Cell Phones... Blessing and Curse

How often have you been out in public, whether at a doctor's office, shopping for groceries or perhaps trying to decide what special gift to buy for a loved one's celebration, only to be distracted by a loud-mouthed person speaking their mind into your airspace (if they have a bluetooth) or yammering into their cellphone?

I don't want to know about some stranger's personal life, finances or misdeeds. I don't want to know who's going to pick her kids up from soccer practice, or their best score. Do you?

Are those folks so desperate to be seen and heard that they need to broadcast their concerns for the entire world to hear? Have they no sense of privacy... either yours or theirs? And while we're at it, whatever happened to simple courtesy?

It's bad enough that many folks think that driving the expressway is a great time to chat up their friends. Paying close attention to the driving patterns that surround us can certainly save our lives, or someone else's life, and being involved in a juicy tidbit of gossip isn't a recommended way to remain alert to those patterns.

The other day I was driving on the expressway and a woman in the lane next to me turned on her signal and swerved into my lane, nearly bumping me into the next lane and other traffic. She was on her cell phone and not looking to see if her move was clear. Perhaps she thought that her signal meant, "get the h--- out of my way." rather than a courteous, "this is my intention." If I hadn't been watching traffic I might have been "dead meat."

There are so many indications that courtesy is no longer important in our society and as I wondered why I developed a theory. It all points to the dumbing down of our American schools, the working family, the sense of entitlement that has pervaded our society and people viewing good manners as out of date.

The cell phone is only one more indication of how far we've come into the "new age" of technology, and how far we've come from genuine respect.

Just tooting my personal horn.

Random Observations

I’ve always wondered why we women make such a fuss about consideration and bathroom manners regarding the toilet seat not being put back down after our menfolk have relieved themselves. Yet, when some women go into a public facility to relieve themselves, if they choose not to be seated, do they follow the lines of courtesy they expect? Do they lift the seat in consideration of the women who come after them and who want or need to sit down?

Nope.

How many times have you unwittingly sat down on the wet residue of whomever was there before you? Yuch!

I remember, years ago, when I worked in corporate America, there was a woman who had it right. In each stall in the ladies’ room she put up signs that said, “If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie, lift the seatie!” And it worked, too.

________________

This past Sunday I went to the IHOP for breakfast. It was crowded, as it usually is on a late Sunday morning, but we were seated quickly. IHOP is a family restaurant, and that means children, of all ages. Seated at a table near us was a family with a couple of small children. One of them was a little boy about a year old apparently just learning to use his voice, to the chagrin of everyone in the restaurant. I have never heard so piercing and high pitched a sound coming from a human mouth.

THE SYMPOSIUM and THE ASSOCIATES PROGRAM... New Ideas in Webinars

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