The Darn Cell Phone

The Split Second-In Consideration of Others in These Trying Times

I am still making many pitches to literary agents concerning my book, The Split Second:  In Consideration of Others or Look Up from the Phone and How to Deal with Rudeness in Others. A few agents have written back and said that my work may have merit, but it is not the kind of thing he/she/they take as projects. I press on still and it is not easy. Faith is sure nice.

I contributed a blog two days ago and I am not usually one to add another so soon but this one is important to me and a big component of my book. The cell phone! I feel it has really changed society and mostly not for the better. So many people in society focus so much attention on their cell phones and are then rude to the people they are keeping company with at the time. However, I want to describe two incidents I observed and dealt with today that concerned me.

I went into a 7-Eleven early this morning. I have had wonderful conversations with the manager and enjoy joking around with her and have done so many times. Today, she was not there but the clerk who took care of me had to text several times during the transaction I had with him. I asked myself, “What could be so important that he has to delay store business with me to text over and over?” I realize that I did not know the situation. There could have been an emergency with loved ones that he had to deal with for the moment. Still, I was bothered that he took time away from me as a customer to deal with his cell phone. That just was not right in my mind’s eye. I have a feeling the wonderful manager would not have approved of this clerk’s cell phone use.

Then I went to my favorite Friday morning hangout, a wonder International House of Pancakes (we all know them as IHOP). A nice-looking man with his young child was seated behind me. Their order would be a take-out order, but I was extremely bothered that the child was holding a cell phone and the music that emitted from it was very loud. That music coupled with the music piped in (we used to call that “Musack”) made it difficult for me to think much comprehend the reading I was undertaking at the moment. They did not stay long, thank goodness, but this was irritating. In many of these kinds of situations, the music from the cell phone or a video from an i-Pad are used to occupy and maybe even quite a child. This is not right when it disturbs other customers.

One huge lesson I hope to convey with The Split Second is to get people to think when they are using cell phones. It should never get in the way of a sales transaction as it did with the clerk in 7-Eleven and the father in IHOP should have never let his phone play music so loud as to disturb others.