Two quick rants -- you know, just to get my weekend started right

The BBQ Pit
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1. Idiots who take cell phones to professional sporting events.

I think we have a winner in the Thing-I-Despise-Most-About-Yuppies contest.

When did this fucking trend start? I went to a Tigers game at the new ballpark a couple weeks ago, and they were everywhere. Once I noticed it, I’m seeing them all over in games on TV as well.

How important do you fucknoses think you are? The world can’t do without interaction with your sorry asses until a ballgame is over?

Then the ones I really love – when they put the camera on them, you see them talk into the phone and then start waving furiously. This means they were sitting there, talking to somebody, giving them play-by-play of the game or saying, “Am I on TV yet? How 'bout now? How 'bout now?”

How 'bout we shove that cell phone all the way up your rectum, and see how many of your friends I can dial by booting you upside the ass?

2. NBC’s little “The More You Know” commercials.

I’m not saying the causes being touted in these spots aren’t worthwhile. What bugs me is the condescension from these out-of-touch actors who tell you to run out and do this or that good thing. Like them giving you your marching orders was all you were ever waiting for.

Trust me, I know what you should do. I’m an actor on “Friends” or “ER.”

“Talk to your kids.”

“Be a mentor. You can make a world of difference.”

You go be a mentor. Then get back to me.

Yeah, that’s right. Put the coke straw down. Step away from the orgy and put your clothes on, then drive away from your gazillion-dollar mansion in ‘the hills,’ actually go somewhere where real human beings are and do something your fucking self!

Not as convenient and free of complication as making a quick little commercial, is it? But it might count toward your community service for that last drug- and weapons-possession charge.

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Milossarian said:

No, no, you don’t understand. They bring their cell phones to the baseball games so that when they are completely immobilized by boredom (some time near the end of the sixth inning) they can call someone for help.
:slight_smile:

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My favorite :rolleyes: use of a cell phone was the “I’m a Hollywood producer” white-linen-suit-and-Chuck-Taylors-without-socks-wearing loser who chatted loudly on his for an hour and a half. At Sunday brunch. While ignoring his dining companion. And drowning out the jazz quartet which was playing quite nice music. Not to mention everyone else’s conversation within twenty feet. Thanks!

But in keeping with the theme of sporting events, how about the guy who sat behind me at the basketball game last winter, doing some kind of adjective-challenged play-by-play for whoever was on the other end. “The guy passed the ball to the other guy! Now they’re running down the thing. He threw it at the whatchacallit.”

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Regarding the cell phone issue:

I am a network consultant, except for real vacations (haha like I have those) I am on call 24/7.

Of course I don’t go to a game and actively call people but if I have a network problem, my client needs access to call me. If they are down, it costs them money. In their office there are people there anywhere from 6:00 in the morning to midnight and occasionally later.

So, if you see a short blonde chick walking around with a cell phone on her hip at a sporting event, it’s probabaly me.

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But I’m sure you have better manners than those people I was talking about, techie. (How could you not? ;))

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I always bring my cell to the Yankee games. Just so I can call my friends and rub it in. “I’m at the Yankee game and you’re not. nener nener nener. You had to work (do laundry, couldn’t get tickets, etc) and I’m at the game. ha ha ha ha haha.” Not very mature, I know.

I couldn’t agree more about those “The More You Know” spots. I always want to yell “You’re an actor. Not even a very good actor. You play a nurse on TV. In what way does that qualify you to be a family therapist? And, a snide, snotty, condescending family therapist, at that? Get off your high horse and practice what you preach, Asshole.” They are second only to those stupid “The Truth” (or whatever) smoking commercials (even if I didn’t smoke when I was a teen, that would have made me run out and start just so I wouldn’t end up like the jerks in the commercials).

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Yeah, D. Marie.

  1. Idiots who take cell phones to restaurants.

Okay, if you have to be on call, fine. But don’t sit down at the table with your party and call someone else just to chat. Loudly.

If I was out with someone and they did that, I’d dump the damned thing in their soup.

(My favorite episode was the guy at a bar in New York who called his friend to give him a play-by-play of the date he was on everytime the poor girl went to the restroom. I felt like leaning over and telling her not to waste anymore time on him.)

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You guys should go to a Lakers game. Cell phones galore there. But those who bring them don’t bring them to talk to their friends at home. Not even to talk to their family.

It’s to talk to friends who are already at the game, but just in different seats. And it’s always to let each other know where the celebrities are sitting.

“Did you see Jack?” “Oh, yeah, he’s right next to the Blazer bench!”

“What about Dustin [Hoffman]?” “Yeah, he’s behind the announcers!”

Fucking retards.

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Two things.

There are resturaunts here in San Jose that prohibit cell phones (Yay!!!) The have a cell phone check, just like an old fashioned hat check. My attitude is a bit different, I say let them bring the cell phone into the resturaunt, and everytime it rings and every minute they talk on it at the table, deduct $1 from everyone else’s bill and add it to theirs. (Wouldn’t work, but could you just see the eyestrain at a fancy place where El’Crudo just recieved his $300 bill for a salad and soup because it was crowded and he spent 10 minutes yakking.)

And of course, the favorite commercial about this…the cell phone at the opera. Guy is watching an opera, and his phone rings, he acts like typical twerp (When told to hush, tells people ‘Hey, I’m doing business here.’ etc.) Opera Singer stops, looks at him, tosses up her spear and hurls it at him, pinning the cell phone to the chair destroying it. Everyone stands an applauds wildly.

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Skytel commercial. I love that commercial. :slight_smile:

They should make you post the number of your cell phone on your car. That way if you see someone chatting aimlessly, call 'em up and bitch 'em out!

