Thursday, July 11, 2013

A LAMENT TO CELL PHONES





According to the Divine Comedy (The Inferno) the eighth circle of hell is full of lawyers.   But, in keeping up with the new technology I feel that at least the fifth circle of hell should have a place for the people who can’t unplug from their cell phones. 



Back in December we finally traded in our old truck for a new fuel efficient car.  The payments stroke us but it needed doing so that my wife will have dependable transportation when I am gone - and this is the last one.   Then two months ago some woman ran into the back of our new car while I was stopped at a stop light.   She was in her late forties and texting to her daughter.  

I am super conscious now of people riding around with a cell phone held up to their ear.   If you drive around your town and watch, at least twenty-percent of the people are talking on cell phones while they are driving in traffic.  If you go into the grocery store, or walk around Wal*Mart you will see people on their cell phones.   Kids walking down the street are talking on their cell phones.   

Phones ring and people talk on their cells at restaurants.   Recently, at a local restaurant six middle aged people at the same table were laughing because they were texting each other, while from a nearby booth we had to listen to a woman talking to friend on her cell. 

 Yesterday my wife and I went to a playhouse.  Before the play started the MC asked everyone to turn off their cell phones - but an hour into the play we had to listen to some elderly woman’s favorite tune digitally explode on her cell phone.   I won’t even mention the school age kids that seem to have a cell phone implanted onto the side of their head. 



What the fuck is this that we cant unplug from our telephones for a couple of hours to sit in a play or a movie or a restaurant.

In the fifth circle of hell I would have cell phones implanted on both ears of the abusers; and every three minutes, twenty-four hours a day, the phone would ring playing Wagner’s Ride of the Valkuries, followed by a recording warning you that your credit card might be overdrawn. 



the Ol’Buzzard hates cell phones.

3 comments:

  1. OB,
    I must atone - At one time I was one of the top Nextel reps in metro Inndianapolis.


    Sarge

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I agree and it is a worldwide trend. If you look at Google Street view in almost any country in the world, you will see plenty of examples you've cited here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I remember the good old days when you could waste half your life trying to call someone. Everyone in Ukraine has a cell phone. Takes a year or two to get a land line from the government telekom but mobile and internet companies are highly competitive here (as opposed to North America.
    That said, cell phones and texting might overtake alcohol as the leading cause of traffic death and injury. And leaving them on in funerals, weddings, theatres etc is totally bad manners.

    ReplyDelete

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