Blackberry manners

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nobbie48

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My wife was really p'd the other night when a dinner guest kept checking emails / texts on his Blackberry and I wasn't too far from her view. He wasn't police / fire / med.

If I'm talking to someone face-to-face and the phone rings, I glance at it to see who it is and hit "Forward to voice mail" unless I suspect an urgent situation. With a text chirp I wait for a lull in the conversation to check.

Is there a protocol? If a person starts checking emails in the middle of a conversation should everyone stop talking until they're through?
 
if i'm eating a meal at a table with other people, no phone, no electronics...it's just rude, and sometimes i forget that i'm even doing it...what i can't stand are people that call you twice just to ask you some mundane thing...i have voicemail for a reason...everyone has their priorities, but it's generall considered rude in my books...
 
Sigh ... I've been criticised for the same thing but, it *is* part of my job and no, I'm not police / fire /med ( I'm 'uber' tech for a major bank ).

PITA, my wife hates it (but loves the $) and it is habit forming, what's worse the em radiation is probably slowly giving me cancer but, the kids are fed and will have sufficient education to cope with the modern world.
 
+ 1 to the no phones at dinner, if someone calls I'll check it and drop it to voicemail. When I visit my parents during dinner I purposely leave the phone in the living room on silent. I fear my mothers and fathers wrath far more then what any other person can render. (and I'm almost 30).

With regards to texts/bbm's/emails and talking; I don't think they're is a steadfast rule I've heard of. However I consider it rude if I'm talking to you and you're crusing your berry like what I say isn't important enough for you to pay attention.

I usually wait for a lull or a break where I excuse myself. I know the defination of "urgent" can vary from person to person but, having someone hammer my phone with calls and texts to find out I'm free to hang out that night.....isn't urgent.
 
Is there a protocol for ANY sort of etiquette? Of course there is but so few people are polite anymore it's disturbing. Cell phones is just another way to show how common courtesy has gone by the wayside.

Worse is when they ask you to repeat what you were saying because they were too busy checking their bbm's or text messages.
 
CrazyKell said:
Is there a protocol for ANY sort of etiquette? Of course there is but so few people are polite anymore it's disturbing. Cell phones is just another way to show how common courtesy has gone by the wayside.

Worse is when they ask you to repeat what you were saying because they were too busy checking their bbm's or text messages.
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Exactly!
Don't ppl teach manners in school anymore? For me, things like that is a given. When u are talking to someone, u should be looking at them, not at your phone punching something in. The only exception is if your buddy is looking at the chick behind u, so u know there's a hot chick to look at. I love wearing sunglasses and u're gazing for the whole conversation to the hottie and buddy has no idea.

When someone start gravitating to their phone, I just walk away. I guess common human decency is a lost trait
 
I think it's pretty rude. I only do it if no one is talking to me (and then only glance for a second) or if the entire conversation is in a different language that I don't understand (happens all the time at my gf's place, they all speak Polish so I'll be the only one there out of 10 people that has no idea what is going on).
 
RockerGuy said:
Exactly!
Don't ppl teach manners at home anymore? For me, things like that is a given. When u are talking to someone, u should be looking at them, not at your phone punching something in. The only exception is if your buddy is looking at the chick behind u, so u know there's a hot chick to look at. I love wearing sunglasses and u're gazing for the whole conversation to the hottie and buddy has no idea.

When someone start gravitating to their phone, I just walk away. I guess common human decency is a lost trait
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Ftfy
 
I agree Rockerguy. Walk away and when they stop you and ask what you were saying, just say "It wasn't important......at least not to you."
 
Cell phones, gum chewing, spitting, hats on indoors, walking down the middle of the sidewalk at half the speed (and usually twice the width) of everyone else, bringing whining, noisy kids everywhere, store clerks who say 'no problem' instead of 'thank you for your business'....all part of the whole "the world revolves around me" mentality that seems so prevalent.

As far as cell phones and BlackBerrys go, a lot of jobs require availability outside of 9 to 5, so I don't fault anyone for looking when it goes off, but if it's not a time sensitive message, put it away until later.

Yet another benefit of taking long rides, I can't hear it ring and I can't look at it.:D
 
CanadianBiker said:
...bringing whining, noisy kids everywhere...
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I fricken hate it when I go out for dinner somewhere, generally a pub style place, trying to get my drink on, eat some nice food, and have some good conversation, and someone decided to skimp out on a babysitter and brought a pile of screaming brats to the pub. It's not a daycare. That's why I choose not to have kids. If you choose to, take them somewhere child-appropriate. Not a pub where they're just going to get bored, get into trouble (because they are bored), and piss me and everyone else off. Don't even get me started on the **** I see people let their bratty kids get away with (kicking strangers in the mall for one example).

