Once again, I am forced to admit technology is amazing,
truly amazing. People, however, are
not. They definitely amaze, but not in a
good way. They adapt well to technology,
and make it part of their lives. They
bring it into every part of their lives, including the bathroom.
I find it pretty disconcerting when I enter a public
bathroom and hear someone talking on a cell phone. I really don't think that is the place to
make a call. It isn't the acoustics
either, it just seems like a point of etiquette.
It might be an old joke, but men are not supposed to talk in
the bathroom. Stare straight ahead, take
care of business, wash your hands (yes, I believe in that religiously and so
should everyone) and get out. It is
supposed to be a time of sombre reflection, or at least quiet
deliberation. I don't think somebody
yammering on about something should interfere with that.
Forget my peace and quiet for a moment. What is the person on the other end of the
call thinking? They must be wondering
why this person chose that specific moment to call them. They can't feel too valued, can they? Today, a person flushed in the middle of his
call. There is no way someone would miss
that, is there? Usually when I come
across this scene I try to flush as often as possible, and use as many hand
driers as I can. This is
environmentally unfriendly, but some sacrifices must be made if decorum is to
be established.
There was a very good TV commercial on that dealt with this
over attention to one's cell phone. The
tag line, after people ignored their children, ignored their lingerie clad
partner, and dropped their cell phone in the urinal, was
"Really?". I could only nod my
head in agreement.
I'll never forget when you was my teacher and there was a student called Omar from Saudi Arabia I think. He was always dressed up like hip hop style.
ReplyDeleteAnd he was always useing his cell phone, sending messages to someone every time and you told him that if he doesn't turn off the cell phone you would throw it (the cell phone or Omar) outside the window. You said that very calm I thought, but I think you was very angry about that... and now, looking at this post, I'm sure that you were really angry. Hehe
Omar and a Brazilian guy who used to use GAP caps and sweaters, that one day he said he has five equal GAP caps because if someone steal him, he will has four more caps.
sometimes I feel shame of the people of my country, but I think we have to feel shame of the human being in general.