Cell Phone Etiquette

I was having lunch with someone the other day when their phone went off in the middle of our conversation. Had it been an urgent call related to work or family, I wouldn't have been bothered by it at all. But this was a casual conversation about weekend plans that lasted for more than 15 minutes. After waiting a while, I paid my portion of the bill and left, annoyed.

I find this list to be a great compilation of common annoyances. Let me highlight #6 and #10:



Fakku, what habits (if any) annoy you when it comes to people and their phones?

Do you think that cell phone etiquette exists? If so, how would you define it?

Up to a certain point I think it exists yea, mostly that there is places and situations where you don't take a call, and that when you're talking to someone, or someone is talking to you you don't text, or spend to much time on a call that's not important. Like that call you just described, your company should have told that s/he would call whoever it was back later, and also, who takes a call during lunch? ;O

Most people do follow this, but as with so much else it's these people who aren't really noticed so I just expect the worse from everybody.

Yeah, a friend of mine was in my dorm room, sat down on the couch while 3 others were watching a movie, and proceeded to call her boyfriend. She then told us to be quiet and turn the movie down so that she could hear.

We kicked her ass out.

:lol: I probably did most of those already. Of course after a few months there are things that i dont do anymore. However cellphones during a movie is my #2 pet peeve followed by ppl bringing babies with them.

Wow, that's horrible. I guess you wouldn't be going to lunch with that person again anytime soon.

I hate when there is someone in a group who is focused more on texting then hanging out with the people around them. I remember after eating out with some friends, this one guy who had been texting the whole time said "We should do this more often". We all looked at him like, "Dude, we forgot you were even here."

I don't know about any of those, but people playing shitty music on public transport through those horrible, tinny phone speakers drives me insane.

But yeah, I don't know any phone obsessives, and I can be too polite for my own good sometimes. :P I've seen people conversing in some odd places, but nothing that has really annoyed me.

I went to movies with my friend once and like half the movie he was texting on his phone, didn't really bother me but he missed much of the movie so it was more bad for him.

I have a few friends who purposely wait five minutes to reply to text messages, even if they read it the second it arrives. They tell me it's a form of playing hard-to-get that makes you seem "cooler" and more attractive to others than the person trying to text you. ddskfjsdkfjsdkgkjlsdjl WHY. WHY WHY WHY. It's so aggravating, and just makes me not want to have conversations with them.

Another thing that pisses me off is when someone has a long conversation while in a small, crowded place, such as a bus or lineup. Thanks asshole, no one around you wants to hear your stupid conversation.

Asides from people who constantly text on their phones anywhere and everywhere, I am also greatly annoyed by people who talk too loud on their cellphones. You know, when they talk even louder than they would if the other person was right beside them. And no, it's not because there's a lot of background noise, it's because they for some god forsaken reason don't realize that they're talking too loud (or don't care about the people around them).

A healthy dose of common sense helps. I know when I should have my phone silenced, and if I have to take an important call somewhere where other people are present I have the courtesy to step out to take the call.

The same rules should apply to cell phones as to regular phones, but on a mobile basis.

If we were sitting at dinner, would you answer a call? No. So don't do it while we're chatting at the mall... I apply these same rules to myself. Unless it's an emergency situation, don't break out the cell around friends irl.

And for texting, sure excusing yourself once to return someone's text (hopefully with a note that you're currently busy) is acceptable. But texting the whole time I'm with you?!?
I was recently on a day out with a guy I'd just met and he did this... gotta say, made me pretty hesitant to meet with him again.

There should be some sort of manners when using cell phones. Its disrespectful. It makes me want to avoid you for that time. If its an emergency, i understand. But if its not, get your priorities straight before you go on a date, or some sort of meeting.

I work in a shop and I hate it when a customer expects me to serve them whilst they are on the phone. Depending on which management staff are in I do one of three things.

1. Stand there and refuse to serve them until they get off the phone whilst glaring at them as if to say "What the fuck" < only when Manager is in the back.

2. Serve them but refuse to speak a word to them or look them in the eyes and purposely put any change on the counter and not their hand. < what I do most of the time.

3. Ask them a million work related questions and keep bugging them until they hang up and give me their attention.

I did this once and the guy I was serving had the nerve to tell me to "please be quiet whilst he was on the phone" I told him to "please dont bother coming to the till if he's not ready and please not bother to come again if he can't muster some common courtesy" He looked really embarrassed after that.


Oh, Another thing that annoys me is when the customer rings someone about a question or what ever, then just hands the phone to me so that I have to deal with them. I find it very awkward and confusing to have a phone randomly thrust at me when I have no ideas whats going on. < This tactic is most commonly used by parents or grandparents who just don't have a clue.

I don't mind when people text while I'm with them, as long as they can continue to hold a conversation with me. What really boils my broccoli is when I'm hanging out with a friend and their significant other calls. I totally understand picking up the phone and saying, "Hey baby, I'm with so-and-so right now, can I call you back later?" I do that, too. It's when they have a fifteen minute conversation with said significant other while I'm right there, waiting for them to get off so we can continue our friend time. .__.

Funny story really.

First date, I had a wonderful time until we went to the movie theater to see Twilight (ugh?). We had arrived 2 hours early (accidentaly, obviously), and had nothing to do but walk around the mall until the movie began. So once the movie starts, a few minutes in, she starts texting away on her phone. I don't mind, and simply enjoy the movie, while she asks me what's happening every 5 minutes.

Halfway through, I start to get annoyed, and ask her who she's texting. She tells me her ex-boyfriend has something he wants to show her, and it's apparantly urgent. So she gives me a hug, and then runs out of the movie theater to go see him, leaving me alone and ridiculed by half the girls in the room. :|

And believe me, half the girls in a room showing TWILIGHT is ALOT of people.

I think everyone knows about proper cellphone etiquette but only a very few actually follow it.

Lol as a former Cashier I must admit I grew to hate cell phones. When ever I'd tell them something they'd say to me "excuse me just a second" then the line would grow bigger and the rest of the customers got mad at me even though the person was on the cell phone.