Yeah, I know I was a kid once, too. And that's why my parents have no friends and never went to bars/pubs, lol.
 
CanadianBiker said:
As far as cell phones and BlackBerrys go, a lot of jobs require availability outside of 9 to 5, so I don't fault anyone for looking when it goes off, but if it's not a time sensitive message, put it away until later.
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I think a lot of people set a precedent for their availability by allowing themselves to be available at all hours. There's nothing wrong with being available outside of 9-5, but it doesn't mean you have to jump every time they say how high.
 
unL33T said:
I fricken hate it when I go out for dinner somewhere, generally a pub style place, trying to get my drink on, eat some nice food, and have some good conversation, and someone decided to skimp out on a babysitter and brought a pile of screaming brats to the pub. It's not a daycare. That's why I choose not to have kids. If you choose to, take them somewhere child-appropriate. Not a pub where they're just going to get bored, get into trouble (because they are bored), and piss me and everyone else off. Don't even get me started on the **** I see people let their bratty kids get away with (kicking strangers in the mall for one example).

Yeah, I know I was a kid once, too. And that's why my parents have no friends and never went to bars/pubs, lol.
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A whole other topic!
 
CanadianBiker said:
Cell phones, gum chewing, spitting, hats on indoors, walking down the middle of the sidewalk at half the speed (and usually twice the width) of everyone else, bringing whining, noisy kids everywhere, store clerks who say 'no problem' instead of 'thank you for your business'....all part of the whole "the world revolves around me" mentality that seems so prevalent.

As far as cell phones and BlackBerrys go, a lot of jobs require availability outside of 9 to 5, so I don't fault anyone for looking when it goes off, but if it's not a time sensitive message, put it away until later.

Yet another benefit of taking long rides, I can't hear it ring and I can't look at it.:D
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Some of your points are debatable, I say no problem all the time. I would not see the difference if someone were to use it.

And as for jobs that require an outside 9-5, all u have to say is excuse me. I don't mind if u say excuse, but it ticks me off when ppl thinks you're invisible.

unL33T said:
I see people let their bratty kids get away with (kicking strangers in the mall for one example).
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Wait 'til they start kicking your chairs at the theater :D
 
Ahhhh kids. Got four of them myself. One of them thought they could get away with acting up in a store because we wouldn't be able to do anything to them in public. I picked him up and carried him screaming to the car while my wife continued shopping with the other three. Having to listen to me lecture him for the duration of her shopping made for a very unhappy camper. He behaved in public after he learned that I didn't take his BS.
 
Lyndsay said:
Ahhhh kids. Got four of them myself. One of them thought they could get away with acting up in a store because we wouldn't be able to do anything to them in public. I picked him up and carried him screaming to the car while my wife continued shopping with the other three. Having to listen to me lecture him for the duration of her shopping made for a very unhappy camper. He behaved in public after he learned that I didn't take his BS.
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I was working at a restaurant once and I saw a well cultured family. Then I started talking to the parents and just commented, your kids are well behaved, they sit on the table and finish their dinner not like the other kids I get to see around here. Then the lady responded "They better behave or else they know what happens when they get home". I immediately LOL'ed
 
Meh..why talk to someone who's messing with their phone..just walk away..
 
CrazyKell said:
I think a lot of people set a precedent for their availability by allowing themselves to be available at all hours. There's nothing wrong with being available outside of 9-5, but it doesn't mean you have to jump every time they say how high.
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No, some jobs just require it. And yes, if you're responsible for addressing critical failures outside of regular hours and a client calls, you do jump. It's what they're paying for and what you agreed to when you took the job.
 
CanadianBiker said:
No, some jobs just require it. And yes, if you're responsible for addressing critical failures outside of regular hours and a client calls, you do jump. It's what they're paying for and what you agreed to when you took the job.
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I think you missed the point of my post where I said "a lot of people" not "everyone". ;)

But like someone else said, there's nothing wrong with saying "excuse me" if you're one of those people that has to "jump".
 
RockerGuy said:
Some of your points are debatable, I say no problem all the time. I would not see the difference if someone were to use it.
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I respectfully disagree.

Clerk: That will be $17.95, please.
Me (handing money): Here's 20.
Clerk: $2.05 change
Me: Thank you
Clerk: No problem

No problem? No problem?!? Of course there's no problem, it's your fricking job! A job you only have because I came in and spent MY money so this place could employ YOUR ill-mannered, ungrateful butt.

It's not a sign of the apocalypse but the lack of manners and general social grace is the top of a slippery slope.
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