Coffee etiqette

[Joe Guy]

Who writes cheques anymore?

Apparently, just old farts.

[Lord Jim]

Who writes cheques anymore?

Apparently, just old farts.

Let me put it this way...

The one's I see writing checks at the supermarket look like they would be well advised to not bother putting any green bananas in their basket....

(And Joe, I'll have more to say in response to your defense of cell phone nazism a little later.... )

[Joe Guy]

(And Joe, I'll have more to say in response to your defense of cell phone nazism a little later.... )

Ich warte geduldig auf Ihre Antwort, Jim

[Gob]

Who writes cheques anymore?

That's what I am thinking.

But, while on that theme.

Old farts who get to the front of the checkout, THEN decide to play "hunt the purse" (20 mins), THEN spend an age looking for the right card (10 mins), THEN chose to try to pay with a Video Rental Store Card (5 mins) , THEN cannot remember their pin (5 mins), THEN have four goes at it and get declined (5 mins), THEN pull out cash and pay (1 min).

[Joe Guy]

[But, while on that theme.

Old farts who get to the front of the checkout, THEN decide to play "hunt the purse" (20 mins), THEN spend an age looking for the right card (10 mins), THEN chose to try to pay with a Video Rental Store Card (5 mins) , THEN cannot remember their pin (5 mins), THEN have four goes at it and get declined (5 mins), THEN pull out cash and pay (1 min).

Could that bothersome situation perhaps be eliminated if stores had an 'Old Fart Express Line' in which the definition of 'Express' is as long as it takes to get their act together and figure out how they are going to pay and/or eventually count their coins?

They could have little tv monitors running in those lines, placed strategically located near 'Depends', Prunes & 'Fasteeth' displays, with the videos suggesting, "In order to keep things moving please make your check out to 'This Store' now and sign it. If you have cash, please get it ready. If you have a credit card, take it out of your purse or wallet. Later you will be told the amount of the payment to enter."

I suspect that the old farts who do those things that bother young farts are in no hurry and have no particular place to go, therefore if they were all in the same type of queue, they would not complain about others in line.

[The Hen]

I write cheques. Not often admittedly, but I still maintain a cheque book and have had occassion to use it.

[Lord Jim]

What's your beef then, LJ? The guy isn't banning cell phones wholesale; he's refusing to serve anyone who is talking on the phone while placing an order. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I have no particular beef with this guy BSG; which is why I prefaced my remarks by saying:

This is this fellow's place of business, and as such he is perfectly free to place whatever rules regarding the ordering of his service he cares to...

And then clarified further in my response to Alice by saying:

A person who has reached the front of the line who is doing anything else, (be it talking on a cell phone, typing on a black berry or tying their shoe) other than completing that transaction is being extremely rude, not just to the order taker but even more so to those waiting line behind the oaf...

For sometime I have noticed that there has been an extremely negative attitude expressed here by some (and Joe and Strop's subsequent posts pretty much confirm this) towards people who use cell phones in public, and I have been meaning to take issue with that for a while; this looked like a good thread to use as a vehicle for addressing that larger point....

Hier gehen Sie Joe:

It's not sympathy us nazis want, Jim. It's a display of common courtesy and the character & ability to realize that every phone call is not an emergency when out in public.

Ahh, now you see, there-in lies the gist of our difference; you and I are coming from completely different astral planes on this....

You seem to be proceeding from the assumption that the only justification for making a phone call, (certainly a cell phone call) in public, is if there is some sort of "emergency"...

On the other hand, I place no such burden on the use of the cell phone, and view it no differently than a ftf conversation...(Hence the reason I see no logical reason for a separate, more restrictive set of rules governing it.)

Just as soon as it becomes socially unacceptable to engage in any public conversation that deviates from such topics as "Oh my God, get an ambulance! I'm having a heart attack!" I'll be perfectly happy to sign on to such restrictions on public cell phone conversations as well...

You see a cell phone conversation as being in someway fundamentally different versus a ftf conversation in terms of how it affects you as a third party; I don't....

