Today, I was at Clarendon’s Barnes and Noble in Arlington, Virginia perusing Seth Godin’s Purple Cow: Transforming your Business By Being Remarkable. There were fellow bookstore patrons also enjoying the quiet environs, when a guy sits down two seats from us and makes a phone call to his boss about spilling paint on the stage floor. I did not have an issue with his phone call, but I did have an issue with his volume. It was as if he sought out a quiet place to be loud. When I asked him to turn the volume down, he flicked me off.
If this has ever happened to you, please consider the following tips:
1. You are not alone. Enlist the aid of the people around you.
2. Be confrontational and repeat your request to keep the volume down. Applaud people who initialize a confrontation.
3. Stand next to him, uncomfortably close, and talk to him as loud as he is talking to the person on the other end.
3. Take a few seconds to get the context of the phone call. No need to interrupt a family emergency, but I used the knowledge of his spill, and that he was talking to his boss, against him. For example, my rant went something like this: “Perhaps if you weren’t such a jackass with the paint, you wouldn’t have to apologize to your boss… why are you on the phone in a bookstore rather than cleaning up your mess on the stage?”
4. Talk to the person on the other end of the line. Considering it was his boss, I stated “I don’t know why you would hire someone so rude.”
5. If you have a camera-phone and overtly take a picture of the offender.
6. Set-up a website called “RudeCellPhoneUsers.com” and post picture of the offender.
7. If you want to be a part of a movement, seek out rude cell-phone users and confront them as well.
8. Suggest that Barnes & Noble post “No Cell Phone Zones” signs with suggestions where people can use thier phones. Similarly, take the book you were reading to the cashier and tell them you are going to order from Amazon because you could not concentrate with all the noise. If enough people do this, at least you cost Barnes and Noble the it takes to reshelve the books.
9. Do not move from you location. Make them move. Suggest a place called “Outside.”
10. When the call is complete, let them know that they were being rude.
11. BONUS TIP: Take the moral high-ground, always be polite. I should not have called him a jackass (even if he was one).
Remember, you are not alone in feeling annoyed when people invade your personal space. If they invade yours, you are well within your right to invade theirs and even “contribute” to the conversation they are broadcasting. So, take this as a call to action against rude cellphone users to let both individuals and corporations know your distaste with this practice.
Also, to get a sense of our support for a popular movement, read what other people have had to say about rude cellphone users:
- Here’s another good resource about rude cellphone use from the Low Tech Times.
- Stealth Vengence on Rude Cellphone Users who advocates purchasing a cellphone jammer. WARNING: May be illegal in the US.
- The Basic Etiquette of Cell Phones
- E-How.com’s How to Deal With A Rude Cellphone User. My point of disagreement is to skip past the “glare” phase and be confrontational.
- DailyDalia is promoting Cell Booths as a 2008 Presidential Platform.
- USAToday, laughably suggests that loud cellphone users are not as obnoxious as cigarette smokers.
