Saturday, October 17, 2015

CELL PHONE ETIQUETTE





OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD

Yesterday I used my cell phone for the second time this year.   I called a small general store for a steak and cheese sandwich to go, on the way home from running errands.  

I got this phone in Alaska in 2005 when I was principal of three Native schools in the southeast tundra.   It was necessary I stay in connect with the schools and the district office whenever I was out of the villages.  

I pay $100 a year for 250 minutes through an Alaska communication company, and have found that I cannot find a comparable offer here in Maine - so I keep the Alaskan phone service.  

At present I have over 2000 minutes available; and though I carry the phone whenever we travel, or I am on the bike (motorcycle,) I never turn it on unless I need to make a call – which is almost never.   I don’t even know how to retrieve messages and missed calls and really don’t give a fuck.   I am not so important that I can’t wait until I get home and check my answering machine or e-mail.

I am not opposed to technology; I use TomTom when I travel, I enjoy the computer and I believe that technology is the only thing that may save the human race at some time in the future.    

But, no one needs to be connected 24/7.   No one needs to be communicating by text or telephone while driving; no one needs to have their phone turned on in a restaurant, movie, playhouse or other public venue.   The idea that anyone needs to sit in a restaurant with friends or family and check their e-mail or text is absurd and ignorant.
 
And, if you walk around with that thing that looks like a leach hanging out of your ear, and you are not an emergency room doctor on call, you are an…

Turn off your cell phone.   You are not that important.

The Ol’Buzzard




2 comments:

  1. I agree. Technology should be our servant, not our master.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have a TracFone. I get a 60 minute card for $20 and get 90 days service and 120 minutes. The phone I have doubles the minutes and usually a few days (5 or less) before the end of my days of service I get a text message with a promo code that will give me another 20 minutes. I run out of days before I run out of minutes. At this point in time I can't use my phone even if I wanted to as I don't have any service here. The Old Lady has a TracFone also and she has service here. Our phones are from different manufacturers and that may explain why she has service and I don't.

    ReplyDelete

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