I promise not to use it in the car. I don't even understand why people think that's safe. Even using the hands-free set is supposedly worse than driving drunk. Back in the days when people still thought it was okay to talk and drive, I still couldn't do it. No worries there.

I promise to leave it turned off in class and in restaurants and movie theaters. I promise not to use it in the grocery store unless I've actually forgotten something. I promise to still smile at my fellow shoppers. I promise not to be evil.

What are your cellphone gripes?

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

Answers

My gripe is that I have Sprint PCS, and so can't get a Nokia 8290 phone. Sprint for some reason won't support Nokia phones, even though Nokia could make one that would work with the Sprint system.

I work at a company that writes software for testing cellphones, and I even have an 8290 in my cube for testing at this moment. I love the small size and the fact that it doesn't have an antenna to break off. It's technical performace is great.

Say what you will about those wacky Finns, they know how to make a cell phone.

Jim

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

(deep breath) NOW THAT EVERY MAN WOMAN AND CHILD HAS A CELLPHONE, IT NO LONGER MAKES YOU SOUND IMPORTANT TO USE ONE IN A PUBLIC PLACE!!!!

I'm looking at you, the big-shot lawyer in the front car of the train. Shut the f*ck up. Do your clients know you're shouting their confidential information at the back of forty strangers' heads? Didn't you ever see anyone holding his hand in front of his mouth to mute his cellphone conversation? Why don't you try that?

Oh, and by the way, having an unregistered investment bank "recommend" a price for your client's company to a prospective purchaser is a securities law violation. Genius.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

I know they're useful & maybe even necessary and all that, but I just hate what cell phones do to people. I wish someone would make a soundproof helmet with a phone in it, at least, so I wouldn't have to listen to everyone's stupid conversations. I think I'll have to make a helmet for myself, though, as I'm so very outnumbered.

Also, they cause brain cancer & don't let them tell you otherwise. The tobacco industry got away with it for 50 years, no reason these guys won't try same.

Also, did you know emergency room visits for cell-phone related injuries are way up? Mostly the obnoxious user getting hit by someone forced to listen to too many mundanities in too public a place.

Beware!

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

I finally got a cell phone because I lived in a punkrock house where people couldn't pay their bills and we lost our long distance. At that time I was dating someone far away and I kept gettng screwed when I tried to use phone cards. I went to the Radio Shack to try to get a Sprint phone card, which I thought would be better than the "cheap" ones that always have tons of hidden fees. I looked at the cell phone plans and decided on that route instead.

I use it as my only phone. I like the fact that I no longer have to worry about roommates not taking messages. I like that when I move from apartment to apartment I don't have to give a new phone number to everyone. I've only once used it on a bus, I try to steadfastly avoid every using it in public.

I have A Motorola Startac, the cool flippy kind that looks like a Star Trek communicator. However, I've only had the thing a few months and the casing already seems a little fucked up. I'm not too happy about that.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

Okay, that one I just don't understand. I'm always hearing people gripe about having to listen to people talking on cellphones, but then I wonder, do you also complain about people having actual face- to-face conversations in your vicinity? I just don't get it. People talk; if you don't like it, get earplugs.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

I got rather frightened yesterday when I was walking around campus and realized just how many people were talking on their cellphones out there. A lot. Yikes.

My pet peeve is that I'm eventually going to be forced into getting one at some point, and I've been told repeatedly that EVERYONE should have a cell phone as a necessity for safety reasons. But since I don't want people to always be able to get ahold of me (or think they can just 'cause I own one), I'm not exactly motivated to get one.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

Actually, Beth, I do object to people having loud conversations on a morning commuter train, even face-to-face. Hell, I object to people in general. But that's off-topic.

There's a particular tone in which people have cellphone conversations that clearly says, "Hello, I am important beyond your imagination and my work requires me to be in constant touch with the office -- so much so that I carry this gee-whiz gizmo called a cellphone, the use of which I will now demonstrate to you Neanderthals at high volume." I know that's a lot of information for a tone to carry, but somehow a lot of people manage to pull that tone off.