In most everyday places (grocery stores, coffee shops, and other places of business) "shouting" IS prohibited, or at least not tolerated.

No problem with that. Apply the rules equally to people shouting on cell phones, at each other, or (as I have frequently observed in San Fran) when one is all by themselves....(or apparently all by themselves, anyway)

No need for a separate set of rules regarding cell phone usage on that score...

I will always notice, and sometimes point out to others, when I see other people being rude, regardless of whether or not they are with me.

And just who was it who appointed you Lord High Determiner Of What Is Rude Behavior Between Other People?

If other folks have decided that in their interaction taking and making cell phone calls while in each other's company is just fine with them, why is it any skin off your nose? Do you similarly go around telling people in restaurants to take their elbows off the table, or not to talk with their mouths full?

(And btw, I'm no shrinking violet when it comes to people who are engaging in rude behavior that is affecting me or other innocent parties...I've shamed more than one oaf with a full shopping cart out of the 15 items or less line...)

Other people's conversations only bother me when I can't help but hear them, especially when they are louder than my own.

And presumably that would be true whether it was a cell phone conversation or not; so again no need for a separate set of rules.

Of course that doesn't happen to you,

You're damn right it doesn't....

No one's conversations are louder than mine....

Perhaps the problem is that you need to learn to speak up....

[Joe Guy]

For sometime I have noticed that there has been an extremely negative attitude expressed here by some (and Joe and Strop's subsequent posts pretty much confirm this) towards people who use cell phones in public, and I have been meaning to take issue with that for a while; this looked like a good thread to use as a vehicle for addressing that larger point....

Hier gehen Sie Joe:

It's not sympathy us nazis want, Jim. It's a display of common courtesy and the character & ability to realize that every phone call is not an emergency when out in public.

Ahh, now you see, there-in lies the gist of our difference; you and I are coming from completely different astral planes on this....

You seem to be proceeding from the assumption that the only justification for making a phone call, (certainly a cell phone call) in public, is if there is some sort of "emergency"...

Absolutely not. I believe that the cell phoneys treat every call as though it IS an emergency and therefore answer each call as though it may be a life or death situation.

On the other hand, I place no such burden on the use of the cell phone, and view it no differently than a ftf conversation...(Hence the reason I see no logical reason for a separate, more restrictive set of rules governing it.)

That's a problem. treating a phone call as a ftf conversation when you are with another group of people is rude.

Just as soon as it becomes socially unacceptable to engage in any public conversation that deviates from such topics as "Oh my God, get an ambulance! I'm having a heart attack!" I'll be perfectly happy to sign on to such restrictions on public cell phone conversations as well...

Silly, silly, silly...

You see a cell phone conversation as being in someway fundamentally different versus a ftf conversation in terms of how it affects you as a third party; I don't....

Any time a cell phone call separates two or more people from the person who takes or makes the call , people are excluded and immediately not as important as the two people who are actually present.

I will always notice, and sometimes point out to others, when I see other people being rude, regardless of whether or not they are with me.

And just who was it who appointed you Lord High Determiner Of What Is Rude Behavior Between Other People?

If other folks have decided that in their interaction taking and making cell phone calls while in each other's company is just fine with them, why is it any skin off your nose? Do you similarly go around telling people in restaurants to take their elbows off the table, or not to talk with their mouths full?

No. I just laugh and shake my head at how acceptable it is for "close friends" to interact in this world.

Other people's conversations only bother me when I can't help but hear them, especially when they are louder than my own.

And presumably that would be true whether it was a cell phone conversation or not; so again no need for a separate set of rules.

Of course that doesn't happen to you,

You're damn right it doesn't....

No one's conversations are louder than mine....

Perhaps I shouldn't be required to speak up in order to be heard at my table because someone 20 feet away is louder than I am.

[Sean]

[But, while on that theme.

Old farts who get to the front of the checkout, THEN decide to play "hunt the purse" (20 mins), THEN spend an age looking for the right card (10 mins), THEN chose to try to pay with a Video Rental Store Card (5 mins) , THEN cannot remember their pin (5 mins), THEN have four goes at it and get declined (5 mins), THEN pull out cash and pay (1 min).

