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Monday, April 27, 2009

Phone Etiquette

I know, I know... I'm not exactly the etiquette guru... but I have to wonder...

with the popularity of cell phones, how private are YOU about your conversations?

Case in Point:  

Setting - the bleachers at my sons' baseball game.

Characters - Me & Elderly Cell Phone Lady (ECPL)

I'm casually sitting there on the bleachers rooting for M.O.T.H. to show up and sit behind me so that I can lean back on his knees...  hopefully relieving some of the symptoms of chronic bleacher butt.    Instead ECPL shows up and sits behind me.  I don't know her, I don't think her knees are up to it... so I scoot over just a titch because M.O.T.H. has now shown up and knows my plan.  This puts us in close proximity to ECPL on my left and the nice mom on my right who was honest enough to tell me that Yes, my sweaty jeans DID look like I wet my pants.

Well, now ECPL pulls out her fancier than I've ever seen a senior use cell phone and proceeds to scroll through her contacts to call someone.

Her phone call lasted for the next 40 minutes of the game.  No kidding.  She was loud to boot.  

I really tried to block out her phone call - but just like M.O.T.H. has trouble focusing on multiple conversations at once I have a real problem - I CAN'T ignore things...  especially when phrases like "I lost all respect for him", "She made her bed", and "completely degraded himself" are being thrown around like parade candy.

Then suddenly - it hits me.  No, not the candy - the realization that I KNOW these people that she's talking about!

okay, so we all know them, sort of...

She's discussing the last episode of "The Biggest Loser"...

I laughed out loud... REALLY loud - 

had to come up with a reason I was suddenly cracking up...  

This would have been much juicier if she'd been talking about my neighbors...  but I was glad to find out that she wasn't gossiping that loudly about her own family :)

9 comments:

Barbaloot said...

Okay-that is HILARIOUS! Especially cuz I know I would've realized who she was talking about, too:)

But, I try to avoid having phone conversations with anyone around. I'm not a big phone person and have enough trouble being comfortable by myself, let alone with others around!

TisforTonya said...

forgot to mention that she then went on to mention a few people being fired... I never did figure out if she was also an Apprentice fan or just commenting on the state of the economy...

cold cocoa said...

That is pretty funny. I am always surprised at people on cell phones that talk so loud and freely about the most private things! They know that all of us are listening in...there is no way to distract ourselves, but value the conversation more than the people listening in that they will most likely never see again.

Unknown said...

That is too funny. I hate it when people talk loudly on their cell phones and you know what they are talking about. I have a cell phone, but I don't use it that often, but hey I really don't have anybody to talk to on the cell phone.

Unknown said...

That's good. I hate it when people talk overly loudly on their phones especially on the train or something. Really whatever your problems are I don't want to know about them!

Megz said...

I thoroughly enjoy eavesdropping on people and the advent of cell phones has made this much more likely.

How nice for the elderly lady to recap the latest episode of Biggest Loser with everyone especially since baseball games need a little spice.

val of the south said...

I'm an eavesdropper from way back, so I kind of like it, but the bad part is, I only get one side of the conversation. Definitely would have been better if she'd been talking about real people.

just the five of us said...

That is funny! I was hoping for some juicy eavesdropping! But the Biggest Loser is one of my favorites tv shows lately. I still can't believe they voted her off! She inspired me so much!

Becca said...

funny stuff. is that show really worth watching? I admit I haven't watched it. I am amazed at what I overhear with cell phones!! There was a woman on a plane with me a few months ago --who was loudly talking on her phone, as we sat waiting due to some mechanical problem. It was so bad it was funny. Everyone on the plane knew all of her drama before we even took off!!