I remember when cell phones first appeared on the scene. At that time, I naively believed that people would never, ever talk on their phones in public, especially not while riding public transportation. After all, why would anyone want others to overhear their private conversations? What's more, wouldn't it be terribly rude to inflict your loud, personal phone conversation on other passengers?
Silly me. I was still operating on the outmoded assumptions that 1) people valued their privacy, 2) people would be considerate of others and 3) there was still such a thing as Manners.
I completely underestimated how ubiquitous bad cell phone behavior would become.
Since then, like many of us, I've had to learn to tolerate (just barely) my fellow passengers' lengthy, loud phone conversations. I hate it, but it's the New Abnormal.
Then, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse -- they got worse.
The other morning on my bus ride to work, I was seated in front of a young guy who was conducting a CONFERENCE CALL. That's right, he was holding a conference call on the bus. And he wasn't merely a participant, whispering, and listening quietly -- he was the Organizer! He was not speaking in hushed tones; he was speaking as if he was in a regular conference room and it was business as usual. Except that he was surrounded by other passengers seated right next to him, in front of him, and in back of him. Not only could we hear every word he said, the people all the way in the back of the bus could hear every word he said.
I listened in horror as the one-way conversation began...
"Hey, Erik? Hi, it's Tom. Yeah hi...I'm on the bus..." (nothing out of the ordinary here...just a statement of fact...of course he's on the bus, why not?)
"So...is Alex on the line yet? Great. What about Katie? Cool. And hey, is Simon on?
Okay! I guess we're all here...awesome! Let's get started!"
And so, they started. And I sat there, flabbergasted, unable to grasp what I was witnessing.
This was wrong on so many levels...where do I even start?
First, this guy was holding a business meeting while he was on the bus. Which either meant that a) he was running late to work, or b)-- and this is entirely possible -- that he scheduled the call for when he'd be riding the bus. So just purely on a professional level, I have to take points off for the fact that either this guy cannot get his ass to work on time, or he's just completely clueless about scheduling calls. (I know some of you may argue that perhaps he had to schedule the call at this precise time, because it was the only option. Sorry, there is always another option).
I was trained to conduct business calls in a business-like environment; someplace quiet, with no interruptions. But that quaint notion has gone the way of the Rolodex and fax machine. Now, people can -- and do -- make business calls from virtually anywhere -- the coffee shop, the car, probably even the toilet.
Background noise during a conference call is a huge distraction. Did it bother the dude on the bus that he would be conducting his call from a crowded, noisy city bus? Apparently not. And we already know it never occurred to him that he might be bothering all of us. That thought never even crossed his mind. Entitled? Maybe. Oblivious? Definitely.
I suppose I should no longer be shocked by this type of behavior. And yet, I am. I never cease to be amazed by how stupid, and downright rude, people can be these days. Many people in my generation (i.e., older people) feel this way. We're perpetually outraged; but we know our outrage is useless. We can be as grumpy as we want, but it doesn't matter. Etiquette is dead. Manners are obsolete.
When it comes to cell phone use, the line between private and public has blurred in ways that were previously unimaginable. A 2015 Pew Study on public cell phone use showed that many people are ok with cell phone use just about anywhere -- on public transportation, in line, at a restaurant. That's an old study, so I suspect phone calls in public places are even more acceptable now than ever before. At this point, anything goes.
We live in a world devoid of common courtesy. Or even common sense.
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