The Curse of the Cell Phone

by Just_Lin

I was shopping at Target the other day and I had been there quite a while. I was having trouble finding the items I was looking for and it was late in the day. I was tired and hungry. I went down an aisle where a nice looking young woman was standing, examining something she picked up off the shelf. I could hear a man's voice in the distance, who was in a loud and continuous conversation. The young woman started yelling, loudly, "Joel! Joel!" and she repeated his name every few seconds, like some kind of mantra, until the man's voice got closer and louder and he finally was there, in our aisle.

The man never stopped talking on his cell phone for even a second, just continued on as his wife continued perusing the items on the shelf. He was talking unbelievably loudly on that phone, yelling really, and I was amazed that he felt like it was fine for me to hear every word of his conversation. Well, not only me, but anyone who would have been several aisles away, too. I moved two aisles over and tried to concentrate on my mission but I could still hear that irritating voice. How long could that conversation go on?

As time went by, I continued to hear him in the distance and then I heard that voice coming closer and closer. Crap! There they were, back in my aisle again, him continuing to talk/yell into his cell phone. I know I was not smiling as they slowly worked their way past me in the aisle. This was just as annoying as if a TV or radiio was blaring right next to my ear! I couldn't get over how oblivious he was to people around him or how ignorant he was of how annoying and rude he was being. He had been at it for at least 15 minutes that I know of and there was no sign that he was going to quit anytime soon. As he was standing at the opposite end of the aisle, continuing his conversation, the words finally escaped my lips. "Just shut the f*** up!" I couldn't help myself and, fortunately, he couldn't hear me over his own voice. I wanted to go over there and just smack that phone right out of his hand!

They have now made it illegal in California for people to talk on their cell phones while driving. I sure wish they could do something about the noise pollution, too. I know cell phones can be a blessing at times, especially in an emergency, but they can also be a curse. How do you feel about them?