Campfyre Stories

Those infernal Nextel walkie-talkie phones and the people who use them.

Apparently, cell phone etiquette (for all it’s followed) doesn’t apply to walkie-talkies.  People get BLEEPED and *everyone* in earshot gets to listen in.  So not only are we (societally) subjected to the one-sided screaming conversations, now we’re subjected to both screaming sides and the incredibly obnoxious BLEEP that comes through all the freakin’ time.

See, here’s my thing.  I don’t care if you’re going to use your phone in public IF you’re going to have a conversation no louder than you would if the other person were sitting next to you.  In fact, you can have a quieter conversation, but I do understand that some people can’t seem to grasp that no matter how tiny your phone is, you still don’t have to shout.  The other piece is that you have to realize that people ARE listening to your conversation because either 1) they have nothing better to do, 2) you’re the most interesting thing going on or 3) you have made it so you cannot possibly be ignored.

These Nextel things firmly plant pretty much everyone into the third category.

Just the sound of the BLEEP makes me tense up.  The fact that no one seems to use these things to *call* the person with whom they are conversing (though they are also cell phones) blows my mind.  After receiving (and making) numerous BLEEPS, I heard one woman say "I never make ANY phone calls".  WTF?  Make a damn phone call and be (more) polite than you are being with that ridiculous noise pollution.

You know, I can see the business reasons for this phone, but that’s not who I see using it.  It’s people who are using it instead of texting.  Frankly, despite Nextel’s claims, it doesn’t make the conversations last a shorter period of time and it is amazingly INconvenient for all the rest of us.  People seem to finally be getting the cell phone etiquette and taking their phones away from the tables in restaurants when they possibly can…  I see people talking on their cell phones near the pay phones or taking it outside so they don’t have to scream.  This whole Nextel thing is just causing a lot of people to have to start over and those who are subjected to it are having to work up all new courage to say something when it is truly out of control…  which it is…  almost all the time.