I grew up around smokers… both parents smoked, and when he returned from serving in the Vietnam War my brother smoked, as well. When I went to work at a large newspaper, my boss smoked and I often had to travel with him or eat lunches out with him and tolerate the smoke. Back in the “old days,” dealing with second-hand smoke was just the price you paid for being nearly anywhere.
It was a great thing for us non-smokers when it became possible to find places with “no smoking” sections. Even then the smoke would drift over but it beat the heck out of the folks at the next table keeping a blue cloud over you.
The progression from smoke-filled restaurants to restaurants with no smoking sections to restaurants with no smoking allowed at all took years but was welcomed by those of us who had resisted the habit.
In today’s world it is now cell phone usage that has become the new smoking. I have never made it a secret that Twila and I eat out a lot… usually three to five times a week. And, sadly, it is an unusual evening when someone with a cell phone does not spoil all or at least part of our evening.
It is usually either someone who feels they are so important they just must take a call and carries on a loud and long conversation… especially if they do it on speaker… or equally rude and intrusive is one or more people watching loud videos on their phone. We were at a nice local restaurant recently where three guys were watching a ballgame on their phone with the sound all the way up. They were across the bar from where we were sitting… note this was NOT a sports bar but one of Bowling Green’s nicer eating establishments… and they paid no attention to the full bar of folks who were having trouble carrying on a conversation over the ballgame noise.
Yes… the restaurant management should have dealt with it… but I get it. In today’s competitive environment, nobody wants to make a customer mad. But what about those of us who left disappointed with our expensive meal and less-than-enjoyable evening?
Sadly, it seems too much to ask for people to be thoughtful of others and to have good, old-fashioned manners. It’s easy to understand that restaurant managers don’t want to have to be the bad guys. Why don’t we take a page from the smoking book and set up some “No Cell Phone Usage” sections in restaurants. Or maybe restaurants could give out free ear buds to those who just must use their phones. Of course, this wouldn’t help the loud mouths carrying on a conversation. When I feel I absolutely must take a call, I get up and go to the bathroom or outside… whichever is closer. Is that really too much to ask?
Until public places step up to protect the rights of those of us who are polite enough not to infringe on others with our phone, it seems we will just have to hope for the best. I wonder how much those cell phone jammers cost?
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