Tongue in Cheek But true
That's why I said, 'just for fun' - it is an interesting set of notions about technological imperatives that are swirling about. Me, hell I'm totally OG when it comes to that stuff. I leave my phone on my desk at work and will not answer it, check it - nothing - until break time - or more usually lunch.* And I make no secret of the fact that one of the reasons I'm telling people to get off the phone and do the work they are being paid for is because I get to be some form of 'the boss' because I"M NOT ON THE F**** PHONE ALL THE DAMN TIME.
And when I'm out and about, you pretty much have to be my GF or the union hall if you want me to answer the thing and talk into it. So I doubt I've ever been so rude as to hold up a line because I'm on the phone. Actually in day to day practice I am - as a friend of mine once said - "ruthlessly polite'. Not because I'm a good person (I'm not). But because being extremely polite is by far the easiest and best way to make other people do what you want them to do. I pretty much save up all my rudeness to unload on people who do one thing (and it's something I've had to put up with for 40 years so my response is carefully crafted and rehearsed and practiced to the point that it looks completely spontaneous), and that's look me in the face and say: Don't you know who I am? Whenever that happens hilarity ensues (for everyone except the person who said it).
Of course Cindy, you and I are of a tender age - awe hell, we're really old - and not tuned into this modern now a go-go world in which we live. That, and you are blessed by your position (as I am with mine) with the ability (leisure really) to make that choice. Sadly, many today are not - they are forced to always be available, on call, in touch and all that. I'm sure it sucks to be them too. But it's hard, people are trained to answer - like Pavlov's Dog - no matter what. It took a long time to train myself through a lot of reverse conditioning to be able to sit in peace while a phone was ringing. But it took a horrible and terrible lesson to get there. Toward the end of college - when I was still all into being a modern guy, that 'self-starter' that 'go to person', that person who had to answer every call no matter what... - I (and for better or worse I can still picture this moment like it was yesterday) I was banging this really hot babe who I had been trying for the better part of four years to nail and right in the middle of giving her the best that I had, the phone rings and I pick it up... Can you say "not impressed"? Not just coitus interruptus, it was flat out - coitus never again if you were the last person on earth, I mean really, did you just answer the phone? REALLY? (in my defense I didn't miss a beat, now we'd just call that mulit-tasking)
But that is increasingly a luxury that few can afford.
I will give the smart phones this much - I do love how you can program calling group and give people individual ringtones so that you know who is calling without having to check, or worse - be unpleasantly surprised. And if they are annoying enough -and you people know who you are - you can as someone above stated, program the sucker so that persons calls to go straight to voice mail, the modern equivalent of oblivion.
Beth, that may well be true where you are, but when I see these 24 hour a day phone people (and of course, get to listen to at least half the conversation) they are not on what used to be colorfully referred to as 'a personal phone call'. And they are not - self-important boobs - they are pretty important boobs. The two-thousand dollar suit with the $120 Italian silk tie or scarf are dead giveaways. Under all the hippie-dippy, Victorian houses and sourdough bread it turns out San Francisco is the financial capital of the Pacific Rim, the venture capital capital of the world, one of the world's largest corporate headquarters, and ground zero for most of the stuff that we're talking about here. A whole lot of what goes on here in the Bay Area is basically inventing the future. When they release their 'new and improved and updated' phone, like Apple did last week, they do it a couple of blocks from where I work in a lavish - read: decadent - multi-million dollar event/party/launch. And since the phone sold over $5 million on the first day alone, I see the reasoning there. So that 'self-important' boob is, in fact, a lawyer, stockbroker, big corporate (you know, corporate like Intel, Apple, Bank of America, Chevron) manager, and what they are talking about is worth a whole lot more money - to themselves and lots of other people too - then the price of the items there on the counter.
Oh yeah, and about that whatever the latest drama is in Hollywood. Do you realize - and I say it because most people don't - that 'arts and entertainment' is the second largest American export, coming in behind food/agriculture, but well ahead of weapons, technology, automobiles, pet rocks, and all the other stuff we export. SECOND, out of everything else. So that 'latest drama' is, in fact, worth millions, billions, trillions. And it's also the largest US employer in terms of payroll. Simply put, more people make more money in arts and entertainment than in any other economic sector. In LA, where Hollywoodland actually is, they don't call it "Hollywood" - they refer to it simply as 'The Industry.' But hey, go ahead and make light of it, that is, after all what you've been told to do. If the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn't exist, then the greatest bit of fictional entertainment is convincing everyone else that it's not work, and it's not serious.
* - I already have - because the first thing I do when I get to work is strap the very tool of the devil on - a radio sitting a few inches from my ear so that all the bosses, managers, idiots et.all at work can reach out and touch me whenever they feel the need, and that's more than enough annoyance/interruption for any one day, without putting everyone else in the world in the que too.
