Cell Phone Zombies

[Ash]

I've become sick to death with most cell phone users.
It's like any manners they were ever taught go right out the window when they're on their cell phone.

----------------------

Recently, I was shopping for groceries and came across two people who were yacking away on their phones.
Not talking softly...they were speaking LOUDLY!

One woman in particular was extremely annoying.
She was blabbering away as if she were the only person in the store.  Totally oblivious that other people were around her.
I heard what she was saying and it was trivial talk.
Nothing important.
She was gossiping with another female friend about some guy.

As I was going down the aisle and putting things in my shopping basket, she didn't notice me and stood in my way.
I had to loudly clear my throat and say, "Excuse me!" to get by her.
She gave me a rude look, stepped aside, didn't apologize and kept talking.
It was like I was inconveniencing her.  

At that moment, I had to resist the urge to grab her phone from her hand and throw it as far as I could.
I had a mental image in my mind of her phone landing somewhere over in the frozen food section...shattering into a thousand pieces.
And it brought a smile to my face.  

When I got to the soda & potato chip aisle, there was a guy in his 20's, hat on backwards, carrying on about something into his phone.  His eyes had this glazed over look.  I don't think he was on drugs.  I think it was because he was so focused on talking to someone on his phone.
The urge to run up to him and hit him with the hardest right hook I could deliver was strong.
Send him a wake up call...yeah...that's it.

-----------------------------

I'm glad that my parents taught me proper manners.
I own a cell phone and when it worked, it was unthinkable for me to yack away mindlessly like some zombie.
I only answered it at the appropriate time and if I was driving, to receive directions.

When you're driving in your car, how many people do you see talking on a goddamn cell phone?
I see them all the time!
Those laws prohibiting talking on a phone while driving should be more strict.
And every state should have them.

Cell phones have connected our society while simultaneously turning ordinary people into zombies.

--------------------------

I have a theory about openly public cell phone users...
Most of them are insecure.
They yack away on their phones to feel more important about themselves.
When people see them on their phones, they give the impression that they have friends.
They're loved.  They're needed.  They're somehow made more important because they're talking on their phone!

UGH!  

I wish it was like the 80's again.
No cell phones.  Just people actually talking to one another face to face.



What do you think?

[Trevor]

Someone should teach these people cellphone etiquette.

If I receive a call, I say excuse me and move away, finish the call and come back. My cell is off when I watch a movie in the cinema and I insist that when when we do film screenings on the premises of the NFA that everyone's cell is off or on vibrate. I also ask my clients to do the same as a ringing phone is irritating.

When cell phones first came out in the early 1990's here, I was near someone in a shopping mall. Man, was this guy yakking on his brick phone. Yap, yap, yap for about five minutes on and on and then his cellphone actually rang.  Show-off.

When I was here www.kknk.co.za last year, I was having dinner in the hotel after a tiring day and there was this mampara [South African slang for idiot] in the dining room who made one call after another: I counted at least 20 in 45 minutes.

After a while, I left my food, went to him and asked him to please take other people into consideration as he was talking at the top of his voice and disturbing others. I asked this nicely and showed him that I have two cell phones, both off.

The end result? The bugger reported me to the hotel management! 

[Shadow]

She gave me a rude look, stepped aside, didn't apologize and kept talking.
It was like I was inconveniencing her.   

The end result? The bugger reported me to the hotel management! 

This is what really bugs me about some people on their cell phones. They are one hundred percent oblivious to how they are inconveniencing others, but when confronted with it, they take offense! No personal responsibility at all. The two instances of cell phone use that truly annoy the living **** out of me are:

1. Some moron talking at the top of his lungs in a restaurant. Geez, I didn't come here to listen to your big mouth, go take your call in the lobby our outside if you must take/make it.

2. Drivers on cell phones. I hate being stuck behind some fool who is dragging their ass because they can't walk and chew gum at the same time, or in this case, drive and talk on their cell phone. Have you ever sat at a light and watched the cars going by, counting how many people are yapping on cell phones? Sure, I talk on mine when driving, but I always minimize the time doing so because I want to be focused on what's important - the driving.

[odinn7]

You know the self-important a-holes that I can't stand? It's the ones that have that blue tooth thing stuck in their ear....like they're so important that they need this thing attached to them. You know it's all for show. I mean really...does some fat ass walking through Walmart need one of these on to just walk around? You couldn't guess how many  of these people I see walking around with one of these stuck in their and they're not even talking...just as long as someone gets to see them like that...that's all that matters and it's served its purpose.

[Shadow]

odinn, I totally agree. My wife and I are going to have to replace our cell phones soon and I swore up and down that I would not get one of those things.

