No She Did Not!

I don't do cell phones. I own one. I use it in an emergency or when I leave town, but otherwise I'm strictly a land-line phone user. In my office. One of the reasons...drama.

Not my drama--someone else's.

There's nothing as off-putting as sitting in a public toilet stall while the woman in the next stall has a dramatic nervous breakdown over someone else's actions. Since I have a front row seat, so to speak, I get the goods on what's going on with Susie's best friend, Alicia, who's cheating behind her boyfriend's back with Barbie's boyfriend while Barbie is cheating with Bubba who is married to Susie's sister...

Confused?

Yeah. By the time I leave, I usually am, too.

I've tried really hard to come up with a scenario that necessitates having private conversations in public places. And I can't.

Or maybe that's the point. There are no more private conversations. And all public places are really just an extension of private spaces. The line between public behavior and private behavior is growing so blurred it's nearly impossible to tell where it is.

The electronic revolution isn't just a part of business, it personal and public and political. Now you can call or text your five hundred best friends to invite them to the protest demonstration on Wall Street--or on your own street. There's no such thing as spontaneous.

It used to be drama on the phone was intensely personal--usually between two teenage girls. But the girls have grown older without out-growing the drama and now they insist on sharing it with all the people around them, like it or not.

Personally, I find that rude. Rude, rude, rude. If you can't hold a short businesslike conversation, then find someplace private to talk. One of the rudest things I've seen (and it's been increasing in frequency) is the customer who talks on their phone while checking out their groceries. Hello! That checker on the other side of the counter is not chopped liver and really doesn't need to hear your conversation. Neither do all the other people waiting in line so they can pay for their groceries.

So, tell me. Other than a true emergency, is there really any reason to talk on the cell phone while on the bus, train, grocery line, doctor's office, laundromat, restaurant, public restrooms or behind the wheel of a car in motion? Really?

anny