Lack of Respect

"I don't understand that," Sherman, a former high school history teacher, said as he walked away from the podium in the media auditorium. "That stuff to me, to be honest with you, is a total lack of respect for each other. Forget me, you don't have to respect me. But respect each other."

This person shares my sentiments exactly as he walked out early on a press conference after being annoyed by some cameraman’s cell phone going off. Sherman is the coach of the Green Bay Packers who has long banned cell phones at the team’s meetings.

It’s not that I don’t like cell phones and it took me awhile to succumb to buying one, I don’t like the rudeness of some people when using them. I’m starting to see more and more signs posted with “turn cell phones off.” Why do people have to be told where to turn their cell phones off? Don’t they know the places that it would be inappropriate for their use? Don't they have any common sense?

It’s happened in church numerous times. One lady’s cell phone went off during the homily and it took her what seemed to be an extremely long time to turn it off. The phone must have rung at least eight times causing the priest to stop his homily. Lack of respect. Some people forget, and I can excuse that for one time, but I see people sitting there and taking their phones out to check their voice mail or instant messages. If it’s happened in church it’s probably happened at funerals, wakes etc.

At first I thought that it was only the kids and yuppies who were the culprits. Now it seems to be spreading to the middle age people. Just yesterday, I was sitting on a commuter train heading home and just as the train pulled out of South Station a middle aged man right behind me proceeded to call what I can surmise a friend. I was forced to hear about his job interview, how long it took, and what he wore. I know that he wore a blue Bill Blass suit and a tie that he borrowed from the person he was talking to – so my assumption that he was talking to his wife was quickly dispelled, unless his wife wears ties. The only thing I didn’t know was whether he wore boxers or briefs thanks only to the loss of signal upon entering a tunnel. I don’t need to know nor do I want to know what goes on in a stranger’s life. I’m going to start carrying a tape recorder just for moments like these and replay the tape when the person ends his conversation.

Some people, as Mike Sherman stated above, have lost respect for others. It’s all about them and only them. I used to like to sit back and read on the train, I can’t do it anymore because of these egotistical and disrespectful people. Some are truly addicted and I can envision a Cell phone anonymous coming near you.

One day I got on the Orange Line (a true urban experience) at the Wellington stop and headed for Forest Hills. A nicely dressed clean cut young man who got on at the same stop was nearby using his cell phone. What I soon realized, from his end of the conversation, was that he was meeting someone at the Mass Ave stop. He proceeded to call at every stop that the train made to update the person of his current location. Was he meeting the other person for some clandestine reason? Why couldn’t he just make the initial call and tell them that he would be there in fifteen minutes? For I moment I felt like I was sitting next to the guy on the commercial who keeps repeating, “Can you hear me now?”

These people consider themselves as VIPs (very important people) but I’m labeling them DUPs (disrespectful unimportant people). In Italy they would be considered a cafone (a cad).

In the supermarket you will see “girly men” wandering around with their cell phones attached to their ears keeping in constant connection with their wives who are directing them to different areas of the store and telling them what to buy. These VIPs cannot make a decision for themselves. “Honey, I can’t find the evaporated milk,” I overhear one of these wussies and feel like telling him that the milk evaporated, it’s gone, disappeared. An airplane pilot making a landing in bad weather has less contact with ground control than these wussies have with their wives navigating through a supermarket.

Everywhere I go, even in the rest rooms, I find people invading my space with their ‘very important conversations.’ What happened to the phone booths of years past? I feel like I’ve been hijacked into one of these invisible walking phone booths.

If the signs don’t work, you’ll probably see in the very near future people checking their cell phones at the door much like they did in the west with pistols.