My point was that I wish they would stop doing that. And I wish they would cover their mouth with a hand to mute the call when they're in an enclosed space. And maybe also have a fatal coronary, if they really want to make me happy.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

I completely agree with you, Beth -- somebody have a phone conversation on a bus or in a public place is no different than two people having a face-to-face conversation. You can only hear one side of it, that's all. I'm pretty good at tuning those ambient noise conversations out, so they don't bother me (unless, of course, the conversation is being held loudly or obnoxiously, and in that case it doesn't matter if it's on a phone or between two people).

We originally got a phone so that we could have it for car emergencies on long trips, but I was quickly impressed by the utility of the thing (and the cheapness of calling plans) so I ended up getting a second one for my personal use. I find it incredibly useful -- it made coordinating the sale of my house 10 times easier than coordinating buying it, since people didn't leave messages for me at home when I was at work and vice versa. And it's tremendously handy on trips, or just if I need to check something quickly while out.

I initially objected to the notion of having a "leash," but frankly, not that many people have my number (and I have caller ID, so I can choose not to answer).

(I also got it because I wanted the wireless web stuff, because I'm a dork. So I use the phone to check my e-mail, the weather, and the news [that's about all the wireless web is currently good for]. I also have the little cable to connect it to my Pocket PC :)

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

My phone right before the current one was a Motorola StarTac -- just like you, David -- and I really liked it. I had an analog model first, and then upgraded to the digital. That one was nicer -- it's much more convenient to dial someone by "name" stored in memory than having to remember all the digits.

The phone I have now, that I've only had about a month now, is one of those adorable little Nokia 8290s -- lucky for me, I live in a district (phone service area?) where I can get it. My boy has one too, but he swapped his out into a silver case, while mine is still in factory blue.

As far as listening -- being forced to listen to -- to other people's cell phone conversations, I don't know, I can't put my finger on it, so to speak, but there IS something different about one person on a cell having a conversation, and two flesh-and-blood people doing it. Maybe it's a question of acquired "social noise" filters; we've gotten so used to hearing but not really listening to others in public, it's not a distraction, but when there's someone on a cell...it's just so, so irritating.

I'm totally with you, Tom, as far as the "it no longer makes you 'important' to talk on a cell in public" line of thinking goes. From the inanity of conversations you overhear at your standard, say, evil-corporate-coffee-chain-which-won't-be-named, sometimes you can only surmise that the conversation in question is being conducted only because it CAN be.

"Look (listen) at/to me! I'm on a cell! Aren't I important?" I'm always fighting down the urge to say something snarky in these situations. (See "Ever Done a Dumb Thing That's Come Back to Haunt You" thread elsewhere.) I'm always self-conscious about talking on a cell in public; aren't you? Someone who'd do business on a crowded train on one, on the other hand, probably is not -- this explains the "doing confidential business" assholery mentioned previously in this thread.

I think I read somewhere someone describing the phenomena as a "disruption of the social space," a violation of shared public "think" and "talk" space. Once you go past a certain point in a cell phone conversation -- beyond the hasty "Yeah...no...okay, thanks" surreptiousness -- it's as though you're isolating yourself from everyone around you, forcing others to acknowledge your "uniqueness," to use the Borg term -- distance yourself from the Collective.

...Ah, I dunno. I've gone on so long I don't even want to go back and figure out what I said. But it is an interesting subject, and I do think there are issues to consider on either side of the "to cell or not to cell" discussion. It's hella convenient to have one...but, almost by default, it's hella annoying to everyone else that you have one, too.

Sei

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

Beth, I must say that you have picked a great phone. That is because I have the same one. It's so tiny that you can conceal it about your person and I just leave my on the silent/vibrate mode and it doesn't bother anyone unless I've left it in the breast pocket of my jacket and it starts buzzing and it looks like I have some sort of boobbomb.

Of course, I'm not your typical phone-blabbing goof. Whatever the gripes about mobile phones, I still feel more comfortable knowing I have a way to contact people at most any time should I really need to. And I can check my email with it using my Palm. Wee!

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

My new favorite word: boobbomb

Oh, cell phones, you ask? I love my phone itself (a Nokia I-forget-what...about a year old now). Digital, plenty of talk time, lots of storage for numbers, blah blah blah.

