The even randomer thread

[PASabreFan]

I really don't understand why this should be the case, but someone talking on a cell phone in public bothers me infinitely more than two people in the same public space having a conversation.

It doesn't bother me. But it bothering you bothers me. I honestly don't think it's any more complicated than cognitive dissonance (?)  -- you can't hear the other end of the conversation and your brain starts protesting. I guarantee if the speaker were on, you'd be as gruntled as can be.

[biodork]

It doesn't bother me. But it bothering you bothers me. I honestly don't think it's any more complicated than cognitive dissonance (?)  -- you can't hear the other end of the conversation and your brain starts protesting. I guarantee if the speaker were on, you'd be as gruntled as can be.

Ugh cell phone conversations in public on speaker phone are the WORST... partially because most cell phone speakers are terrible quality, but also just the obnoxiousness of it.  And again I have no idea why this bothers me more than two people talking to one another in person.  :/

[darksabre]

I really don't understand why this should be the case, but someone talking on a cell phone in public bothers me infinitely more than two people in the same public space having a conversation.

I think it's usually because the person having the cell phone conversation is just always a giant douche talking about nothing important. It's never someone politely having a quiet conversation about an emergency their kid is having at school.

 

It's Aaron the health insurance salesman bro talking as loudly as possible to his boi Josh about golf. 

[josie]

Ugh cell phone conversations in public on speaker phone are the WORST... partially because most cell phone speakers are terrible quality, but also just the obnoxiousness of it.  And again I have no idea why this bothers me more than two people talking to one another in person.  :/

I think it depends on the location, but usually when I notice it, it's someone shout-talking into the phone in what seems like an effort to be noticed, hollering business/important-ish sounding advice and buzzwords. My dad is guilty of this. His volume increases like 400% and he loudly laughs, business business business, and it's really pretty embarrassing. Especially since he's usually a pretty soft spoken man, if he speaks at all. Putting on a show, really. 

 

That and I think your ears hear half a convo/answering cues and you aren't actually hearing the responses, and part of you feels involved although you aren't. Maybe? 

I think it's usually because the person having the cell phone conversation is just always a giant douche talking about nothing important. It's never someone politely having a quiet conversation about an emergency their kid is having at school.

 

It's Aaron the health insurance salesman bro talking as loudly as possible to his boi Josh about golf. 

lol get out of my head 

[biodork]

I think it's usually because the person having the cell phone conversation is just always a giant douche talking about nothing important. It's never someone politely having a quiet conversation about an emergency their kid is having at school.

 

It's Aaron the health insurance salesman bro talking as loudly as possible to his boi Josh about golf. 

 

 

I think it depends on the location, but usually when I notice it, it's someone shout-talking into the phone in what seems like an effort to be noticed, hollering business/important-ish sounding advice and buzzwords. My dad is guilty of this. His volume increases like 400% and he loudly laughs, business business business, and it's really pretty embarrassing. Especially since he's usually a pretty soft spoken man, if he speaks at all. Putting on a show, really. 

 

That and I think your ears hear half a convo/answering cues and you aren't actually hearing the responses, and part of you feels involved although you aren't. Maybe? 

lol get out of my head 

These have the ring of truth!

[inkman]

I think it's usually because the person having the cell phone conversation is just always a giant douche talking about nothing important. It's never someone politely having a quiet conversation about an emergency their kid is having at school.

 

It's Aaron the health insurance salesman bro talking as loudly as possible to his boi Josh about golf.

For me it's a volume thing. I don't understand people's insistence on screaming into their phones.

[ubkev]

For me it's a volume thing. I don't understand people's insistence on screaming into their phones.

I never want anyone to hear what I'm telling someone else. Even if it's nothing important. Eavesdroppers! Nonyabidness!

 

Does anyone else have the inability to remain still while on the phone? I make a call to, say, my mom. I'm up and wandering the house in about 30 seconds. I receive a call from anyone and I go where others can't hear my conversation about whatever parts my car needs, or am I interested in refinancing. You'd think I were up to something. I never am.

[inkman]

I never want anyone to hear what I'm telling someone else. Even if it's nothing important. Eavesdroppers! Nonyabidness!

 

Does anyone else have the inability to remain still while on the phone? I make a call to, say, my mom. I'm up and wandering the house in about 30 seconds. I receive a call from anyone and I go where others can't hear my conversation about whatever parts my car needs, or am I interested in refinancing. You'd think I were up to something. I never am.

Samsies. I pace like someone who is standing outside of a locked stall after eating a pack of exlax.

[SwampD]

I just sat there with my hands on the keyboard, staring blankly at the screen.

 

I think I finished the internet.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

RIP ...

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/billy-graham-dies-evangelist-1.4544809

 

I am not big on Evangelicals of any Religion, but he was different than most.

[That Aud Smell]

I really don't understand why this should be the case, but someone talking on a cell phone in public bothers me infinitely more than two people in the same public space having a conversation.

 

Gah!

 

I would totally watch a 2-hour NOVA special on precisely why this activity makes me feel a form of visceral rage.

 

It doesn't bother me. But it bothering you bothers me. I honestly don't think it's any more complicated than cognitive dissonance (?)  -- you can't hear the other end of the conversation and your brain starts protesting. I guarantee if the speaker were on, you'd be as gruntled as can be.

 

There's something to the cognitive dissonance element, but I would say that the situation is not improved if the call goes to speaker.

 

I do wonder: Are teenagers/college aged kids bothered by these cell phone calls in the same way I am? Maybe the reaction is tied to experience rooted in past times. 

