Etiquette Tuesday: "Can you hear me now??"

Cell phones. The bane of the dinner parties existence. Cell phones have become such a integral part of our culture today that it almost seems as if we never lived without them. This, however, is not true! Did you know that just 10 years ago, like 1 in 10 people actually owned a cell phone?? And did you know that about 20 years ago cell phones were none existent?? For those of the baby boomer generation, you understand that the cell phone is a luxury, not a need. About 20 years ago, everyone was moving on in their daily lives and actually progressing without the use of the cell phone. Now this isn't to say that the cell phone hasn't done us any good, we love our cellie! But we don't love our cell phone at the dinner table. Cell phones at dinner are rude. Point blank. If you're at dinner with me, then why do you feel the need to converse with the whole world during dinner (*Twitter included...)?? If you want to chalk it up with the rest of the world, save my time, money and attention, and don't ask me to join you for dinner.

Texting is included in this deal too. Unless the person on the other end is someone that is joining you for dinner and they need directions or they are someone that could potentially be in an emergency situation (*i.e. your children, etc.), let the call/text go to voicemail. Frankly, your phone shouldn't even be visible when your dining out unless your dining out alone, then we can understand your eagerness to have some form of human interaction. For this etiquette Tuesday, please put the cell down for dinner, save the other patrons (*They can hear you loudly saying to the other person "Can you hear me now??"...) and your guest from having an unpleasant dining experience...

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