Could that bothersome situation perhaps be eliminated if stores had an 'Old Fart Express Line' in which the definition of 'Express' is as long as it takes to get their act together and figure out how they are going to pay and/or eventually count their coins?

They could have little tv monitors running in those lines, placed strategically located near 'Depends', Prunes & 'Fasteeth' displays, with the videos suggesting, "In order to keep things moving please make your check out to 'This Store' now and sign it. If you have cash, please get it ready. If you have a credit card, take it out of your purse or wallet. Later you will be told the amount of the payment to enter."

I suspect that the old farts who do those things that bother young farts are in no hurry and have no particular place to go, therefore if they were all in the same type of queue, they would not complain about others in line.

You'll have to make that line for old farts and women Joe...

I can't even begin to count the number of times I've been stood behind a woman in a checkout queue who waits until all of her purchases are bagged and the assistant tells her the total before she even thinks of rummaging through her bottomless handbag for her purse and then rummaging through her purse for cash/card before finally exclaiming, "Oh hang on, I think I've got a coupon in here somewhere..."

Also worth observing is the difference between men and women when boarding a bus. The man will board with a handful of coins, ask the driver what the fare is and drop it in the chute. The woman will ask the fare and then start the handbag/purse rummage dance before extracting the coins individually from her purse to drop them into the chute.

[Lord Jim]

You'll have to make that line for old farts and women Joe...

I can't even begin to count the number of times I've been stood behind a woman in a checkout queue who waits until all of her purchases are bagged and the assistant tells her the total before she even thinks of rummaging through her bottomless handbag for her purse and then rummaging through her purse for cash/card before finally exclaiming, "Oh hang on, I think I've got a coupon in here somewhere..."

Amen to that one brother....

I remember commenting on this over at the CSB....

And then like as not she will scrounge around trying to come up with the exact change to the penny for the purchase...

Where as a man will pull out his wallet, pull out the largest bills needed to cover the purchase, and then shove the change in his pocket and move on....

[MajGenl.Meade]

I don't mind ftf conversations going on - generous of me eh? - because I can HEAR BOTH SIDES if I want to listen. But cell phones - dammit Jim, they should put them on loudspeaker so we can hear all the fascinating details of their lives. Selfish bastards

Meade

[BoSoxGal]

I always have a check made out except amount by the time the cashier has rung me up - except nowadays, when I deal pretty much strictly in debit card and it's out & ready to go before the last item is scanned.

So much for stereotypes.

At lunch today a kid, 4-6ish, was launching himself over the booth backwards and forwards while mommy & her galpal completely ignored him. Seriously treating it like a jungle gym, and almost dove head first into the floor (of course then if injury had occurred, there'd have been a lawsuit). Mom finally took kiddo outside for a 'come to Jesus' only after the manager spoke to her.

The other day I was out to breakfast, reading the paper, when a couple & child sat next to me. Before they left I had to compliment them on the lovely manners and appropriate behavior of their 4 year old daughter - she didn't need scolding at all, behaved like a little lady & said please & thank you to the waitress.

This is not rocket science; any child (except perhaps an autistic) can do it. Breeders are just too lazy to parent. I have great respect for true parents.

And folks who realize that 98% of cell phone calls don't need to be answered at the dinner table, in the midst of other conversation, on the plane, train, etc. Voicemail exists for a reason.

[Sean]

SMF and I often receive compliments regarding the 5 yr old Pud's behaviour and manners. I find it quite sad that people tend to see this kind of basic good manners and courtesy as the exception rather than the norm.

[Timster]

Perfect Sean, I connot say how may times that I have had comments from complete strangers how exemplary my Five children have behaved in a public setting.

I think it just comes down to good parenting.

Well done. Fuck the rest of the bastards that don't have any control or pride for themselves or their children.

I believe in your neck of the woods, they are called... Scousers.

No prob, Aresholes are Aresholes wherever they may occur.

Peace.