 

I think it's usually because the person having the cell phone conversation is just always a giant douche talking about nothing important. It's never someone politely having a quiet conversation about an emergency their kid is having at school.

 

It's Aaron the health insurance salesman bro talking as loudly as possible to his boi Josh about golf. 

 

There's a lot of this, for sure.

 

I think it depends on the location, but usually when I notice it, it's someone shout-talking into the phone in what seems like an effort to be noticed, hollering business/important-ish sounding advice and buzzwords. My dad is guilty of this. His volume increases like 400% and he loudly laughs, business business business, and it's really pretty embarrassing. Especially since he's usually a pretty soft spoken man, if he speaks at all. Putting on a show, really. 

 

That and I think your ears hear half a convo/answering cues and you aren't actually hearing the responses, and part of you feels involved although you aren't. Maybe? 

 

And a lot of the show-off business conversation too.

 

But it's not limited to that, for me. There was a woman sitting near me in a public setting a couple weeks back who was just chatting in a fairly normal tone and volume with someone about what people from their shared community were up to (I could not tell if they were former co-workers, neighbours, alumnae of the same institution, etc.). It was the very definition of idle chit-chat. ("Oh yeah, her son was playing with Tommy on that indoor soccer team until the season was canceled . . . No, I had not. . . . Did they get a contractor to do it? . . . I remember her saying it looked old when they bought it. . . . Yeah, and there's a Trader Joe's there now too. . . . Hahaha - SHUT UP. . . . He is such a punk.").

 

I wanted to defenestrate this woman.

 

For me it's a volume thing. I don't understand people's insistence on screaming into their phones.

 

It is often an aggravating factor.

[nfreeman]

Ugh cell phone conversations in public on speaker phone are the WORST... partially because most cell phone speakers are terrible quality, but also just the obnoxiousness of it.  And again I have no idea why this bothers me more than two people talking to one another in person.  :/

 

I find the speakerphone conversation on a cell phone while walking around in public deeply annoying and also very strange.  What in the world is the purpose of doing this? 

[TrueBlueGED]

There is nothing I hate more than people talking on bluetooth devices in public. At least with the physical phone out I can tell they're not talking to me.

[SwampD]

We are the Borg.

[PASabreFan]

We are the Borg.

We were bjorn to it.

[That Aud Smell]

There is nothing I hate more than people talking on bluetooth devices in public. At least with the physical phone out I can tell they're not talking to me.

 

I can't count the number of times I've mistaken a sane person for a debilitated schizophrenic because of those damn things. 

[inkman]

I can't count the number of times I've mistaken a sane person for a debilitated schizophrenic because of those damn things.

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude my dumb ass starts having a conversation with the jack wagon only realizing 5 seconds into it they aren't talking to me with poor eye contact, they are on the damn blue tooth. How long ago did using Bluetooth outside of your car become stupid? Five years? Ten?

[Doohickie]

There is nothing I hate more than people talking on bluetooth devices in public. At least with the physical phone out I can tell they're not talking to me.

 

When the do it in the bathroom I make a point of flushing when they're talking just to make sure the other side knows where the person is talking to them from.

[That Aud Smell]

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude my dumb ass starts having a conversation with the jack wagon only realizing 5 seconds into it they aren't talking to me with poor eye contact, they are on the damn blue tooth. How long ago did using Bluetooth outside of your car become stupid? Five years? Ten?

 

Years gone by, I was a little bit on edge during a family vacation to Disney (that place is fun, but it has a way of doing that to a person), and I was just re-collecting myself after successfully getting me and several kids to our fast pass lane right before our tickets expired (for whatever the new "it" ride was), and this guy and his teenage daughter sally in behind us, they were there in plenty of time and were as breezy as you like. The guy looked like a less jolly John Candy - but not nearly as tall. Anyway, they're there for 3 or 4 seconds, and I'm admonishing one of my kids for something (probably antagonizing another one of the kids), and with weirdly apt timing, the guy says to me: "Look, man. I *told* you ... shove it up your ass."

 

I am *so* not a beefy or fight picking guy. But I was in a moment. I turned around on this guy with a look on my face that my then 3 year-old called "scary."

 

The mix-up was pretty quickly resolved, and the guy was mildly apologetic -- mostly for using crass language in front of my little kids.

[Taro T]

I find the speakerphone conversation on a cell phone while walking around in public deeply annoying and also very strange.  What in the world is the purpose of doing this?

 

If you are using the phone in speaker phone mode your ear doesn't accidentally hang up on the other party.

[BagBoy]

For me it's a volume thing. I don't understand people's insistence on screaming into their phones.

 

 

start at 0:24 to skip the intro.

[inkman]

 

start at 0:24 to skip the intro.

Nice. How dare you insist I skip Elastic. love that . :)

[Wyldnwoody44]

Sooo, I'm in Vegas until Sunday, they play at home tomorrow against Vancouver.... Do I shell out 90 bucks a ticket to see them???? Helpppppp

[BagBoy]

Sooo, I'm in Vegas until Sunday, they play at home tomorrow against Vancouver.... Do I shell out 90 bucks a ticket to see them???? Helpppppp

 

I would.  Inaugural season, and an historic one at that.  Ultimately you're probably more likely to regret not going than parting with $90.

[Taro T]

Sooo, I'm in Vegas until Sunday, they play at home tomorrow against Vancouver.... Do I shell out 90 bucks a ticket to see them???? Helpppppp

Why not? That'd be, what, 1 more cooch you have to look at when you get back? ;)