Unbelievable: a restaurant employee on the cell phone!

I hate the new behaviors people adopt with their cell phone. You know, going to the video store, trying to choose a video, only to hear the girl next to you in the aisle scream "They've got Transporter 3 - it's with Jason Stantham. Or they've got ..." and basically running through the whole store worth of video titles and actors while you're trying to pick your movie.

One of the worse thing is when you go out on a relaxing dinner with friends or your better half, and someone is screaming into their phone.

Oh and another one: one day I had to tell someone to "please hang up?" - the guy was having a lengthy conversation in a MOVIE THEATER!! In the middle of the movie. Come on.

Well the other day I experienced something that I felt was a new low: me and a bunch of friends go out to lunch. The hostess seats us, and someone (I think she was the manager, or a hostess or something, not sure) brings bread.... while talking on her cell phone!!

My jaw dropped.

If you permit it, they will do it to excess. My place policy NO CELL PHONES ALLOWED.
End of story. No ear phones allowed either.

That's the way it should be in most places, at least for dinner. You know even when I go to a business lunch or dinner and have a call I absolutely have to take, I get up, go outside and take the call. When I'm done I go back to the restaurant. I just don't want everyone at the table hearing my conversation anyway!

Reminds me of a time my dear one was working in Mt Isa in outback queensland.....he would often sit in McD's with coffee of a morning to catch up on paperwork.

Thing was, he had one of those tiny ear phones, he'd answer a call, and sit talking. People thought he was mad. Looked like he was just sitting there talking to himself, as the phone was nearly invisible. People would move tables to get away from the crazy guy, or some brave soul would come over and ask if he was ok and needed a doctor. Good grief.

I agree with the others - no annoying mobiles where they are not acceptable. It's inconsiderate to say the least.

Ha ha I really hate cell phones, even though I own one I "forget" to take it out with me most of the time. There is nothing worse than being in somebodys company who is continually taking calls. Rude, rude, rude. I was once served in a shop by a girl who was talking on her phone, she scanned the items, packed them and took my money without saying a word to me, that's service for you :lol:

Before I was married, I would be insulted if my date answered a call. I would never tolerate that kind of impulsiveness on my time. Even now that we've been married for a couple of years we still never answer the phone while we're at dinner together. Likewise for friends.

What I hate hate hate is when you walk up to a service counter like at a bookstore and sales associate answers the phone while I'm asking a question and then makes ME wait while they help the person on the phone.

The cell phone thing has gotten so out of hand that people who object to them are now considered to be in the wrong.

It got to the point where I preceed any presentation I make with words to the effect that while I'm a laid-back guy, the sound of a cell phone turns me into a raving lunatic. So everyone would be wise to turn their's off.

So, I'm giving a presentation on heirloom veggies, and had given my spiel. Halfway through it some idiot's phone goes off. I answers it, and starts talking on the phone. Naturally, I made a comment about it. Some other guy gets up and leaves, loudly proclaiming that he wouldn't listen to anyone (meaning me) who was that rude.

Let's see. I'm there to share knowledge. There's 20 or so people who want to hear what I have to say. Somebody, who had already been warned to turn his phone off, thought it didn't apply to him. His phone intruded on the whole group. And I was the rude one.

Only thing worse was the idiot who came to my son's wedding and didn't turn his phone off. It rang twice during the ceremoney. Once could have been an accident. But anyone with the brains God gave a turnip would have turned it off after that---except that person obviously didn't care. His phone calls were so crucial he didn't mind interferring with the most important day of my dil's life.

Lord, do I hate those things.

I agree with all of the above except the video store comment. I think that IS a most appropriate use of cell phone. :D

I was at McD's with a friend to satisfy a horrible late night craving (Oh, come on now don't tell me it never happens to you! ) and the french fry girl was texting away then touching my food, and I thought of how absolutely filthy that phone must be. Why don't you handle my money too, it's probably cleaner than that electronic Q-Tip!

