Dear Cell Phone User

I may have to get some of these.

You know, I think the quote "no good deed goes unpunished" is true.  I tried to do something nice for Hopson while he is gone on a mission trip & I ended up wanting to shove bamboo skewers under my fingernails.  Some people and their lack of manners...

Hopson asked me to take is very dirty car to get cleaned while he was away.  No problem, it was my pleasure to do this for him, well almost.  (I found out one of main love languages is acts of service, so he was totally speaking my love language.)  Until...the most obnoxious lady decided to get on her phone in the waiting area.  Not only was she a loud talker, her phone was on speaker while she was holding it up to her ear.  Would someone hit me over the head with a tack hammer?  Hello, McFly...really?  You can't tell your phone is on speaker?  Oui! I thought about the guy who does the cell phone crashing.  If you haven't seen it, you so need to...hilarious.

Can we talk cell phone etiquette?  You don't have to answer that question...it's rhetorical.  If you didn't know there was such a thing, there is.  I think so many people just assume it's their right to talk on their phone anytime and anywhere they want.  Well, I hate to tell you, but you are not the center of the universe & we all do not find pleasure in hearing your conversation.  Here are somethings that you can share with those with no phone etiquette:

• If you are in line at a store, get off your phone.  Look the cashier in the eye and talk to them.  I know you are catching a super important phone call to find out about your super important job, but seriously, check out takes what, 5-10 minutes max?  Hang up the phone.  If it's your child calling, answer it to make sure it's not one of the 4 B's* (see below for the 4 B's) & if it's not, tell them you'll call them back in 10 minutes.
• If you can't chew gum and walk, you should not be talking on your phone and driving.  Can I tell you how many people I've seen almost cause wrecks because they can't drive & talk at the same time?  This is considered extreme multi-tasking & some people just stink at it.  Either pull over, get hands free or hang up the phone. 
• If you are in a waiting room, please leave the waiting room to talk, and for the love of Pete, take your cell phone off of the speaker mode.  I saw your REALLY long list of people you needed to call about picking up their bible study book in the church office today between 10 & 4, and while I appreciate your willingness to call all those people, you could have stepped outside to do it.
• The speaker phone should be activated when:  everyone is speaking to grandparents (although, half the time they can't hear you any way); everyone speaking to a family member who is living far away; you are in carpool and trying to hide the fact that you are on your phone. (if you don't have hands free); or you are on hold & trying to get chores taken care of.  Those are the only reasons I can think of to use the speaker. 
• When you are on your phone in public, you should not be yelling to the person on the other end.  We don't want to hear everything you're talking about.  If they can't hear you or you can't hear them, you need to talk to them later.

Yes I'm probably making more of this than I should, but I was in the waiting area for about an hour & for 45 minutes had the privilege of listening to this woman's phone conversations.  I will for sure pass on all this info to all my children to make sure they know to use their phone etiquette as well.

Celebrating life & a little bit of quiet,

~ashley  

*This is the list we used when our children were little to keep them from coming to us for every piddley argument they had with their siblings.  I have to say, it worked pretty well.  So, as promised...

The 4 B's

1.  Barfing

2.  Bleeding

3.  Broken

4.  Burning