Because of a server error, some of you may have gotten two copies of Logical Tips last week. Sorry about that, it really wasn’t me. Our hosting company is looking into it for us. Cross your fingers that it was a one-time cyber-blip.
In other news, here’s my question of the day: when did it become okay to pay more attention to the voice on the other end of a cell phone than to the person sitting in front of you?
It’s well documented that I regard many meetings as a huge waste of time, so I try to avoid attending them. But a meeting is an even bigger waste of time when the person you are meeting with spends half the meeting jawing on the cell phone with someone else. Did I come to a meeting to sit and watch someone talk on a cell phone? I think not.
This level of cell phone rudeness doesn’t just extend to meetings either. The other day I was at the grocery store and the obnoxious woman in line in front of me couldn’t shut off the endless drivel she was spouting through her cell phone long enough to provide a response to the age old question, "paper or plastic?"
Careful observation by those of us waiting in line also showed that trying to write a check while holding onto a cell phone makes the process take about 12 times as long. The incredibly tolerant grocery store checker actually held the checkbook for Ms. Rude. In response, Ms. Rude acted like the checker wasn’t even there. Needless to say, she didn’t say thank you either. Just grabbed her bag and walked out.
Cell phones are a wonderful convenience. But they shouldn’t be used as an excuse to avoid living your life in the present. The actual live people in front of you might like some attention too.
And for the record, from now on, meetings with the President of Logical Expressions, Inc. shall be conducted with a new rule: the cell phone is off, or I don’t show.