I was at a funeral of a young man. There was a large amount of young people as the deceased was only sixteen. During the eulogy, a young lady's telephone went off and she answered it and began to speak. I turned to her and with a heavy brow said "You need to take that outside". She did and several people around me whispered "Thanks for doing that". I also get extremely annoyed when a group of my friends insist we "get together" and they all talk on their cell phones while I sit.....I have walked out on them several times and they are now aware that I will not tolerate it. And of course, there is always unwillingly sharing in someone's life while having dinner in a restaurant......ARGH

A lady kneeling behind me during Mass answered her phone instead of turning it off, and proceeded to tell the caller that yes, she was still meeting them for dinner. OUTRAGEOUS!!

As my daughter and son-in-law were reciting their vows at the alter, my niece's husband loudly answered his cell phone, and said," No, that's okay, I'm just at a wedding." He proceeded to discuss business until the surrounding guests and his wife forced him out of the pew; he continued his phone conversation until more guests ordered him out of the church.

Recently in a full-house movie theatre, a guy's phpne went off, and this air head, after telling the caller he was at the movies, continued to talk. Not until several told him to "shut up" or go outside did he end the call.

Dan Pierce (as in ear)
Palm Desert, CA--KCRW, Santa Monica

Dear Abby,

Someone in my building loves to do business on the phone while he does his business sitting in the stall. Halp!

Sincerely,
Embarrassed-and-holding-it-in-in-Austin

I'm an actor. I was driving to a gig in North Carolina on I-24 north of Nashville - doing 74 in a 70 mph zone - listening to "The World" and the director of the Moscow Art Theatre complaining about cell phones, nodding and mumbling "uh-huh, Brother!" when one of the Masters of the Universe in a Lexus, shot past me at about 90+mph babbling on the cellphone utterly oblivious to the rest of us. Just I shouted a few choice obscenities at my windshield, Soccor Mom in her SUV with two kids in the back seat, going even faster, blasted past. It's St. Patty's Day and, silly me, I was worried about drunks.

This experience falls into the tragic category -- but let me hasten to add that no one was physically hurt.

I recently pulled up to a stop light to the right of a big SUV. I glanced over at the car next to me and noticed a teen age girl crying in the passenger seat. She was staring out into space and dabbing her eyes with a tissue. I looked around her to see the driver of the car, a woman I assumed to be her mother, talking on her cell phone and laughing quite joyfully. After a few seconds, the young girl noticed me and our eyes met. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. The message was clear to me. The cell phone had priority.

I fear that cell phones have invaded our lives in ways that are harmful to the development of relationships and of simple, and sometimes important communication.

"I fear that cell phones have invaded our lives in ways that are harmful to the development of relationships and of simple, and sometimes important communication."

I can't agree more. The horrors of yell phone rudeness are uncountable. I can no longer take buses or trains without the continuous, loud drone of others thoughlessly using these things. People will sit right next to you and start shouting into the phone. It's worse than driving as a disinhibitor of bad behavior. And when they combine the two...well it's hell on earth. Peace of mind is a thing of the past.
Just because you have the right to do something, it doesn't mean you should always do it. Use common sense and be considerate.

I applaud the few Doctor's offices and/or restaurants that have 'no cell phones' signs posted. Now they have to be banned in public places such as buses or trains. As someone suggested, on public transit there is nowhere to go to avoid these morons. We need to be encouraging rapid transit not driving people away so we don't get stuck next to inconsiderate cell-phone users. I've thought of buying a cell-phone zapper though I understand they are illegal. Might be worth the risk. Need to be installed in every theater, play-house, restaurant, etc.

I agree, it has become a common site to see parents pushing their kids around in a grocery cart blabbing on the phone while the kid just sits there being ignored. I shudder to think what that does to one's self esteem and their ability to bond with another in person. The mother and child reunion is only a cellphone away.

My worst experience was in India. A phone ringing, either land line or mobile, must be picked up. Even during the loved Bollywood films, full conversations are over heard by everyone during the singing and dancing scenes. One such time in New Delhi, I counted 15 peoples phones ringing in one movie that was 2 hours long. There seemed to be no concept of a whisper or the courteousness of stepping out side.
This cell phone rudeness persisted outside the movie/theatre. I interviewed a top school principal, I was in the mid of speaking (asking an important question), when the principal, picked up her ringing phone, cutting me off immediately. There was no explanation or apology.

