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Add to FavoritesShould cell phones be banned in restaurants?
The rules pertaining to the meal table have relaxed since I was a child. In the good old days, before daytime TV and piped music, there were certain things that simply were not done at the meal table. These included singing, chewing with your mouth open, putting elbows on the table, reaching across for the salt and having the television on. There were reasons for these "laws". Some were there for health and safety reasons and others simply to make meal times peaceful and genteel to aid the digestion. Nowadays, most meals do not even get eaten at a table. Some are straight out of the cardboard box they were delivered in. Going out for a meal, therefore, becomes an occasion where one can sit and eat in safety, knowing that some of the old rules are still adhered to and it is all the more special for that.
Cell phones are dreadful in any public situation. In a restaurant they are a complete social faux pas. They erupt suddenly and sometimes embarrassingly loudly from the depths of handbags and jacket pockets and their flummoxed owners have to have a red-faced rummage followed by a frantic fumble to press the right button. The ring tones are jangly jingles which might sound cool in the office but not in the Ritz. Most recent phone are equipped with the facility to reproduce the sound quality of the New York Pilharmonic Orchestra. The opening bars of Beethoven's Fifth can have a devestating effect on a laden spoonful of soup destined for the mouth over a white table cloth.
Next comes the opportunity to evesdrop on half of a conversation. The receiver of the call, once over the initial embarrassment, begins to have an expression of self satisfied smugness. "See, I am loved and important" he smirks, after offering a false apology"Excuse me, I must just take this". " Hi, mate! I am just out for dinner at Le Blancs " [like- how cool, sophisticated and popular am I!] and if the other diners are fortunate he will then make an arrangement to call back. Often, sadly not and not only his companions but those at neighbouring tables are treated to five minutes of a disjointed conversation about an obscure business deal or broken love affair or worse still, making an arrangement to meet at the pub tomorrow.
How do other diners deal with this intrusion into their table talk? If you know the person it is tempting to lean close and say " Who is it? What does she want" and get filled in with the details. Doing that can help end the conversation quite quickly. Others are left wondering whether to wait silently until the call is over and they can resume the conversation they were having, or to carry on regardless and politely ignore the telephone call. Though of course they are thinking "How rude!" as is everyone in the entire restaurant.
The polite thing to do if your cell phone goes off at the meal table, restaurant or not, is to hastily turn it off and smile sweetly at your companions. After all, missed calls are logged so you can call back. Next best is to offer an apology and discreetly leave the table to take the call but it is amazing how many people do not do that.
Back in the good old days [again] , if a phone call was neccessary, which it usually wasn't unless you were REALLY important, a waiter would whisper in your ear and lead you the telephone. If you were really REALLY important, he would bring you the device on a silver platter, elegantly. There was one telephone which rang somewhere else and only in exceptional circumstances.
Unless it is a business lunch, most people dine out to relax and forget about the pressures of work and parenthood. They choose their companions carefully and wish to make them feel special. Nothing can make a guest feel less special than being discarded, mid sentence, in favour of a text message or phone call. No-one wants to be reminded of office politics or stock market plunges whilst dealing with a lobster or artichoke and very few people care to listen to half the gory detals of an imminent divorce over a moist slab of chocolate fudge cake.
Telephone contact in a restaurant is a good thing especially for parents and their abandoned offspring. It might be neccessary for an executive at a business meal waiting to clinch a deal. There is no reason, though, why a person cannot leave the table and go into the lobby to make or take such calls or use the restaurant telephone in a real emergency.
Cell phones are a great communication bonus. That does not mean every public place is suitable to have as an extension of the office. Used with discrimination, moblies make life a great deal easier and safer for users. Just as in the days of "elbows off the table" there do need to be some clear social ettiquette as to when and where it is appropriate to receive and make calls. Inflicting a ghastly ring tone followed by a private conversation on other people enjoying social intercourse and a fine meal is clearly a "no, no" for anyone with any sense of social grace. Ban them!
