Pluggers by Rick McKee for September 11, 2022

Very true!

oh, the dreaded speaker phone

At least his next comment isn’t, “Here, let me show it to you,” while he unbuckles his belt! (At least, I hope it isn’t…)

Some say it with flowers – the doc said it with Stephanie Mills:

I never saw a rash like this before

Now I’m blind, my eyes for ever sore

Since you came into my office…

(Did he use) “WhatsApp, doc?”

Some of us do not know how far sound travels because we are caught up in our own little worlds ;-)

Paradoxically, pluggers also remember party lines.

What at first startled, then amused me were the people who carried on conversations with others through ear devices you couldn’t see. In the past, such a person talking to a seemingly invisible spirit would be considered a village idiot, or a witch.

I remember scattered about on city streets these little glass booths where people could have a private conversation. They’d be much cheaper to install now because people would bring their own phone. And a certain superhero could once again change his clothes.

As you step off a crowded elevator, say to your stay-behind friend in a loud voice; “Let me know if that fungus cream works.”

A comic, whose name I forget, would tell a story in an elevator and time it so the climax is reached just after he gets out.

About the only time cell phone users aren’t talking too loud is when they are having an intimate conversation. Too bad they can’t use the same volume level all the time.

Oh for the “good old days” once again.

When our office went cubicle I couldn’t seem to find the proper balance between listening and not listening in on other conversations. For example, if you notice that someone is setting up a meeting for a specific time and place and you realize that it won’t be possible (e.g., that room has already been reserved, the boss will be out of town), do you interrupt and let them know so they can fix the arrangements before everyone makes travel plans or do you remain silent because it isn’t your project?

Similar problem with people holding private or business conversations loudly on their cell phones — do you interrupt and let them know that everyone is listening or let them continue to amuse the crowd? Would it be insider trading to act on tips overheard?

Get over it, pluggers.

Face Timing with speaker on full! Please, indoor voice at least. Worse, in a different language and the frustration of missing the gossip.

Parents are thinking…. “Is it contagious?”

There was a guy I used to see on the bus frequently. He would talk about personal stuff, even drug deals, on his phone very loudly. One time he began describing an intimate moment that was much too personal. I yelled “NO one wants to hear it!” I looked around the bus for some support. The other passengers looked too embarrassed, or scared. Well, he stopped talking and oddly I never saw him after that.

Gone are the days……

some of us also remember a time when folks didn’t carry on loud conversations in toilet cubicles…

I was driving city bus one time and a woman held a LOUD conversation with one of her BFFs about her man. I told her that the conversation really should have been private, "Oh, BTW, the bus has recorded everything you said, video and audio.’ She said we can’t do that; a passenger said that when she paid her fare, there was no privacy..interesting job, that..

Oooh, that’s a good one! It’s especially confusing/annoying when they’ve got a tiny bluetooth headset so it’s not so obvious they are talking over the phone.

If I am holding a conversation in public – it is an emergency either on my end or the other. For one thing I have trouble hearing if there is background noise around me so I need to find someplace quiet on my end to talk. Then there is the fact that extremely limited people have my cell phone number – immediate family, my embroidery chapter members, and our reenactment unit members (as sometimes things come up while people are on their way to something we are going to do – such as a meeting or a reenactment – and need to reach husband and/or me so they have my cell phone number. (He has very limited minutes so he does not give out his number other than to immediate family including me.)

Now I do get ridiculous number of text messages -spam from “the other political party” to the point that I now am forwarding them to Fed Government office to deal with them. I can get 6 of them in 5 minutes.