Mobile Manners

I had been putting in 15 hours work days for a while. I missed a lot of sleep and to make up for it, was trying to doze off in the bus on my way to work. It takes at least an hour to reach work. The best thing to do in a bus is to read and the next best is sleep. But when you have fluffy eyes, I guess your priorities change. So there I was trying to get myself 40 winks. (Okay, make it 80). Then I suddenly hear someone’s mobile phone ringing on the highest possible volume. I am startled but quickly compose myself and try not to look too odd. I know that it’s a lady’s phone that’s ringing. I wait for her to pick up the phone. No, she just lets it ring for about 5-6 rings with the volume ramping up steadily. I am like ‘okay, we all have cell phones too, now pick up’. As if she heard what I was thinking, she picks up the phone.

I feel very relived and am about to go back to my 7th wink. Then I hear one real loud artificial laugh. This time I don’t startle as much and open my eyes with Herculean effort. No prizes for guessing, it’s the same lady on the same call. Whole bus can now hear this side of the conversation and not that they are all very happy about it. We all wished the lady could reduce the level of her voice. If you liked shouting so much, you could as well have done without the cell phone; the person at the other end almost can hear you without one. The woman is talking in Marathi and unfortunately I happen to understand bits and pieces of Marathi and never before I had felt sorry about it. Now I could make out a bit of what she is talking. It is about her cousin’s son. He is very cute. Good for the cousin. But apparently the cousin’s wife is really mean. She thinks she is the only woman in the world who has a cute kid. And how this caller woman and the person on the other end should be worried about it. Then the topic moves to some more family gossip and allied issues.

I am almost boiling with anger now and considering seriously the option of sounding rude by asking the lady to shut up. Am preparing my lines to make it most polite sounding but most forceful statement. How about ‘Lady, may be you should tone down when you are on the phone’ ? Umm.. sounds too artificial. Well, by that time my guardian angel woke up and the lady hung up for good. I never got to deliver my much prepared dialog. Well, it was anyway too late for me to get back to sleep. One more sleep deprived day was awaiting for me at work.

So much for this particular incident. But it will be an understatement to say I am really pissed off at the mobile courtesy level of people in general. (No, I don’t use offensive language often. Read my earlier posts if you don’t believe me. But this time I am really bugged)

So, borrowing from and adding to Waiter’s this post, some things I want people to keep in mind when they are using cell phones.
* Talk at a normal voice. There is no need to shout. Yes, the other person can hear you well. In fact the phones are so sensitive that the person at the other end can even hear if you whisper.
* Lost connections are a common thing. If you cant hear the other person during a call, then shouting ‘hello-hello’ at the top of the lungs is not going to improve your odds of getting the connection clear. Remain low voiced and if you cant hear them after 5 seconds, cut the call and redial.
* Don’t show off your high end mobile. No, girls stopped getting impressed with your phones long long ago. You are free to buy a mobile that comes with built in camera, radio, music player, home theater system, washing machine, refrigerator, lawn mower and scuba diving gear. That’s all your choice. But don’t think that makes you a great and cool guy. The only thing that can make you look cool is your attitude.
* When you see someone’s latest model mobile phone, don’t jump on it and ask for a test drive. May be some guys are OK with it, but for me my phone is my personal thing and I don’t want a total stranger to rummage through its innards. Ask politely and be sensitive about personal information on the phone
* Don’t send me chain SMSes. I have not forwarded a single SMS that was supposed to bring me good luck and I am still doing fine.
* Don’t send me dirty jokes, forwards, shayris, philosophy of life and other assorted junk. I outgrew them by 2001.
* Free SMS does not mean you have to exhaust them.
* Don’t give me a missed call and expect me to call back. If you want to talk to me, it better be at least worth spending your money on it. If someone is so keen on saving your money, they will cut the call and call you back anyway. Missed calls get to my nerves.
* When you speculate that the other person might be busy, ask him/her if we can talk now or not. Yes, even if its your spouse or the best friend. I have heard people talking from inside toilets.
* Don’t type an SMS when you are talking to someone. If its something urgent, like ‘honey, I will be late from office, don’t wait for dinner’, then excuse yourself from the group and return after sending the message.
* Its totally inappropriate to use the ringer in office meetings. Keep it in silent mode. Don’t use fancy ring tones at workplace. If not you, someone else is trying to think and work and you may disturb them.
* Change ring modes (silent, beep once, loud etc) based on the need. Do change them whenever your environment changes. It is only a small thing that you can do for your fellow human beings.

I can go on and on about this, but I think I you got the drift.
Please be considerate!

Feel free to add your manners tip in the comment section.