The Scourge of Cell Phones

I can't tell you how many times a day I begin a conversation with someone and their cell phone rings and I cease to exist. I become invisible and the person's finger goes in one ear (phone in the other ear) to drown out my voice so they can hear the oh-so-important words of someone on the other end asking "what's going on?"

I wonder why people think that whoever is calling on their cell phone is more important than the person they are talking to in person. How many times have you heard "I gotta take this call" and without waiting for an acknowledgement, they proceed to turn away, walk away and never come back. I have had so many conversations left hanging in the middle and it makes me feel like I am the least important thing in the world to that person. I'm pretty sure the auto company whose robot voice telling them that their vehicle warranty is about to expire is a lot more important that I am.

My kids turn their attention to their text messages constantly. I'm sure that if they find a way to implant the phone in the kids hands, they will definitely have it done.

I'm not so attached to it myself. It's in my purse but if I'm not near my purse, I don't care. If I'm at home, I figure if the person wants to talk to me they can call me on the home phone line. I'm also not digging to the bottom of my purse (if you saw my purse you'd understand why) to find that phone. Oh, and I do NOT chat on the cell when I'm in a store. Why do people do that? I am shopping, dammit! I don't have time to talk!

I have a cell phone too and it's very hard not to answer it at times. I do check to see if it's my mom and maybe an emergency. Aside from that, I'm going to try to ignore the cell phone when I'm talking to someone else.

Yakety Yak

Do you know people who talk so continuously that they don't seem to breathe and never break long enough to allow somebody else to express a thought or ask a question? They seem to fill every break with "and, um, and, um". I feel like I have to raise my hand to indicate that I have something to say or comment on.
I think that's why I prefer e-mail and instant messaging with some people. There is a natural back and forth with it and you don't end up talking over each other.
Another thing is that after a full minute or more of someone talking, my mind tends to wander and I'm not listening anymore. Especially if the subject matter is boring as hell and I'm not interested in the first place. The look of utter boredom and disinterest on my face doesn't seem to register because the speaker is too wrapped up in their monologue to notice.
I find that most telephone conversations go on way too long anyway. I do enjoy talking to people one on one in person, but for some reason I don't like to "chat" on the phone very often. I use the phone as a tool to get a quick answer to a question. If I feel like talking a lot, I usually e-mail, visit in person, or I blog.

On the other end of the spectrum are the people who can't get a thought out verbally to save their lives. They "uh, ummmm, hmmmm and uhhhhhh" forever and you sit there waiting for the precious gem of their thoughts to make it into speech and by the time it does, it's usually not worth hearing. Of these people, I just have to say "SPIT IT OUT AND GET TO THE POINT!"

I think the reason I like certain TV shows and not others is a reflection of this. I can't handle watching a news show that has more than 2 people other than the monitor. The View drives me nuts because they all talk at once. Some of the news shows are like that too. I like Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow because they speak clearly and they get to the point and they don't belabor a point too long.

Chop, chop, get to the point and move on.