Once in a while I'll do talks at various events and a cell phone rings and some idiot actually answers. I stop, smile and wait for the call to be over. Because I'm so polite (artifically so), they usually get the point and it doesn't happen again. Next thing I know everyone is checking their cell phones. But then again, we're Canadian up here! ;)

When I'm teaching class, I stop dead and stare at any student whose phone rings. Everyone turns and looks. The student will be desperately digging for the phone to shut it off, getting redder and redder in the face. When the noise stops, I keep going more or less as though nothing had happened. I also put "TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE!" on the syllabus in boldface, which helps minimally.

I can't say the video store thing is on my radar, because I don't frequent them, but I do get irritated by the supermarket version. "Honey, do we need eggs? Uh huh. How about butter? Milk?" and on and on through the whole store. I can see one or two things, sure: you spot a good price on something and aren't sure if you already have a bunch, so you check. But can't you make a shopping list for most things? :cry:

I'm bracing myself for the end of my sabbatical year in Japan. Everyone here has and adores cell phones, but over the last decade some standard etiquette has developed. You don't use them in restaurants, although it's OK in fast food joints. You don't use them while interacting with an actual human being -- thus you can yap on your phone while you wait in the supermarket checkout line, but when you get to the register you stop. They're forbidden on most public transportation, except for inter-city trains, and there you're supposed to use them only in the separated-off spaces at the joins between cars, although you can text-message to your heart's content wherever. All this means that cell phones are ubiquitous in Japan, but really not all that intrusive or annoying.

It's a never ending source of amusement to me how certain etiquitte evolves.

So, if I'm in Kyoto, eating at a McDonalds, my privacy doesn't count? Any slob at the next table can intrude with a ringing (is that the right word, considering some of the "ring tones" that are being downloaded) phone and loud conversation. But if I move upwards one step, to a casual dining place, then phones are considered impolite.

Me, I don't see any difference.

Of course, phone ettiquite is an all but lost artform anyway. F'rinstance, how come people who complain about companies putting them on hold have no problem, while talking to somebody, saying, "hold on a sec. There's a call on my other line."?

To my way of thinking, that's one of the rudest things you can do. What you're saying is, "you're not as important to me as this incoming call, so you can wait while I talk to them."

Trust me, anyone who does that when I'm on the phone does not find me waiting when they finally come back.

Well, people here don't really go to McDonald's to eat exactly. Fast food joints are hangouts. Students will get a meal set and sit for two hours, for example. So it's not quite the same. On the other hand, I don't see a lot of people using cell phones in ramen bars, which is where businessmen (among others) bolt down lunch. Fast food joints are very much the exception.
I really, really hate "call waiting." Not only do I dislike it for all the reasons you so clearly state, but when I'm on a phone that has it, I hate trying to have a conversation while the stupid thing beeps at me. I'm on the phone, right? Don't bug me with another call.

I admit, though, that I've never quite managed to train myself to answer the phone properly, giving my name for example, or the name of the office when I've worked at one. You know, "Nero Wolfe's office, Archie Goodwin speaking." After business hours Archie always says "Nero Wolfe's residence, Archie Goodwin speaking." I just say "Hello?" which isn't at all proper or helpful.

Umberto Eco had a very perceptive remark about cell phones, which is that they're the bourgeois way to pretend to oneself that one is super-important. "Sorry, I'm on the phone, lots of business, so important." Yeah? Here's what happens with actually very important people: they have people to answer the phone for them, and they get to decide whether they're going to take the call or call back when it's convenient. You call Mr. Obama, he doesn't pick up the phone, you know what I mean?

Getting back to restaurant service, before Nicko comes down like a ton of bricks...

The only staff who should ever be on the phone are hidden from customer sight and hearing, ideally, and if necessary perhaps the front desk taking reservations. Sure, chef may be yelling at some supplier on the phone, but that's not where guests are. As to the guests, I think every restaurant with aspirations to quality ought to consider a cell phone blocker and a clearly-stated policy. If you're, I don't know, a doctor on call, you check your phone or blackberry or beeper or whatever at the door, and if there's a call, a member of the service staff will come and tell you. Then you get up, go to the lobby or something, and deal with it. They do it at the Metropolitan Opera, so why not a restaurant? I have no patience with this.