Hate hate HATE my carrier. This new 'Cingular' is an abomination in so many ways (spelling is not the least of which), and I can't even get a signal inside my house, for crying out loud. Or on large stretches of the main roads around here. They claim that it's because homeowners associations have refused to allow towers to be built (which is a flat-out ridiculous claim), yet at least two other carriers in this area have perfectly good signal in those locations, using the same towers.

If I ever remember to look up when my contract is up, maybe I'll get a new phone when I switch. Regardless, I would not give up my cell phone - I do way too much driving late at night and by myself to pass up the peace of mind. One tire blowout on the Capital Beltway in rush hour convinced me of that.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

Tom, you've gotta come on down to DC- there's a lovely code of silence on the Metro that's almost universally observed. Well, that and reception blows, so not too many people can stand to carry on the conversations.

~

On the flip side, don't shoot me a look or mutter something about 'yuppie asshole' (people still actually use that word. amazing.) under your breath if I'm walking by and on my cell phone. I'm not loud, I'm not a traffic hazard, and while yes, I do think I'm more important than you, that has nothing to do with the cell phone in my hand.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

Well, we have a cell phone as our main phone because we fucked up our phone service with our regular phone company and I just didn't feel like putting all the effort into getting that all straightened out.

Plus, with a child, that car emergencies thing is a great motivator to keep the phone.

I think I usually put off a different vibe when I get a call and I'm in public. It's more like the "Okay! Okay! I gotta go! I hate talking on this phone in public because I don't want people to think that I think I'm cool just because I'm talking on a cell phone! Okay! Okay! BYE!!"

I have cut so many people short because of it. I think I'm overcompensating. Heh.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

Sei, with me it's not so much that i feel awkward diong the actual talking in public on a phone. Since i also hate people who think that because their phone is not hooked up to a wire they must therefore shout, i tend to keep my conversations at a pretty low volume. What i find awkward is the ringing. For some reason i get very shy when i'm quietly standing in line or doing some browsing in a store and my phone suddenly starts ringing. I don't know why i feel that way since at least three other people around me will likely check their own phones to see if they're the ones who are receiving a call.

I do like my phone, though i recently switched to a pay as you go plan. Before that, i was paying $30 a month and averaging less than an hour of use. It was totally not worth it. I love the convenience of it though. As much as it may annoy others, i must say that it's handy when you and your boyfriend are shopping in different stores in the mall and you need to know where and when to meet up. It was a godsend during Xmas shopping - "I'm stuck in the line from Hell down here! I'll meet you by the Santa Claus village in half an hour okay?"

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

I actually talk a lot on my cell phone, including in the train, and no one has ever shot me a nasty look. This is because I talk softly, point my head down and talk toward the floor. I also open my hand just behind my phone to further mute my voice. (If any of you had a CB in the 70s, this is how you talked into them -- because it's cool and makes you look like Adam-12).

The voice muting is important because your mouth projects sound, don't you know. And like any directional speaker, it send the most sound in the direction it points. Talking to other people is less loud than talking on a cellphone because you are projecting your voice into them, not into the back of the head of the person in front of you or out into the restaurant/train. That is why it bothers fewer people.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

I'm tired of calling people to tell them this or that, or even just say hi, and hearing, "Oh, we're in the middle of a dinner for Bob's company, I can't talk now" or "Um, we're busy having a party that we didn't invite you to attend, whoops, call you later" or "I'm in class right now."

Now I am extremely reluctant to call any of my friends anymore, since they use their celphones as their primary phones but don't shut the damn things off EVER.

Me, I keep mine off as a rule unless I can think of a reason to turn it on for awhile, if I'm expecting a call or something like that.

Two years ago, the side of my car was smashed in by a jerk in a pickup truck who was on his celphone, getting directions. "Turn here! Turn now!" the guy on the phone told him. So he did. Right into my car. Grrrr.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

Screw all that. Just the other night on my way home from a late night at the bowling alley I got a hankering for a pizza. I woulda sure as hell pulled out my cell (if only it had been charged) and not thought twice about being on the phone while driving. What? You want me to sit in Domino's at 1:00 in the morning for six minutes while they cook my pie?

