this emergency factor that’s really driving people to want to use their cells in movie theaters. It’s because they’re addicted to the little things and they have to get their TMs, and see who called, and can’t LET themselves get out of touch and sink into a movie because god forbid they’d have to be alone with their thoughts for 10 straight minutes. You know these people, and I know these people. They can’t play 9 holes without talking to their buddy who is bored driving home from work. They can’t sit through a ball game without calling home to see if the Junior has a fever. They can’t sit at a red light without playing _push push_. They can’t pick out a movie without sharing every thought about with the person on the other end. They can’t walk the dog and enjoy the day for 30 minutes. They can’t sit through dinner without pulling it out, and holding it right there, next to their thigh, and glancing down oh-so-briefly to see who might have called. They’re pathetically, psychologically tied to the things and THAT’S why people are opposed to banning and jamming. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/95 "2005-12-20T20:49:21Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > Oh yeah? Well, back in my days, we didn’t have cell phones. If someone had a heart attack in the theater they just sucked it up until someone could go out to the lobby and dial 911 on a rotary phone. And we liked it, dammit! And do you know how long it took to dial that “9” on a rotary? Think of the untold thousands that died waiting for the dial to return to stop. This “I’m on call 24/7/365” business is hoosgow for self-important blowhards or the unfortunate souls who have to work for the same. I’ve known a couple of trauma surgeons who are on call 24 hours a day, no out-of-contact, stay within 20 minutes of the hospital, no drinking, no exceptions…but for three day shifts, after which they’re off-call for three days, rinse and repeat. Sure, volunteer FD, sheriff’s auxilaries and the like are on call at all times, but they expect that only a certain percentage of people to actually show up on time, hence the (typically) large pool of volunteers. I can’t think of a single civilian job that requires one to be on call and available around the clock without break or exception. If you are POTUS then you are on stage all day, every day, without replacement or vacation (well, that’s true for some, anyway…) but otherwise you need to get a sense of proportion or find a new employer who is willing to actually hire the people he needs to staff the übercritical job he wants covered 'round the clock. > [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > > [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > > > … The only goddamn thing fucking baby pandas are good for is cooked medium rare with a little soy sauce. > > > > Fuckin’ baby pandas. > > Like I said, something everyone can agree on. Sorry, I can’t agree. Fillet of panda tastes like chewing on a dried-out chicken breast marinated in Vicks Vap-O-Rub. Give me a nice Kung Pao Kitten any day over your panda. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/96 "2005-12-20T21:03:35Z")
I’d still like to know what **adhemar** does for a living. [/QUOTE] I am an over the road dispatcher and I am the only contact my drivers have if they have if they are broken down, late for an appointment, have any issue with the consignee, in an accident etc. In order to not be on call I have to take vacation time which the 12 months I had none, the second twelve months I got 5 days, I am now up to having 10 days. It sucks big time but it allwos me to pay my bills and not lose my house. I don’t go anywhere I don’t have cell phone coverage. I don’t think I am extrem,ly obtrusive but I guess some people are more sensative about any disturbance in a theatre. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/97 "2005-12-20T21:06:46Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Sorry, I can’t agree. Fillet of panda tastes like chewing on a dried-out chicken breast marinated in Vicks Vap-O-Rub. You say that as if it were a bad thing. :dubious: > [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Give me a nice Kung Pao Kitten any day over your panda. Well, _sure_, if you compare it to _kitten_ … ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/98 "2005-12-20T21:09:16Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > They can’t play 9 holes without talking to their buddy who is bored driving home from work. They can’t sit through a ball game without calling home to see if the Junior has a fever. They can’t sit at a red light without playing _push push_. They can’t pick out a movie without sharing every thought about with the person on the other end. They can’t walk the dog and enjoy the day for 30 minutes. They can’t sit through dinner without pulling it out, and holding it right there, next to their thigh, and glancing down oh-so-briefly to see who might have called. They’re pathetically, psychologically tied to the things and THAT’S why people are opposed to banning and jamming. True dat! DOUBLE TRUE! ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/99 "2005-12-20T21:12:56Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > And do you know how long it took to dial that “9” on a rotary? Think of the untold thousands that died waiting for the dial to return to stop. \*Psst. \* Back in the days of “rotary dial” we didn’t have 911. You had to dial an _actual_ number to get help. Look, I’m one of the people all y’all hate. I have a cell phone, and when it’s not working I feel like I’m missing a really important appendage. (I also have a crackberry, but that’s another thread.) However, I know when and how to turn the phone off. In a movie theater, for example, or in court (saw a lawyer almost get sanctioned for having a phone on once), the wireless part of my phone is turned off because I’m nowhere near important enough that the world will come to halt because I’m incommunicado for a couple hours. I think the point everyone’s dancing around is the inevitable coarsening of social manners, _evidenced_, but not caused, by public cell phone etiquette. The cell phone isn’t the problem, and the blackberry isn’t the problem. The problem is that we are creating a society where it’s acceptable to do these types of things, no matter how much it bothers other people or is unnecessary. Does anyone really _need_ a cell phone during a movie? No. There are always alternatives, like pagers, or as others have suggested, calling the theater management. Does anyone want to hear my theory about how this is all caused by Phil Donahue? No? Okay. It’s a good theory though. ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291/100 "2005-12-20T21:16:45Z")
“This “I’m on call 24/7/365” business is hoosgow for self-important blowhards or the unfortunate souls who have to work for the same. I’ve known a couple of trauma surgeons who are on call 24 hours a day, no out-of-contact, stay within 20 minutes of the hospital, no drinking, no exceptions…but for three day shifts, after which they’re off-call for three days, rinse and repeat. Sure, volunteer FD, sheriff’s auxilaries and the like are on call at all times, but they expect that only a certain percentage of people to actually show up on time, hence the (typically) large pool of volunteers. I can’t think of a single civilian job that requires one to be on call and available around the clock without break or exception. If you are POTUS then you are on stage all day, every day, without replacement or vacation (well, that’s true for some, anyway…) but otherwise you need to get a sense of proportion or find a new employer who is willing to actually hire the people he needs to staff the übercritical job he wants covered 'round the clock.” I completely agree that I need to work for someone else but jobs aren’t plentuful enough to just be able to say I want to change jobs and poof! gotta a new one. Until that time I am stuck with doing what I agreed to do with being on call 24/7. Believe me, I find it embarassing and annoying. If for some reason I miss a call, (in the bathroom being sick for instance) I can expect a call form the owner dmenading an explanation and an ass chewing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shut-the-fuck-up-about-cell-phones-now/336291.md?page=6)