Janet Collins
Jason KingRespect for the Driver...Heh!
April 30th 2010 23:50
Mobile phones and the use of them pose all sorts of dilemmas every day. One of the ones I was confronted with recently was a passenger in my car, whom I had agreed to give a lift to, talked incessantly on a mobile phone for the whole journey. And it wasn't a critical phone call either. It was completely social.
To get things straight first, I have no objection to someone making a call when they are traveling in my car. The difference is that when I am offering a lift to someone, I don’t expect them to spend the whole time in my car talking to someone else.
The situation arose after I volunteered to give a ride to someone who was working at the same job as me. I hardly knew this person and was happy to oblige but from the time I picked this person up to the time we arrived at our destination, she spent the whole time talking to someone else on her phone. I found this rather rude.
Are there any real rules about this? No.
There is a social interaction etiquette though, even if it is unwritten.
First, I didn’t really want to hear a whole one-sided conversation while I was actually doing this person a favour. I was taking them to a job….by car. I would have thought that this was enough for this person to have enough respect for me to either engage in a conversation with me or otherwise just keep the phone off, unless the call was at the very least, important. Perhaps something like lining up other work.
This incident has made me less inclined to be so generous in transporting people who do not have the means to get to an out of the way location. Am I being hard or even brutal?
I don’t think so.
The trouble is that mobile phones have been around for so long that most people think they can get on them any time. It doesn’t seem to matter what the situation or that the people in close quarters don’t want to hear some inane conversation they are having with their girlfriend/boyfriend/flat mate.
So if anyone wants anyone else to do them a favour such as transporting them to where they have to go, think about this: the driver is doing you a favour and may not want to hear your conversation. Unless it is important, make the call when you are out of the car. That is, if you want another lift somewhere.
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Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Best mate Sammy does it all the time, annoys the hell out of me.
Comment by Janet Collins
Acceptable Etiquette
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
I'll now know what to do next time!
Comment by Yank in Oz
Blogging American
ZENtertainment
Comment by Janet Collins
Acceptable Etiquette
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
Thanks for the comment.