Cell phones

Ok, I am currently working at a local gas station. Every day, people come in to the store, talking on their cell phones, not having the common courtesy to drop their conversation in the middle so they can exchange pleasantries with me. How rude of them!!

The sad thing is (in my mind), is how many people actually think that way. I do actually work at a local gas station and everyday my co-workers complain about rude people talking on their cell phones and how they are just as rude back. The concept confuses me, so I ask them why it is rude, to which question I get a blank stare and a statement - "They were talking on their cell phone!"

Oh, yeah, I remind myself as I slap my forehead for missing the obviousnes of it. I still couldn't figure out what the big deal is. That is, until I saw the other side of it - Two people standing at the counter talking and not paying attention to the clerk. I looked at the clerk and instead of a look of consternation, they were smiling and following the conversation. I then thought back to similar conversations I have had with servers in restaraunts, and the answer became clear.

The complaining clerk/server/patron is doing so because they can't hear the other side of the conversation. Yup, that's right - the person on the cell phone is being rude by not allowing the bystanders the chance to eavesdrop. Seriously. And I got a follow-up confirmation of this when later that day a customer was talking on speaker phone - the clerk had the same smile they did when following the conversation of the two people present. Wow - eavesdropping on conversations that take place around us is so accepted and commonplace that when we are denied the opportunity we vociferously complain about the violator and demand that the means of this obstruction to our voyerism be banned in restaraunts and such.

Ridiculous.