Cell Phones

I love my cell phone. Chances are, I hate yours.


I'm all about technology. I love the little gadgets that make life a little easier. I love the digital age and all the shit your have to buy to participate. I've owned palm pilots, iPods, laptops, ebook readers, cameras, GPS, and tons of other shit with touch screens. I buy and sell electronic devices more often then Liquid Planet hires new employees. All I can say is...the cell phone thing is out of control.

The Mighty Travis' Suggestions for NOT being the asshole of society:

A. Your friend's joke wasn't that funny, stop laughing so hard.
B. I know that it's cold out, why are you telling me?
C. Your cell phone is not like the phone you grew up with.

Just a few years ago, when you heard the phone ring, you arose from the couch, answered the phone and had a conversation with your friend or family member while in the privacy of your own home. Since the telephone doesn't include a studio quality microphone and speakers, both parties spoke quite loudly so you didn't have to keep saying "what" or repeating yourself. You also talked about everything from the tedious and boring to the most disgusting and unreasonable, because it is a private conversation being shared by 2 consenting adults. The only difference between that phone and your cell phone is that you are now screaming to your friend about how pads with wings really are better while I'm sitting here trying to enjoy my razzleberry pie and coffee. I cannot stand to hear the bullshit that husbands and wives say to each other during the "please let this all end, make sure to pick up the dry cleaning" phone call. I actually don't want to hear those conversations so badly, that I don't break into your home and hide naked behind your shower curtain and spy on you. I'm doing you a favor. So why in the fuck do you choose to bring that phone call to me. I'm talking about the stupid college blond, squawking about how she got so drunk that she didn't mind having 3 dicks in her the night before. I'm talking about the guy who thinks the world is his office and that nobody minds him yelling about his roofing business. What about the kid who must do the "wander-stumble-sideways-backwards-one-footed-touch-everything-I-think-I'm-alone-because-I'm-on-the-phone-dance" right in front of the deposit slips at the bank. Do you ride your bike in your house? No? Really? You mean you never rode your bike in the kitchen while talking on the phone? So what made you think it is OK to talk to your sister while you swerve in and out of the bike lane? Are you really that busy and get so many calls that you can't stand in line at the cashier and not scream about your last doctor's visit? Why are your arms so tired that you need that stupid-ass bluetooth headset hanging off your ear? So you can drive safely? So you can order your McDonald's latte and still talk on the phone? How did industry, business, and boring-daily-family-affairs ever get taken care of before the cell phone? For you big-purse-carrying-the-world-on-my-shoulder-with-cute-straps-ladies...you have a decision to make. You can either carry the phone in your pocket with the vibrate on or turn it off and leave it in the bag. Because if I have to hear the shitty ringtone version of "I Will Survive" while you rummage through your "tote of denial", I will set you on fire with the magnifying glass, tissue, and hairspray you found during the second verse. Your call from Mary-Kay-Avon-Arbonne-Pampered-Chef can wait.

I'm no king of etiquette, but if the call is so goddamn important, answer with a quiet, "Hi, just one second" and either call them back or excuse yourself to the sidewalk or your car. Heaven forbid you miss a call from your buddy who was asshole enough to call when he only had 2 minutes spare.

The best thing about technology making things smaller and more portable is people being able to take their hobbies into public. I hope the coffee shops enjoy some of my really intense drum solos.