Turn It Off!!!

Are there some places where you just should not carry on a cell phone conversation?  Are there some people who have absolutely no sense of privacy or shame?  If the answer to this question were "no," would I be writing this?  

I entered the ladies' room in a Marriott hotel the other evening and saw a woman with a cell phone pasted to her ear.  She was apparently in the middle of a conversation but told her caller, "Hold on a minute, I have to go to the bathroom."  Now, at this juncture, I would have hung up the phone and called back after I had finished in the ladies' room. Not this woman, though! She went into a stall and then proceeded with her conversation! 

Imagine what the person on the other end of the phone must have thought as he/she was treated to sounds of women eliminating, toilets flushing, and water running while trying to converse with this woman! YUCK! To add to the weirdness, it seemed to be a business call.  I overheard the woman saying things like, "What was that last transaction again? How much? What about the other loan?" Much repeating was apparently necessary on both ends of the conversation due to the noise in the restroom (hey, ladies, can you keep that toilet flushing down, please, I'm trying to make a business call here?!!)

People seem to think they're surrounded by a cloak of privacy when they're on their cell phones.  They behave as if they're invisible to those around them and that their activities aren't apparent to whoever is on the other end of the phone.  They'll even go so far as giving a dirty look to someone they catch listening to them.  NEWS BULLETIN!!! Everyone is listening!  If you're going to air your business in public, have the courtesy to make it interesting for the rest of us!  No one wants to listen to your financial transactions while we're in the ladies' room! We want drama! Let's hear about your affairs, your husband's perversions, your children's addictions.  Let's hear some dirty, little secret that we can tell our friends at a party!

And as for the woman who thought it was appropriate to discuss her money matters in the restroom at the Marriott last Friday evening, I hope your finances and your cell phone go down the toilet!