What the cell?!

Twice this week, I witnessed incidents involving cell phones that left me quite judgemental of the parties involved.

The first was at the neighborhood pool. A mother arrived with her two daughters, the oldest of whom is going into the 6th grade. There was nothing remarkable about the situation, though I did notice that while the girls were swimming, the mom went off into the corner with her cell phone and had a lengthy conversation.

When the conversation was over, she called to her oldest daughter and proceeded to tell her that she'd gone nearly 100 text messages over her allotted 1,000 text messages for the month and that the billing cycle was still more than 2 weeks away.

The daughter was alternately defensive and contrite. Mom said, "you'll have to pay me for those extra messages." (A sum of less than $10.) Then, went on to say, "I owed you $10 for blah blah blah, so we're even." Which, while mathematically correct, doesn't in my mind equate to a lesson learned for young daughter.

Mom then proceeded to tell the daughter that she had arranged to increase the daughter's text message allotment to 1,500 messages per month.

What the cell?!

Nice consequence Mom. How long do you think it will take her to use 1,700 minutes and expect Mommy to up her limit to 2,000? Never mind that this is an 11-year-old girl we are talking about. I have yet to hear a convincing story of why an 11-year-old child needs to have a cell phone. And, being the parent of my own 11-year-old, I've heard a myriad of weak reasons for why "I NEED a cell phone, Mom!"

The second incident occurred at Target, though it could have happened just about anywhere these days. Man checking out, wearing a blue tooth and yapping on it the entire time he was in the check out.

I hate those blue tooth things. Much too Star Trekkian for my tastes. Plus, I can never tell if the lady in the cereal aisle is talking to me or to the invisible woman in her ear.

So many people have lost the art of offering common courtesy. Is it too much to say "hello" to the cashier? Or even "how's your day going?" Very few people like to be treated as though they are invisible. But that's exactly what this man distracted by his self-important phone call did to the cashier.

I wonder what was so important that this man could not offer to return the call or even let it roll to voicemail. I wonder if he gave it a thought later? I wonder if it bothered the cashier, or if she has grown used to that kind of un-greeting?

In short, I was left wondering "What the cell?!"