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Actually I think that they should redo the license plate system so that your license # is also your car phone # (and of course, you have to have a car phone in order to get a license. Then next time someone cuts you off, you can call 'em up and tell them exactly what you think about it.

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Cell phones at sporting events are baaaaaad. Worst example I can think of happened a few weeks ago while I was watching the Giants game on TV. Someone directly behind home plate was chatting on her phone, waving and kind of yelling (you couldn’t hear her, of course) at the camera. She was clearly waving at the person she was talking to, home watching the game. ARGH! Get a life! You’ve got these great seats, watch the game!

I was at the theater the other day, and before the show started, an announcer came on and requested that all cell phones be turned off. The audience applauded wildly.

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I have had it up to here, no HERE about the need to ban cellphones in public.

I am so tired of people ranting over cellphones in public places… yes, I agree that there are lots of obnoxious cellphone users in restaurants, sporting events, theatre and that behavior is tiresome. There are folks with phones who are considerate and I would say that the vast majority of cellphone users do take into account the fact that a lot of folks don’t like the phone intrusion.

There are good reasons, however, of having a cellphone on when you are out of the house. I have three good reasons.
I have three kids [on the adolescence cusp] who are in that “in between” stage of not being old enough to be totally on their own, but not being young enough to require 24/7 surveillance. My cellphone is my license to freedom from this brood of hormonal roller coasters. I can leave the house to go shopping, attend meetings, escape the load music, computer, nintendo, dreamcast, tv…

We agree now on the rules of calling Mom and what constitutes a real emergency [the furniture company delivering furniture two hours in advance of their scheduled time clashes with the rule of not opening the door or letting anyone in the house when I am not there]. Yes, we did have a few loose interpretations such as when there was no more Capt Crunch for lunch.

The phone call is free if we keep it under 60 seconds. I made the mistake of buying a phone without the silent vibration - so yeah, a little mea culpa. I need this link to sanity and independence. Mr Kiffa is off travelling to save the world from infectious diseases so he’s no help. In fact, some of those obnoxious phone calls are from the Heart of Darkness - these are calls that I will take regardless - I just go to a more convenient location to talk.

I would greatly appreciate IF Y’ALL WOULD FUCK OFF about cellphones in public. Stop advocating the great cellphone shutoff. I am not going to accommodate folks who don’t have kids and never should, folks who feel a brief intrusion is a real kick in the ass, folks who feel that their private space extends into others private space, folks who can afford nannies or take their kids everywhere they go. I need my space and I need to cellphone to get there. So leave me alone. Thank you very much.

Crankyoldwoman

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My favorite commercial is about this young guy trying to impress sweet young thing sitting poolside at an upscale apt complex. He’s talking wall street babble into the phone when his roommate shouts out from the balcony… hey, stupid, bring back the tv remote…

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Oh yeah… who started handing out cell phones to teenagers? Adults with legimite concerns are one thing (see Cranky’s post), I’ve got two under 3 years old types with me, so I carry one.

But come on… what is a 14 year old kid going to do with one? Most converstaions I’ve overheard wern’t to Mom or Dad, but to other kids. That’s what pay phones are for.

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kiffa:

I’ll give you a dollar for everybody who’s using their cell phone for a necessary family reason at a ball game, if you give me a dollar for everybody who’s calling everyone they know to say they are at a ball game, give play-by-play, and ask if they are on TV.

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No, my kids do not have cellphones, I am the only one packing. Kids are home using the home-based phone.

Milo: I started off with agreement that there are folks that are totally obnoxious. My point is that there are folks, like myself, who really need cellphones while being on call. There is an analogy somewhere between obnoxious cellphone users and obnoxious drivers who cut you off, cause accidents, who rudely jump in front of you for that precious parking space… I guess the ultimate badguy is the creep who slams his brakes on while talking on his cellphone, but that’s besides the point. You rant against these rude putz’ but don’t even realize that there are many more phone-users who are considerate of others.

Fuck pagers, the neanderthal of wireless communications. You still aren’t using your Kaypro computer so why should I use a damn pager?

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Yesterday’s NEW YORK TIMES ran a bunch of statistics about how plugged-in people are these days…according to the piece, 53% of Americans now have cell phones. Looks like we’re another put-upon minority, guys. Keep the strength.

Matter of fact, I’ll go you one BETTER. I hate the motherfucking telephone ITSELF. I procrastinate when I have to make business calls at the office, a large percentage of the time I say I’ll have to call back when a call comes in to me, and often, at home, I don’t answer the thing at ALL when it rings.

We have those porta-phones in my house, and my wife is always walking around with the thing hooked under her chin, multi-tasking.

I believe that the telephone should be used like the toilet…when it’s necessary, it’s necessary, but you should go into a small room to do it, finish, wash your hands, and get out, and don’t bring any magazines in there with you.

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Ike, I agree with you that the telephone is a double edge pain in the butt - a necessity all the same. I love caller ID and I am looking for one of those gyzmos that flashes the number on your tv screen [hopefully computer screen since I spend more time here]. Next best thing are three preteens running to catch the phone which generally is for them anyway.

I would guess that your godsend is the answering machine or voice mail. You can use caller ID to decide whether to answer and voice mail for those unfortunates who don’t make it thru to you. Don’t count out technology, but make it work for you.

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kiffa,
I sell cell phones for a living if you tell me what model you have I will get you a gadget that vibrates when your phone is on silent. Tell me the name of the phone, the model, and you carrier. And we’ll get you something to stop the noise. :slight_smile: