Shut UP!!!

My darling husband and I went to lunch together yesterday at San Sushi II in Towson. We came in from the freezing cold to  be seated at a cozy corner table. We ordered hot tea and soup and were soon sipping the warmth. It was lunch time and the place was pretty crowded but being seated in the sushi bar area is not too noisy as the padded walls absorb so much of the sound. There were two business men having lunch behind us. I hardly noticed them as they were not the type to yell their conversation, rather they sat conversing in quiet tones. Frank and I were having a nice quiet conversation of our own. 

And then, the loudest most obnoxious ring tone was heard. I wasn't sure where it was coming from at first as no one was moving to answer it. Then, slowly business man #1 dipped into his pleated khaki pocket and drew out the still-ringing phone. He looked at it and said,"Ugh." He continued looking at it as it continued it's nerve-jangling sound. He finally decided to answer it on the 5th ring. But the noise did not stop there. Oh no. He took on a completely different vocal quality from his conversation with his dining partner. I'm pretty sure the guys in the kitchen could hear him over the clanging and banging of pots and pans. He informed his caller that he was at lunch and I thought that would perhaps be the end of it. But he kept on talking. The conversation was not about any emergency. Children were not dying and he certainly was not a brain surgeon needed back at the hospital stat. He was making arrangements to watch a movie with this person later. And he would be sure to call him back as soon as lunch was over and he got back to his office so they could firm up their plans because that's what he was doing. "Yeah, I'm going back to the office. Are you going to be around? OK I'll call you when I get back to my office."

Maybe I was supposed to be impressed that he had an office. I'm not really sure. But I couldn't wait for him to get off the phone. He was talking so loudly that Frank and I were unable to continue our conversation. It was terribly distracting. Then, after a few assurances of calling back later. He hung up. He and businessman #2 chuckled a little about the caller and then went right back to a normal toned conversation. Which was great as Frank and I were then able to continue our conversation. Of course, I was inclined to talk about how irritating it is when people talk so loudly on their phones. And how annoying it is that people don't put their phones on vibrate when in a restaurant. And how I can't understand why people don't just ignore the call. 

I have been in the situation before where I've needed to use the phone when in a public place. If I can't ignore it, I excuse myself and go to an anteroom or outside. And if I were to answer in a restaurant at the table, I would certainly do so in the quietest tone I could. I don't really have a problem with people talking on their phones in public. My real problem is why they feel the need to raise their voice to talk. It's a phone, right next to the mouth. No yelling is really necessary.  I could understand if the phone were across the room. But it's right there connected to your face!!!!

Phew. I'm glad I have this forum to vent about things that piss me off. So, when I rule the world there will be punishments for people who use heir phones in a rude manner. It will be completely acceptable for me to do what I wanted to do when BM#1 answered him phone: Take his phone, hang up the call and yell,"Shut up." in his face. Perhaps it will even be legal to confiscate the phone of an obnoxious user. Kind of a modern-day stock. The offender will be publicly humiliated, condemned by his peers and unable to offend again without the cost of replacing the phone. I think that it would only take one confiscation to make someone really think long and hard about answering and talking loudly. Ah, I can dream can't I?