by margaret hillcroft

Created on: November 11, 2008

Should 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

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