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When I sit down to dinner in my home, I do not want to be interrupted: it's my time with my husband, or family, or guests. Time and effort have been spent putting the meal together and, if we're not entertaining guests, it's likely we've not had the luxury of their company for a time. I would like nothing better than to enjoy it without distractions. I like to make sure interruptions won't take place: the ringer on the phone is turned off and the answering machine is put on, with the volume reduced so that calls come in silently. Music's on in the background, to help everyone get into the mood of the evening: it shuts out unwanted noise and helps everyone forget about the earlier concerns of their day. There is so little time left for people to just enjoy being with people, or to enjoy the pleasure of a well prepared dish with each other. Any distraction has the potential to shut down a great conversation, or completely undo a terrifically heightened mood.

The same thing applies when I go to a restaurant for a meal. Whether I'm on a break from work and I want to gather my thoughts together during my limited meal time, or I'm at the restaurant to be with friends or family, I don't want to have to contend with the never ending ringing of cell phones around me. I don't want to hear patrons in nearby tables having futile arguments with their children about what they can and can't watch on TV while they're out, or what they're doing while they are sitting in the restaurant. The noise level and the needless discussions are all unwelcome in that atmosphere, as unwelcome as they'd be in a movie theatre, during a film.

Even in a fast food joint I'd have trouble seeing the need for a cell phone's presence, and I wish people would regain some of the common sense about respecting other peoples' boundaries in terms of noise and interruption once again. I'd very much like to see it become fashionable for people to leave the restaurant's contact information for a babysitter to call, should any emergency arise while they happen to be there. That way, the entire drama could be relayed silently, between the waiter and the patrons concerned. No one else in the restaurant would ever have to know about it, and all responsibilities could be covered with no extra stress thrown towards every one else in the room. If the umbilical cord of the cell phone is absolutely impossible to do without, any phone calls to "check in" could be made outside, before entering the restaurant where no one else wants to know about your business. The "business calls" excuse is equally lame: if you're going to allow your meal to be interrupted by a business call, get your food "to go" and haul it all the way back to your office with you. Don't plan on interrupting a conversation with a flesh-and-blood human being seated at your table to "work"on a matter you won't be able to settle. It's rude and it betrays a lack of common sense plus a deficiency in the skill to discern whether or not a restaurant date should be canceled or postponed to a time when you can devote a few minutes to someone you purport to call a friend.

Most of us spend the majority of our waking, working lives running after the call of machines that beep or ring, and the last place I'd want to continue listening to that is a restaurant, where I'm paying for the experience of being present within its dining room.

Learn more about this author, H. Snowborne.
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