Cell phones are a wonderful invention. You have the ability to talk to anyone, anywhere at anytime, but don't abuse it. I don't really give two shits about who talks to who when, but it's the people that try to make their personal business everyone else's. For example - people who use their phones in stores. Great, wonderful. Call your husband or wife or whoever and conversate if you want to. I'm cool. But when your voice gets all super loud and high pitched, you're basically begging for attention. You'd get better results from flashing everyone.
No one wants to hear you conducting personal affairs or business while they're shopping, eating, or trying to use the restroom. It's really rude to force your conversation onto someone who doesn't want it.
I gotta say, it's probably my biggest pet peeve next to unnecessary rudeness. As a cashier, it usually doesn't take long for someone to purchase their stuff through my line. I'm a pretty quick cashier, but most places in retail force us to have conversations with our customers. Someone is always offering a rewards card, a credit card, a savings card, a spend-a-lot-of-money-but-you-won't-get-shit-card. Whatever. In order for me to do that, I need to talk to you. So if you're going on about your plans, your life, your whatever - I can't do my job. If I can't do my job, you're out of a cashier. If there are no cashiers, you have no place to shop. I exaggerate, but you get the idea.
If you do have have a savings card, a coupon or whatever - I can't ask you for it because you're on the phone. This is my way of being a bitch, I suppose, but my mother raised me with manners. I refuse to talk over your conversation. If you can't give me the courtesy of shutting up for the 5 minutes it takes for you to get out of my line, I'm not going to give you the courtesy to say hello, ask you for anything, give you your total, or to tell you to have a good day. I'll just smile, bag your shit, take your money and move you on.
Then there's the people that are just begging for you to interrupt them. The ones that just have to be the center of every one's attention. You'll know them as soon as you see them. They're there, chatting away in a voice that my deaf grandmother could hear from China and you almost feel.. compelled to interrupt them. It's like they're begging for it. They're my favorites. I will purposely be loud, and ask them all the questions I'm supposed to - just for the taste of sweet revenge. I know, it's petty, but hey; I have no shame. Then the kicker - THEY give YOU this... look. Like they could just burn you where you stand for interrupting THEIR conversation on YOUR time. I just die inside with giddy anticipation, waiting; hoping for them to say something.
I've heard all the excuses, and anyone who works in this line of business probably has as well. Anything from, "it's important" to "it's work" to whatever excuse you've got to come up with. Lamest excuse? "It's my brother and he'll just whiiiiiiine if I don't take his call." What? Is he 4?
I have no problem putting people on hold. It's really as simple as saying, "Can you hold on a second while I check out?". Ask them to wait, tell them you're in the check out line, and I'm pretty sure they'll understand. I've never had someone tell me, NO. CAN'T WAIT. MUST TALK NOW ABOUT SHITTY LIFE. When you're holding up my line, wasting my time and those behind you because you can't focus long enough to write a check, find your card or dig out your money, you're being rude to me and everyone else.
Also, for those of you that like to use your phones while on speakerphone; I hate you most of all. You selfish, conceited bastards. Not only are you forcing us to partake/listen to your conversation - you're making us hear both sides of it.
Between the louder then hell laughing, the static, the cutting out, and the garbled warbling coming from the phone itself, I'm not sure which is worse. At least when I have to listen to one side, I can make up my own amusing answers in my head to make you seem like the worlds biggest douche bag. Now that you're using the speaker phone, I have to listen to your enabling side kick from across town and can't form my own snarky bullshit lines. Jerks.
We, as a society, have lost the ability to communicate and respect those around us thanks to technology. Don't get me wrong, if it wasn't for technology, I wouldn't be able to blather on right now. But there is a time and a place for it. There is a decibel level that you should respect. There are some things people really don't want or need to know.
I read somewhere that we have lost our ability to communicate with each other on a personal level thanks to technology. Everyone is texting, tweeting, facebooking. Which is perfectly fine. I do all that. I just don't do it on someone else's time. Shopping, eating - that's my time. When someone is paid to put up with me - that is not. We should all have a little more respect for someone and their job when we're out in public. Whether it's cell phones, lap tops, or just chatting with whoever we're with.
Which brings up another point I'd like to make that bothers me, but not as much as cell phones. If you're out with someone, please don't act like we (those in the service industry) don't exist. That is also rude. It's our job to put up with it, yes. We get paid to, (and most people think we should) just shut up and deal with it. However, you wouldn't go to a doctor's appointment and then sit there and chat with someone while your doctor is trying to do his job. OK, maybe that was a bad analogy, but you get the point. Have some common courtesy and respect. Use a brain cell once in a while.
Apparently I'm not the only one that has this issue with cell phone usage. While writing this, I decided to do a little research on the annoyance of cell phones and their uses. Almost every single article I've read, the one thing that stood out more then others was the level in which people spoke while on cell phones, and/or speakerphone usage. So before you all start getting huffy - take some time to see how everyone else feels about it. If you don't care, then continue to use your cell phones in public. Just don't get pissy when people give you a death stare for being rude and inconsiderate.
Toodles, doodles!
No comments:
Post a Comment