[Patient7]

I just find it really annoying when someone's cell phone goes off in the middle of class.  Or if I see them texting.  YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LEARNING!!! 
I'll admit, I always have my phone with me during school.  However, it is off and I have the knowledge that I didn't look like a total buttmunch that day.  (At least not for the phone.)  In fact, I have seen kids who are around the age of seven texting people, I call these people ditchdiggers, because THAT'S what what their heading for, if they don't close the phone, look in front of them, and see my fat, dry, fist on it's way to their face.

[Killer Bees]

I agree 150% Ash.

It seems as though there are more and more things in our lives designed to make us ruder by the year.  I hate cell phone zombies as well.  If I'm on the bus and my phone rings, I say hello as quietly as possible.  If someone wants to talk, I say I'll call you back and then call them back when I get off the bus.  Same if I'm in public.  If I can go somewhere private, then I do.  But I usually just text people anyway.  It's cheaper   

One day recently I got so sick of this chick yacking away on the bus.  After her conversation was over, I started asking her about what she was saying on the phone.  I actually starting talking to her like I knew her and the person she was talking to.  She seemed a little startled at first but it took her a while to twig that I was a complete stranger. 

I was very intrusive and asked her some really personal questions.  When she challenged me I said to her that I was sorry, but I assumed her conversation was open for discussion because she was making it so loudly.  The sn****rs on the other passengers faces were priceless.  And the girl was so embarrassed she went beet red and shut up for the rest of the journey.  She didn't know where to look.

When she finally got off the bus (in a great hurry), I said, "give my best to so and so" and waved at her.  *lol*

One woman sitting near me said, "I'm so glad someone had the guts to say something."  I told the woman that I was tired of the bad manners of phone wankers and that girl should be lesson for everyone.  I made a few friends that day I can tell you.

Normally I don't care about stuff like that, especially if the subject is pretty harmless.  I have a great ability to tune out the rest of the world around me.  But sometimes all the metro tossers and Paris Hilton wannabes and Gen Y pseudo-gangstas (read: fsck knuckles) just stick in my craw and I crack.

I'm glad I got it out of my system.  I should be good for another six months now.   

[KYGOTC]

HAHAHA! Has anyone read that book by Steve King where people turn into zombies when a virus gets in them when the use their cell phones?!

[Ash]

HAHAHA! Has anyone read that book by Steve King where people turn into zombies when a virus gets in them when the use their cell phones?!

Sure have.
We were talking about it in the Entertainment section.
http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,118253.0.html

[flackbait]

Being on a college campus you have to get used to these cellphone zombies really quick. So I'm pretty used to these poor souls, however the ones that can't seem to do this and walk at the same time are annoying as #$%#%#4!!!!  :hatred:I have probably smacked into 5 or 6 people because they did't notice that they were walking and had to stop and say "OMG"!!  And then they look at me like I'm the one who didn't watch were I was going. when I was watching them walk a fairly even clip until they stop suddenly.

[Patient7]

Katma for you Bees, in fact, I think comedian John Reep did that joke once.  He said that if you ever see a person on their cell phone, sneak up on them and lean in real close, then ask, "What's he sayin?  Can I talk on it?" it's funnier when he does it but I can't find a youtube clip, but if you ever see him on comedy central presents, watch it.

[JaseSF]

Yes karma to Killer Bees for having the guts to actually make a stand. Completely agree with Ash on this one.

[RCMerchant]

Cell phones are the work of Satan and his underthings.

[Killer Bees]

Thanks for the support guys.  I was very surprised at myself for saying anything at all.  Normally I just sigh like everyone else.  But I'd been reading a New Age book prior to that about having the courage to express yourself without guilt and how it's not healthy to keep negative things inside. So I figured I didn't want to be carrying around the frustration all day.

If I see someone heading right for me and they're not paying attention, regardless of whether they are on the phone or not, I stop dead in my tracks and I watch them to see how long it takes them to notice me.

A lot of the time, they pull up real short just before bumping into me.  I like the look of momentary terror on their faces   

I put on my best Vulcan face, blank but with a mild look of curiosity and superiority.  Most people apologise and move on.  I figure, I was on this path first, they have to move around me  *lol*    Especially in this country where we have lots of space for everyone to have a private territorial bubble around them.

I think I just hate people. 

[Raffine]

You know the self-important a-holes that I can't stand? It's the ones that have that blue tooth thing stuck in their ear....like they're so important that they need this thing attached to them.

I refer to these folks as "The Borg". 

I finally broke down and got a cell phone about a month ago - it's for emergencies since I drive about 100 miles a day, much of it at night and through rural areas. It lives in my car and I check every now and then it to make sure it is charged and working.

I have no idea what the number is...