I say that the day they outlaw listening intently to essay readings on NPR and the day they make it a crime to laugh while listening to radio dj's bustin' on somebody and the day head bobbing radio sing-a- longers start getting jail time, that's the day they can pry the cell phone from my cold dead fingers. Or maybe they can do that after they scrape me off the pavement cuz I ran into a tree while trying to turn the damn keyguard off in the dark.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2001

I finally replaced my ancient, broken Motorola flip phone with the same Nokia. One of the first numbers into it was the Chinese Restaurant we use for takeout. If I call right as I'm leaving work, the food is there just in time to be picked up. And nobody has to know.

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2001

i'm fond of my mobile phone--a cute red nokia 8260, twin sister to the 8290 beth has, but it does tri-mode (analog and two digital frequencies). i like techie toys. so much the better if they're actually useful.

i try not to be an annoying mobile phone user. i don't drive at all, so that's not a problem. i do occasionally hold involved phone conversations in public places, but i keep my voice down and don't flaunt it about.

i confess, though, i'm one of those unforgivable people who has programmed it with custom ring tones. no, they're cute, i swear! thursday night i saw indiana jones and the last crusade in glorious 70mm. hence my phone currently sings the indiana jones theme.

...okay, i understand if you want to kill me.

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2001

Eva,

If they come for you, they have to come for me right after -- my "custom tones" are themes from Japanese cartoon shows. Talk about annoying -- at least with "Indy," people recognize it! ^_^

Sei

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2001

I have a cell phone - one for personal use and one that I and two other colleagues rotate in usage for work purposes. The little blue pager-like Nokia is the one I use for work, and it is so sassy, and so easy to drop. All the scratches on our little Nokia is courtesy of me, Ms. Klutz.

As for cell phone usage, I'm one of those folks who hates using them, but because of work purposes I must. But I must say - when I get a phone call, it's usually a life/death emergency that I have to help out with. So please be aware that some people have to use their phones, and don't intentionally mean to be snotty. I for one go outside (if I'm inside) to talk so I don't disturb others around me.

-- Anonymous, March 10, 2001

Ok, I now own a freaking cell phone as of 5 hours ago. Is it too early to hate it?

I've been deliberately putting this off - the only time I ever wish for one is 1) when I'm at the store and want to check to make SURE there isn't anything I'm forgetting before I make the trek home or 2) when I am hopelessly lost and want to scream at someone for forgetting to tell me about an exit or two.

But... my husband now needs one, and decided he needed me to have one too. Okey, fine. We head out today, figured to check a couple places out, pick one and be done with it. ha.

First place has a good system... the plan sounds good, the phone sounds good... I start thinking this will be pretty cool, if I don't give out my number to anyone and can call long distance without extra charges. Let's buy it!

Nope...gotta go check out another place, where the service people suck so bad that I am giving my husband the Death Eye that says "If you give this jerk one cent worth of commission I'll kill you."

So back to the first place, and after filling out half the paperwork, they suddenly say "Oh wait! We can't sell to you - that's not our area that you live in!" (it's very close to where we live, and a large number of their walk ins would hail from there)

After all that, because of where we live the ONLY people we can go through is Cingular. whee hah.

So off we go...where they don't have the phone I already decided I liked, nor any that has its features without spending three times more. Then she sells us on the idea of one of the Nokias and - after having repeated more than once that we are looking to buy two, says she only has one.

So he's got the Nokia and I've got a Motorola and by now pretty much all the fun is out of this whole experience.

Then we get home and neither one of us can get a freaking signal from down here.

I have no idea why I own this phone. None. The only advantage left was that I could use it for long distance, and now I can't even do that without leaving my neighborhood.

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2001

Okay, I have my first gripe: Cingular gave me a Fresno area code. I didn't realize it at first because I wasn't familiar with that area code, so I thought maybe it was one of the new ones they keep inventing. Then when I called to change it, the woman on the phone tried to convince me to keep it for a while, to avoid some kind of charges for changing the number. (Yeah, great idea, I'll just make it a really expensive in-state long distance call for any of my friends or family members who want to call me.) I gave up on her and called back later and the guy I spoke to was super helpful, and had a Sacramento number activated for me within an hour. So it was okay.

Still, though, that's a pretty big fuckup.