My father, who's a fairly distinguished physician, has always been ultra-scrupulous about this: if you're on call, you don't go out, and if you're going out but something has come up (a patient is in the hospital for an emergency, let's say) you check your beeper or phone at the door; these days he has to set it on vibrate, but he puts it on message only -- no direct calls. Not only is this polite to everyone around you, but it means you're not discussing your patient where people can hear you, which is basic professionalism. I don't see for a minute why a businessman grappling with a complicated deal, or a lawyer fighting with a messy case, or whatever, should be any different: why should your clients, whatever your profession, not be entitled to privacy?

I give a lot of presentations for the company I work for and I usually start them out by asking everyone to please at least turn the ringers off so we dont have to stop and wait for them. At least once in every three I give will have somebody who just doesnt care to listen and will let it happen. We stop, wait and then thank them for putting us behind schedule, after which we proceed.

The last few times I've been to some casual dining places, at one table the owner was getting the hard sell about using bank X for A, B, and C charges and services. The other time a lady was getting the health insurance rundown for retirement.

It doesn't just happen on the phone.

Somebody once said that the danger with superweapons is that if you give the generals toys they want to play with them.

Same is true with every "advance" in communications equipment. Until the Xerox folks came along it was incredible how few copies were needed. Afterwards, everything had to be copied. Every office document; the kids' homework; the secretary's hind end.

Came the fax machine---a great way of handling "emergency" communications. And everything became crisis because nobody paid deadlines any mind because "we can always fax it."

The problem really got out of hand with cell phones, because almost everyone has one, feels they have the right to use them where and when they want, and, despite the fact that at least 90% of the calls being made are unnecessary, unimportant, and often dangerous, they're not going to stop.

It's all well and good to say it's ok for those involved in emergency situations and crucial calls. Except that they all become crucial calls.

There is no reason a doctor, out to dine, can't put his **** thing on vibrate. If it goes off he can excuse himself, and go out in the lobby (or, preferably, the street) and handle the call. Why is both the ringing and conversation being imposed on me? If I want that kind of noise and distration at dinner I can go eat with my nieces.

My sister recently took a Greyhound bus from L.A. to San Francisco with her young daughter. She was hoping she could find the energy to distract her daughter through a monotonous 7 hour bus drive with only one pit stop.

She said the first thing the bus driver said was that cell phones were not allowed during the trip. As soon as he finished his announcement and started driving however, people started dialing and the whole bus spent the rest of the trip yelling on their cell phones.

I can't wait for the day cell phones are allowed on all planes. Imagine a flight from Auckland to Los Angeles.

You guys feel the same way about cellphones that I do about screaming brats in restaurants and movie theatres.
Cellphones hardly bother me. What I can't stand is when I'm in a restaurant, trying to enjoy a meal and talk to my husband and the people at the next table are sitting there, beaming proudly at little Timmy as he SCREAMS at glass-shattering volumes uninterrupted for five minutes and then the mother (usually) turns and gives you that, "Can you believe how darling he is?" smile. I just want to get up and toss the kid, highchair and all, out into the parking lot.

The thing I hate about phones is when you see a mother out with her kid and she's on the phone the entire time with the kid there desperate for attention. "Mommy? Mommy? Look at this, mommy. Mommy! Mommy! Look!" and she never glances at him once. I just want to shake those people and shout at them, "Pay attention to your damned kid, you moron! You can talk to Sheila about how hot the cabana boy is after you tuck him in to bed."

I'm surprised that any store, anywhere would allow the employee to talk on their phone while they're on the clock. I haven't seen this, but if I did I would be pretty shocked. Where do you guys live??! lol...

If management allows phone use in the dining room, I can only imagine what type of things they let slide in the BOH. Tell your boyfriend I said hi and I'm so sorry to have interrupted your conversation, but its ok, I'm leaving now.

There have been times where on the way to the bathroom, I would take a quick peek into the kitchen and see someone on the phone, but I can't really fault them as they at least made the effort to get out of the dining room to take a call.

