Cell Phone Containment
 

Genius I tell you.

Keep these farging people contained.

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June 22, 2006
The phone booth returns - to banish cell phones
OLIVIA BARKER, USA TODAY

Michael Salemi and a partner in Woburn, Mass., introduced the nightclub-friendly Cell Zone. The steel, sound-resistant cylinder ($2,400 to $3,500) has a clear door. by Marc Berliner/SchneiderPr.comJust in time for his return to the silver screen, Superman's trusty phone booth is back. Only this time, there's a bit more room for his biceps.

Because the pay phone itself is gone, today's booths are BYOC - bring your own cell phone.

In an effort to appease patrons and etiquette police, restaurants, bars, movie theaters and libraries are carving out spaces to separate yakkers from other customers.

Dennis Raney acknowledges that he has contributed to talk pollution. "I get on the cell phone and I do talk louder," says Raney, who last year launched Fort Wayne, Ind.-based C.P. Booth, a manufacturer of Clark Kent-era cabinets in clubby oak ($2,995) or diner-compatible melamine ($2,650).

Cingular took the initial step toward cell phone civility in 2002 by designating Courtesy Zones, with couches or counters, in about 50 Loews theater lobbies across the U.S.

Then in 2003, The Biltmore Room, a Manhattan eatery turned bar, became famous for its leather-walled cell phone booth, and Chicago's Boka restaurant unveiled its velvet-cushioned version.

The cell phone booth's other benefit, proponents point out: a place to have a quiet conversation in a noisy venue.

Last month, Michael Salemi and a partner in Woburn, Mass., introduced the nightclub-friendly Cell Zone. The steel, sound-resistant cylinder ($2,400 to $3,500) has a clear door. Proprietors "don't want anything going on inside there" other than cell phone chatter, Salemi explains.

Jim Rogers is eyeing a Cell Zone for his upstairs bar at Michael's Harborside in Newburyport, Mass. With up to 400 people packed in, "this would really be put to use," says Rogers, the general manager and a co-owner. He's also considering one for the downstairs restaurant, where he has had complaints from customers about nattering neighbors.

But some manners maestros say cell phone booths are about as welcome in restaurants as, well, cell phones themselves. "You're really just enabling the bad behavior," says Tom Farley, editor of Town & Country Modern Manners: The Thinking Person's Guide to Social Graces. "To the extent that they encourage people to get up in the middle of dinner and place a phone call, I think that's a bad thing."

Manuel Simpson of Winchester, Va., regularly dines alone, chatting on his cell phone while he waits for his meal. He has gotten the hairy eyeball from other diners for it, but he has never been verbally chastised. Still, he says, he can't imagine ducking into a booth.

"It seems sort of dramatic," says Simpson, 28, who works in retail. After all, getting from table to booth requires conversation: "Wait one second! I'm on my way to the booth!"

http://burlingtonfreepress.gns.ganne.../605300356/-1/

At a busy restaurant or night club is such thing needed, except for the cell phone user to go to a quiet place to talk?

The problem with cell phone use is when it is done in quiet areas, not in noisy ones.

So it's fine in a restaurant to have a nice loud conversation at your table with other people sitting with you, but don't do it into a phone? This seems to be more a problem with voice control rather than the sort of conversation you're having. I can understand people being upset if somebody on a cell has their voice rise in volume (personal pet peeve as well), but to blanket this seems a bit ridiculous. It's general manners that should be called into question, not singling out everybody with a cell phone, young children, etc, etc.

I'm telling you people...ban the cell phone.

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Wash your hands, caller. Your mobile's dirtier than you think
BY FIONA MACRAE, Daily Mail

23:42pm 1st August 2006



The phones, an essential part of everyday life for 55million Britons, are crawling with potentially lethal bacteria.

With tens of thousands of microbes living on each square inch, they harbour more bacteria than a lavatory seat, the sole of a shoe or a door handle. Microbiologists say the combination of constant handling and the heat generated by the phones creates a prime breeding ground for all sorts of bugs that are normally found on our skin.

They include Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause illnesses from pimples and boils to pneumonia and meningitis and is a close relative of the superbug MRSA.

Joanna Verran, professor of microbiology at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: "Mobile phones are stored in bags or pockets, are handled frequently and held close to the face.

"In other words, they come into contact with more parts of our body and a wider range of bacteria than toilet seats. The phones contained more skin bacteria than any other object. This could be due to the fact that this type of bacteria increase in high temperatures and our phones are perfect for breeding these germs as they are kept warm and cosy in pockets, handbags and briefcases."

Mobile firm Dial-a-Phone advised owners to use anti-bacterial wipes to keep their handsets germ-free.

hxxp://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=398683&in_page_id=1770

I wonder what percentage of calls are made/received while someone is in the bathroom. I bet it is alarmingly high(and therefore increases the sheer amount of possible bacteria).

Yawn.

The thing about rude and obnoxiously people on cell phones is that it's the problem 250 million ruining it for the other 15 of us.

That is one of my biggest pet peeves, people who can't control their volume when talking, be it on a cell phone or conversation. I was on a red eye flight one time, and this guy just couldn't shut up. He was talking to the person sitting next to him, but you could clearly hear what he was saying 6 rows away on the opposite side of the plane. Anytime someone asked him to turn it down a notch, he would simply get louder.

Shut your traps and stop kicking the seats! We're trying to watch the movie! And if I have to tell you again, we're gonna take it outside and I'm gonna show you what it's like! You understand me? Now, shut your mouths or I'll shut'em for ya, and if you think I'm kidding, just try me. Try me. Because I would love it!

Chicken salad, on rye, untoasted… and a cup of tea.

Y'know, I'm probably as curmudgeonly as anybody here other than Bucc (;) ) but I really don't get bothered by cell phones all that often.

Occasionally there's somebody that's over the top loud that'll get on my nerves a little, but I really don't get quite the level of hoopla this otherwise generates, there's a whole lot of other stuff that's way more annoying.

Inspect that bath water on the way out the window. Hate to lose a baby over this one.

just cuz you people are nerds and thus don't having anything going on in your lives and thus no one to share that info with doesn't mean those of us who do should feel bad.

many of you wouldn't survive in NYC.

It's hard g-damn work being a mover and a shaker.

When you can do it without all the assistance of the cell phone you have arrived.

How was everyone able to hang on before cell phones? Must have been rough.

It was a bitch carrying around all that string and coffee cans.

More efficient than smoke signals though.

Smoke signals were way too confusing. I ordered a midget one time and Gidget showed up for my party instead which was cool but way more expensive to get her to serve salsa and chips to us.

Yeah, let's be sure and use that derogatory term, because God knows we wouldn't want to interfere with anyone's right to do whatever they want at the expense of others. :rolleyes:

The sole reason for use of my cell phone is so I can spite rkmsuf.

That's not a bad reason. Better than text messaging your "posse".

I thought you walkie-talkied your posse, text messaged your girl?

Please help the human race.

The only reason I talk on my cellphone when I am driving is because I think there might be a chance that it will make RendeR's head explode... :D

Send the cell phone folks outside with the smokers!

Can we make signs that say "No Cell Phones in this Area" for them to ignore?

They already do that in movie theatres, so I'm not sure that there would be any value added.

I always thought it would be hilarious to have one of those cell phone jammers. Too bad they are illegal. Next time someone won't quiet down, zap their ass.