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2001

They didn't ask you what area code you wanted? Freaky. In Chicago, we have more area codes than we know what to do with - I live in 773 but went to a store (and I work in) 312. So the guy asked me which area code I wanted.

That said, my Motorola StarTac sits, dusty and uncharged on my bookshelf.

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2001

Um ... Sei? Eva? How do you program your phone with custom tones like that? (I want to do mine! I'm not sure with what, yet, but something cool.)

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2001

Beth, Cingular is about to get on my last nerve. I originally signed up for my cell phone service through SNET Wireless, and then around the beginning of the year, Cingular went through and bought out SNET Wireless, among about a million others. With that went the pay-by- phone service I used to use. It's tougher than hell to get someone on the phone to figure out what was going on. But I did have a lovely conversation with a CSR once I got 'em on the phone. I can't wait till my contract expires, because I'm switching out of Cingular tout de suite.

And likewise, I'm surprised they didn't ask you for an area code/local exchange. They were very accomodating to me when I asked for an exchange that was not local to where I live.

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2001

They did ask me. I signed up on the web, and in the spot for choosing the area code, there was a drop-down item or a check box or something, and I selected "Sacramento area codes." They just screwed up somewhere.

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2001

Jette,

I'm assuming you have the Nokia 8290 -- the little "pager"-like one that comes in metallic blue or red or whatever, right? (Mine's blue.)

Okay. I consulted with my boy on this, who's pretty good with this kind of thing, and he says there are two (easy) ways to do it. The first is to get a "PC cable" and connect directly to your computer. (This would be like synching a Palm, I'd think.) This cable isn't available at the Nokia store, apparently, but it is available "after- market." Note that it works with PC's only.

The second way -- and this sounds easiest -- is to go to a site such as

www.boltblue.com

register for a new account, pick out the tunes you want...and there you go. What the site does is send them to your phone directly, so there's no installation. You simply pick up your phone, there's a message saying "Message for you, sir" (you get the idea), and that's that.

As for a third way -- and this is how I got my Japanese cartoon show tunes -- the boy says go to

www.primatesys.com

and there, apparently, you can get a program that will let you program in your very own tunes, assuming you know enough about music to do so. (He put my "Doraemon" tune in this way, note by note by note, on his Palm V.)

Hope this gives you at least enough to start, Jette. Any more questions, I'm of course more than happy to help. Just drop me a line...and I'll get the boy right on it. Heh.

Sei

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2001

just to add to sei's advice above--

i use these sites to send ringtones to my nokia, free of charge: www.the-mobile.net www.cellphoneuser.com www.mobilesmarts.com

they only work with certain phone models (specifically ones that support SMS, a particular flavor of text messaging service) and certain service providers, though. give 'em a try.

-- Anonymous, March 11, 2001

My gripe is those damned songs people program into their cellphones. Everyone here (Paris) seems to have one, and every single damned one of them plays a jaunty little ditty every time it goes off, and no one ever, ever, ever turns them off. Not in class. Not in the movie theater. Not on the metro. Not, presumably, in their cars. Not in the restaurant. Not in the cafes. So every time I go anywhere, I end up listening to a series of crappy synthesized versions of "50 Greatest Classical Tunes!" or the theme from Austin Powers, or whatever. Yeah, people, you are all so original, it's almost like I've never heard the opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth before. Certainly you can assume I haven't already heard the cellphone interpretation (tinny, repetitive) 1,000 times already.

If you can't turn it off in CLASS, criminy, set the damn thing to buzz you instead of letting it ring and ring and ring while you fumble in your bag and the instructor and every student is left waiting for you to say, "Oh hi. I'm in class. Can't talk right now."

And that's the other thing that bothers me, I guess. I cannot believe what inane conversations people have on cell phones. If you have to say stupid things, please at least try to be quiet. Have some pride, people.

That said, my husband has one for work, and when he's on work hours, it's on. When it buzzes him, he goes off someplace relatively private (sometimes, a phone booth, ironically) and talks. I see cases where a cell phone would be useful, but I've gotten so shell-shocked from the way other people use them (and those damned tunes they play) that I just haven't been able to buy one.

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

My complaint isn't about cell phone users. Rather, my complaint is about my cell phone.