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No
I think if restaurants were to try to ban the use of cell phones they would lose many customers. People take advantage of the fact that some people work in a job where they have to have that cell phone on them. Would people perfer to eat where no phones will ring or have gas, electricity,etc? Do people not realize that it takes people to keep things going and these people don't live on the job sites, they have a phone that people call when an alarm goes off and sends a message to another person who then calls another person to come in and work on it so that the machine or what ever is up and working again with as little time down as possible. The rich who own gas companies rely on their units to run and if they can't call their employee to go work on it when it goes down then they lose money.Well enough of that and they won't be so rich. Everyday people depend on the gas company to keep gas going to their homes so they can stay warm, heat water for a bath, feed their family. How do you expect that to happen if units are down but employess can't be called because George at the restaurant doesn't want to hear their phone ring? I find it funny that people want all the convenience possible but they don't want to see all the steps it takes to keep those things available to them. Gas is not the only thing this applies to. What about your water, electricity? Wake up and look around. Not everybody has a job where they can do as they please when 3:00 hits. Some people are on call 24/7 and guess what? They have to be reached. What if a gas well catches fire? Should we wait until Johnny is done eating to put it out even though there are houses near it and people who were working on it when it blew up? Or should these people not get to enjoy life so that Sarah doesn't have to hear a phone ring?
Yes there is such a thing as manners but guess what? If you are complaining and being rude about a cell ringing then you are no better than the one having a loud conversation in the middle of the restaurant. I get evil looks when my daughter says hi at the table next to ours so should she be banned from the place as well? There should be limits as to what is allowed, one being people who like to complain about everything. People should have enough respect for others to step away when the phone call is one that has to be taken, should talk quietly and make it fast, and other things that would prevent the phone from disturbing others as much as possible.
It amazes me that people are so inconsiderate as to think of nobody but themselves anymore. Phone calls happen, kids get upset, and many other things happen that at least one other person is going to dislike. It happens and there is no way to please every person in the place. The person next to me may eat with their mouth open, I find that rude but should there be a law against it? No. A rule against it? No. The person next to me may talk a little loud, should I ask the place to ban him? No. The person next to me may order something that looks and smells gross to me so I guess I should ask the restaurant to stop cooking it. No. People take small things and try to make something big out of it. Now if a person is next you having a conversation that is offending nicely ask your waitress if she minds asking them to tone it down or walk outside so that others don't have to hear. There are ways of dealing with things if you want to. It is best to always be nice because you may be doing something that offends the people next you for all you know. You would expect to be treated nicely so why not offer the same to the other people?
There seems to be a big number of people who are so busy trying to find something they can complain about it seems unreal. What happened to respect? What happened to befriending another instead of worrying about what they are doing? I think the people here need to be taught a lesson in manners and respect so that we can enjoy one another without fear of offending. I hope people will start seeing things in a more friendly manner than what they have been. People need to relax and enjoy the time they do have without having to worry about somebody getting upset over soemthing so small. Next time you are frustrated with another stop and think about all the times you have done something that could have offended another. Nobody is perfect.
Cell phones are a part of life. I am sure there are others in my place. When my husband first started his job he was on call all the time and when he wasn't on call he might as well have been. He works on gas compressors and when one is not running you have a group of very unhappy people standing over you demanding it work now. We have a family of 5 and there were many times when my kids missed Dad and would do anything to be with him. Those nice evenings out when I could sit down and enjoy my husband instead of cooking anad settling everybody in were and still are the most wonderful thing in my life even when he gets a call in the middle and we have to pack up our food in to go boxes to carry home to finish eating. I wouldn't trade those moments for anything because there was that little amount of time that we got each others undivided attention. That is the most important thing even if it didn't last as long as I wanted. Him being unable to use his cell phone in a resaurant would prevent us from having those moments. Which with a family of five are spur of the moment, we take what we can get. If on his week off call he has worked late hours every night we don't go any where but if when he is on call and he happens to get lucky and get off early we try to take advantage of it. There are many reasons we would go out on a night he is on call so it would put a huge dent in our time together if cell phones were banned in restaurants. I don't think it is right of anybody to ask a family to sacrifice that just so that another doesn't have to hear the phone ring. Just ask that if a phone has to be brought in that people remember to use respect when using it. You will be amazed at what you get if you only learn to ask.
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