Get Off Your Phone!!!

No one loves their phone more than I love mine, but I have some basic rules about when and where I use my phone. Here are a few places that drive me the most crazy when people decide to use their phone.

On an airplane: First there is the person boarding talking on their phone and whacking all the seated passengers with their bags. Why is there always a person on their phone either sitting beside you, or directly in front or behind you that thinks the rules of no phone use is meant for everyone but them? They not only are talking on their phone in violation of the rules, but they also feel the need to talk so loudly that even noise canceling headphones can't block them out.

In the waiting room of a doctors office: Not only is it rude to talk on the phone in the waiting room, but it is always so quiet in the room that everyone is listening to your business.  You think they are reading that magazine, nope, they are listening to your side of a conversation they probably have no business hearing.

In a fitting room: I spend a lot of time in fitting rooms, not because I shop all the time, but because it takes forever for me to find something that fits. So, this happens all the time and it is never a short conversation like, "Hey, I am in a fitting room, can I call you back later?" Nope. It is usually a whole conversation and most of the time it is on speaker phone. So the person in the fitting room is talking on speaker phone, and trying on clothes at the same time. It drives me crazy and I feel uncomfortable, like I am eavesdropping.

Lastly, The check out line of a store: How rude and disrespectful do you have to be to the poor cashier? This person is doing their job scanning your purchases and you stand there talking to someone on your phone like this cashier is just some robot there to wait on you. You are distracted and not answering questions they are asking you, you are not ready to pay when it is time, and you are overall holding up the line. This just happened a few days ago and I was next in line and I said to the cashier, "Don't you think that is rude?", She said, "Yes, and it happens all the time. It is like I don't even deserve their time or attention." That is so sad to me that we cannot show some respect to the people that spend their day waiting on others.

The next time you are on a plane, in a waiting room, in a fitting room or in a checkout line, put your phone away. You are not the only person or the most important person in the room. Be Respectful!