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The Wonderful World of Cell Phones...
I can remember in the not so distant past how impressive it was to see
important people sitting in a restaurant at a table where they
actually had phones. You just knew that the guy talking on that phone
was a major player, and everyone else had to use the coin phone next
to the cloakroom. Now, any idiot can own a cell phone, and the idiots
can be seen in restaurants all over America - conducting major
business deals (or whatever) while having dinner.
First of all, it’s a shame that restaurants take the brunt of this
discussion, as cell phones ring everywhere. This is one problem that
restaurant owners don’t need, and probably never even thought about.
But it is becoming an issue, so it simply has to be addressed.
Steven Shaw's New York Restaurant Review is a wonderful presentation
on dining in the Big Apple. Even though I disagree with him on the
subject of cell phones, I appreciate his viewpoint that is presented
below. He sounds like a true gentlemen, and he actually has respect
for other people ("When I receive a call, I generally excuse myself
and talk in an out-of-the-way location"). But guess what Mr. Shaw,
there is a significant segment of the population who have zero regard
for other people, and these people have caused cell phones to become a
problem. Not everyone is considerate and polite, and when dealing with
the public, you must assume the worst, and you usually get it.
*****
Opinion: Anti-Cell-Phone Mania Strikes New York!
I can only conclude that there is an epidemic of control-freakishness
going around town this season. All of a sudden, everybody is all
worked-up about the use of cellular phones in restaurants. Danny Meyer
(one of my heroes, who should know better) wrote an
anti-cellular-phone diatribe (complete with incendiary words like
"scourge") in a recent Union Square Cafe newsletter. And all the local
papers and magazines are running cellular-phone stories (as though
it's some sort of news-flash that people use cellular phones in
restaurants), and restaurants are banning cellular phones left and
right (one wonders how they plan to enforce this). Even glorified
pollsters Tim and Nina Zagat have chimed in with a silly "Diners' Bill
of Rights" that includes the so-called right to a cell-phone-free
environment.
Hello? Just what do these people think cellular phones are for?
Although I've seen the occasional person get loud on a cellular phone,
and although I hate it when they ring (I think people should put their
phones on silent/vibrate, as I do, when in a restaurant), I can't see
any other rational argument against their use--it's nobody's business
whether I talk to my dining companions, a person on the other end of a
phone, my dog or my imaginary friend Billy. When I receive a call, I
generally excuse myself and talk in an out-of-the-way location, but I
don't demand that anybody else follow that procedure. If you keep your
voice down, you're okay by me. I should also point out that, having
dined in many other countries, I can state with authority that
cell-phone use in American restaurants is extremely low by the
standards of the industrialized world.
Opposition to customers who make a lot of noise (be it via use of a
cell-phone or through being loud in some other way) is perfectly
legitimate. But an a priori objection to cell-phones used at normal
conversational volume levels just seems petty. It says more to me
about the opponents' inflated sense of self-importance (as though a
restaurant meal is too sacred to be interrupted by petty business
concerns) than it does about cell-phone users.
Plus, who do these rabid anti-cellular-phone restaurateurs think is
keeping them in business? People with cellular phones, specifically
business people, that's who. Take me, for example. As a small
businessman with a solo law practice and no secretary, I find the
cellular phone to be an essential liberating tool. Having the cellular
phone allows me to go out (dine out, take a walk, drive my car,
whatever) at times when I otherwise would have to sit by my phone all
day and wait for a call from a judge's chambers, client or opposing
counsel. I can see it now: "Gee, Phil, sorry you had to spend the
night in jail, but my hero Danny Meyer said I had to shut off my
phone." And it's not just the professional crowd. What about expectant
fathers or people with sick loved-ones? Heck, what about people who
just want their friends to be able to reach them? Is that so horrible?
If I can't bring my phone to a restaurant, I won't eat there at all.
Page One (KH, Evan G. Spiegler, Marie Watts, John Kukulica, vellura@hotmail.com) |
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Cell Phone