Can You Hear Me Now??!

After a three-day hiatus, today I triumphantly returned to 24 Hour Fitness for my usual Thursday workout. I have a good excuse as I was not slacking for those three days just for the sake of slacking. A business partner was in town so I had dinner both Tuesday and Wednesday with him.

Anyhow, back to the title of this post. Today as I was walking into the gym, my eye caught site of this gal pulling into the parking lot with her cell phone glued to her ear. She wasn't anything special to look at so I am not really sure why I noticed her. As I finished some quick stretching, I saw her walk in (still talking on the phone) and down to the locker room area. About 5 mintues into the cardio portion of my workout, she passed by me on her way to the elliptical rider. Again, she was still engrossed in her obviously important cell phone conversation. At this point, I became intrigued. What could possbily be so important? I checked on her as I finished my 20-minute routine and sure enough, she was still on the phone all the while steadily bouncing away at her chosen exercise.

I spent another 20 minutes or so downstairs and then about 5 minutes on my abs before I left. When I walked by this girl, she was still on her phone. According to my estimate, she had been talking for at least 45 minutes. Granted she was sweating away doing her exercise, but why couldn't she get off the phone? What possesses a seemingly normal (albeit short and stubby) human being to act in such an odd way?

When cordless phone were first introduced, did we have this same problem? Did we go out of our way to make calls while sitting on the toilet just so we could say "Hey! Guess where I'm calling from!"?

Jaclyn's theory is that since cell phones are a relativly new technology and the proliferation of them has been so sudden, there have not been rules defined when it comes to manners and cell phone usage. I have seen some restaurants take this problem into their own hands and offer cell-phone-free seating. I have even seen signs informing patrons there is to be no cell phone usage in the dining area. At a pizza place, I saw a sign that read "Please end all cell phone conversations before ordering".

Unless it is something that cannot wait, please think twice before pulling that vexing little gadget out while you are in a public place. The person you annoy just may be me.