Our company has a no phone while working policy, but I routinely use my cell in the kitchen, due to my position as kitchen manager.
My staff, on the other hand, is not allowed to do the same.

I believe it's a Federal offense in the U.S. to jam or interfere with cellular communications, unfortunately.

They have them in some concert halls, though.

Well yes it makes sense as a kitchen manager but a server should not be on the phone ever, especially not when doing the actual serving! I don't know what I'd do if I saw that lol...

While I agree generally with what has been said, what about emergency notification of that employee?

In a family emergency, they likely won't have contact info for the restaurant to call it and have management take care of notification. They'll call the cell phone. So do you have your employees turn in their phones and you filter the calls for emergencies?

While most cell contact is casual and personal, they do serve an important notification function in some few circumstances. Management should recognize the possibility and help train their employees in ways to manage that contact effectively within the bounds of the job.

Most people have no pre-set emergency signal for contacting them in discreet ways in such situations. A text message with a 911 prefix is a good example. That way the screen can be checked quickly and discreetly out of the customer area for an emergency code and ignored if the code isn't there.

Yes, the customer is owed a respectful service. But we need to respect that servers are real people with lives too.

Just being devil's advocate.

once upon a time, there was no such thing as a cell phone.

emergencies pre-date cell phones.

Question: how did we survive?

and if you think back, once upon a time it was the idiot twit with the bleeping pager.....

The world has changed and reality is different. Jobs too.

Rather selfish of you to expect your convenient service over their emergency.

Unfortunately or fortunately, this is no longer a viable answer. For example, the university where I work requires -- yes, requires -- that all students, faculty, and staff have email and use it. They send certain kinds of information only through that medium, as part of paper-usage reduction and of course for their own convenience. If you say, "gee, we survived just fine without email in the past," that makes no difference: you are required to have email.

They do not yet require cell phones, but I could easily see them doing so in the near future. If there is a serious emergency, they want to be able to get in touch with you quickly, and cell phones are a convenient way to do this.

My point is that many emergency contact services now assume cell phone access. The fact that they didn't in the past doesn't change matters.

I don't think this thread dealt with an obvious emergency situation.
It seemed pretty clear that it was just casual phone conversation.
I think all of us, even those extremely annoyed by employees on their cell phones, would be accomodating under emergency situations.
I think "oh my god, dad died?!" can be easily seperated from "oh my god, those shoes are to die for!"

There was a lot of complete and total dismissal of any possibility of cell phone use.

Yes, emergency issues weren't talked about until I raised it.

The phone rings/vibrates/whatever. You don't know if it's an emergency until you check it. And you can't check it if there's a no tolerance ban.

Zero tolerance doesn't work out reasonably in most situations and I saw quite a bit of zero tolerance expressed.

And this same thing could be said about something as commonplace as copy machines. Copiers have been around for so long now that people no longer view them as a "new-fangled" contraption the way cell phones are viewed, but once upon a time offices survived without them and you know what else they survived without? Hundreds of pointless copies of everything. Once only important documents were copied. Nowadays copying is so convenient that a secretary will make thirty copies of a notice reminding employees not to abuse the copier. Does anyone ever say: Well, we survived without the copy machine once...? The world moves forward. And the world now is almost dependent on cell phones. I mean, have any of you guys ever actually tried to find a payphone in today's modern world? I think you should start looking out for them. You'll be amazed by how many empty payphone booths you'll find.

There are exceptions to every rule.
That being said, I believe in the policy of no cell phones while working.
It doesn't take much effort to let those close to you know how to reach you while working.
We have a zero tolerance policy, you can't even carry it in your pocket while working.
I have occasionally received emergency calls for employees, and handled them as you would expect.
I've never had a situation where an employee wasn't reached in an emergency.
Maybe the group I work with is more proactive than most, but it's never been an issue.
I have seen far more examples of abuse than of "emergency use".
I have counseled, suspended and terminated employees for abusing the rule, most notably a cook who texted his girlfriend all throughout his shift.