I have this cute little Nokia. Because I don't/can't (because I suck at driving already, much less with a juggling a phone) talk on the phone while driving, I got one of those handsfree ear sets. Great idea, right?

Of course there's a huge complicating problem. If I'm in my car, the phone has be be above, say, my chest, away from the level of the engine, et all, in order to not go all static! The result? I'm driving down the road with my head set on, holding my phone in one hand above the level of the engine, trying to talk on the phone.

So much for a good plan. (Now I just pull over.)

-- Anonymous, March 12, 2001

I have held off the temptation to get a moby but have a question. I have a friend who complains of one side of his head aching whenever he talks on his phone for a long time. Anyone else had anything like this??

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

Yes, Kelly, my phone ear does ache after long conversations. It hurts the same whether I am on cell or land line. I think I just grind the handset into my head. I hold my pencils too tight, too.

I have a headset for the cell phone, but I don't talk on it often enough to wear the headset all the time. Of course, I can never get the head set attached in time to use it when someone calls me. Instead, I just grind the phone into my head.

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

Beth wrote:
Okay, that one I just don't understand. I'm always hearing people gripe about having to listen to people talking on cellphones, but then I wonder, do you also complain about people having actual face- to-face conversations in your vicinity? I just don't get it

Easy answer: volume. Cell phone users tend to use volume levels that are inappropriate for their surroundings.

Beth wrote further:
People talk; if you don't like it, get earplugs.

That's brilliant, Beth. Perhaps the tobacco people can use it: People smoke; if you don't like it, get a gas mask.

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001

They only bug me in two places - 1) When people leave the ringer on when they go to class, especially when we are taking a test. No matter how much profs threaten, the phones keep on ringing. 2) When people use the phone in the computer lab. I'm referring to labs meant for writing and research. People don't talk to each other except in whispers in those kinds of labs, but when people need to make calls they start shouting. They could at least go out into the hall.

-- Anonymous, March 14, 2001

I've gotten so ornery at the rude cell phone people on bus commutes between New Jersey and New York City that when I'm seated next to one, I read my newspaper out loud. When they complain, I tell them I have equal rights, too. It doesn't even have to be a newspaper. It can be any kind of reading material, even the ingredients on a can of food. ("Riboflavin, 4% ...").

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2001

Ahh, get over it, if you can't stand the society you live in then move to a 3rd world nation that hasn't installed an cellular network or the Nevada desert, what ever. you people bitch so much about cell phone users, monitor your own activities and see how much maybe you annoy people you pass on the street. Maybe it was that time you passed that old lady and she gave you a nasty look, because you didn't shower that day and smell like ass. Maybe it's you who watches people too intently on your daily commute that they feel violated by your eyes burning into the backs of there heads. Or that guy who picks his nose on the train and wipes it on the seat. Or that kid who farted on the train. common folks GFY.

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2001

I have three gripes with cell phones: 1) People often raise their voices WAY too loud when they are on them (incidentally, this is usually because their cell phone doesn't let them hear themselves through the earpiece the way a regular phone would - i forget the dumb reason behind that). 2) People don't turn them off/to vibrate in movie theatres and so, at the Very Important Hushed Silence moment of the movie - someone's phone rings. Or plays the first couple bars of Your Cheatin' Heart. 3) People think that it is perfectly normal and acceptable behavior to chat away on them while I am trying to be their cashier at my bookstore. Not just the simpler here's-my-money-thanks-for-my-book-bye transactions either. People will actually attempt to obtain information from me (often using hand gestures, my assumed lip-reading skills, and notes scribbled on nearby pieces of paper) while chatting away to their spouse/kid/lover/friend/boss/dentist/etc. HANG UP AND CALL THEM BACK. Jeez.

So I suppose really my gripe is with the new and different ways in which cell phones enable people to irritate me, rather than with the cell phones themselves. I kind of like cell phones. Enables me to call the pizza guy while Jay is driving in the seat next to me, and to call my boss when he is cruising around looking for book sales (and yes, if it is for anything more than a 3 second conversation, he pulls over).

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2001

I can't have sex because of my cell phone. They say since i own a cell phone it is a turn off. why can't they just love me for the cell phone owner that I am? They won't even call it!

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2001