Lara
London, UK

Checkout line at the local IGA grocery store with my son. A young girl who was running the register while talking on her cell phone proceeds to discuss her sexual encounter of the night before in graphic detail. The other young girl at the next register is listening and adds color to the conversation in the background. As I left the register the girl is still on the phone and starting with the next customer. Well, hmmm... At least she got the items rung up correctly. Son, says, "Dad what did she mean by _______?" In our connected world how disconnected can we get?

International House of Pancakes Cell Phone Breakfast: Watched a family order and eat a meal while cell phoning. I never heard them speak to each other once. Here is the picture I took of this "cellular connected" family. http://www...897781768/

This problem is new for me and ongoing. I enjoy working out at a gym which happens to have a few locations where I live. I have tried different locations but the experience is always the same. Whenever I am on the cardio equipment, invariably someone is having a lengthy (loud) discussion (because of the noise level of the equipment?) on their cell phone. I go to the gym to relax and "move away" from my day and love the time to be with my thoughts. I don't even mind the televisions that are on or the music that the gym plays...these are easily tuned out and sometimes tuned in. HOWEVER...hearing someone's personal conversation at a deafening tone is really invasive. I understand emergency phone calls, I'm not talking about those...I'm talking about personal details of "last night's party...etc" Please don't make me listen to your conversation. I told the employees at the gym and they just say to move somewhere else...really?????

Kathleen Ross-Allee (Allee accent on the second syllable)
Los Angeles, CA

For me it's not the conversations. It's the ringtones. And it's not a single experience. It happens every day. Cell phones have been part of my life for 15 years, but the fact that people don't know when to shut up has been a problem since Adam and Eve, long before phones of any kind. I'm used to it. However, the ringtone issue to me is the rudest thing. Loud, obnoxious tones, stupid songs, and cell phones left unattended so these sounds are free to pollute the silence all have prompted me to keep my phone on silent 95 percent of the time. The only time it's audible is when I'm in the car alone so I can tell who is calling without looking at the phone.

The other day at the bank during the busiest time, this woman on her cell gets up to the teller and instead of putting the phone aside, she makes the teller (and all of us behind her) wait while she talks. The problem is that there are so many people pulling this all the time that it is pointless to confront them, and stressful to worry about. I do my best to ignore them, accept them as part of daily life, and try as hard as I can not to become one of them. The alternative is to go around mad and confrontational all the time because of them.

Some years ago I was delicately removing a tiny piece of metal and toxic rust imbedded in a patient's cornea, very carefully drilling with a diamond-tipped burr on his 1/2 mm thick cornea. His cellphone suddenly rang, and he jerked away AS I WAS DRILLING to answer the call. He answered, "Hi, honey......Yeah, the doctor's drilling it out right now....okay I can stop and get some milk on the way home. I was dumbfounded at his recklessness, but have since come to recognize that urgent need to answer a call is a person's way of saying, "I AM A VERY IMPORTANT PERSON."

Work in a library, where you would think there would be banning of cell phones. Gal yapping on her cell phone in the lobby area about an affair she was having. Unfortunately, acoustics were not well planned in our wonderful bibliotech & the lobby area sends echoing voices to the rest of the first floor, as well as the bsmt & 2nd floor. When she loudly proclaimed about how big his ... was, those of us politely trying to ignore the conversation at the reference desk took it as an indication that an intervention was needed, as the word "penis" was heard throughout. The gal was irritated that we ask her to carry her conversation elsewhere. Shhhhhh...it's a library....we don't want to hear about paramour's large body parts!

Really, do we all need to hear EVERYTHING! Cell phone chatters seem to be absolutely obtuse to others around them. I have fantasized about grabbing all the cell phones out of the loud chatterers, barreling them into a bag and stomping on them! Would that be wrong of me?

Definetly, running a swamped hi-end kitchen chefs line in the middle of a rush and having one of the cooks answer his phone.. like I say here in this video,"get off the phone and cook"
http://www...annel_page

I'm a cashier and I think the height of (cellphone) rudeness is to approach a business counter while talking on the phone. I usually don't bother to say thank-you. Why should I? Also, in a doctor's office waiting room, a few times my phone has vibrated (not ring) and I have duly stepped OUTSIDE IN THE HALL. Why should the government be concerned about our privacy when most of us are yapping out loud in public places? If my phone rings while I'm in line at a grocery store (or anywhere), let it go to voicemail--I'll call them back. What's the big rush??