2a. The Cell From Hell
Date: Sun Feb 1, 2009 5:58 am ((PST))Howdy
Ah yes.What would the world be without them? Let's cut right to the heart of the
matter. During gaming, they can be VERY annoying. I am sure we all have had been
on the receiving end(lol) of some bad experiences while trying to have an
audience with The Royal Family.Of course a level of tolerance is indicated at times. For instance, some would
want to share a joyous moment if they hit a jackpot. Very understandable. A
brief call would be in order..heck even two brief calls would not bother me.In fact; any BRIEF call is okay as long as the number of them is within reason.
The question arises what is a reasonable amount of time that one would converse
on the telly phone of the portable type while seated or standing close to a VP
machine?I think anything over two minutes violates the sacred domain of good taste and
enters the over populated territory of rudeness .Add in a loud grating voice and thoughts unpleasant may enter that gambler's
focused mind.So how do you feel about this . Should they be allowed in a gaming place at all?
What is a decent amount of time to converse..if at all? Should you address the
issue with the perp ( I love that word?) Are you man enough?Feelings..nothing more then feelings................
Outlawing cell phones in a casino, where there's already lots of noise, seems a little over the top to me. In fact, other than some places I'll mention below, I think they are a reality of modern life that we need to tolerate. Thank goodness younger people, who (excuse my grouping people together here) are generally less courteous with their phones (and who tend to have them in use endlsssly) have at least gone to texting (I think I heard / read somewhere that cell text messages outnumbered voice calls in a recent month for the first time).
Quite honestly, I find the slot machine 20 feet behind me shouting out "WHEEL - OF - FORTUNE" or making some other disturbing noise repeatedly at short intervals to be louder and more irritating than most cell phone or in-person conversations - esp. when there's no one playing at the stupid machine anyway.
Or the nearby craps table shouting.
The good news is, most cell phones don't work very well in most casinos, with the walls and such usually seeming to be enough to block reception in most gaming areas. In fact, I find I need to step out every couple of hours if I'm expecting a call to receive my message and return the call.
I find cell phone conversations more irritating in otherwise quieter areas, such as on the airplane before takeoff or in a restaurant - in fact, some of the latter ban them -- and of course at performances, where remarkably, some people still leave their cell on.
If someone is sitting near me and talks in a conversational or louder voice and no one's around but me (and especially if they have a hands-free cell device they're using), my favorite ruse is to join in their conversaton: "HELLO, JOHN" "That's not my name, but hi, how are you" "I JUST REMEMBERED I FORGOT TO SEND YOU THAT CHECK" "I didn't remember you owed me anything, but since we're both here, just give me some of your cash" and so on.
"I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU, I'M TALKING TO MY FRIEND JOHN" (I look around) "He doesn't seem to be here, does he!" - I won't quit until they get the idea and go away or hang up -- I figure if they can talk to no one present while I'm close by, I can talk to them uninvited too.
Another greater problem is when a group of people are together on a bank of machines and getting loud, often associated with drinking -- now they have a legitimate reason to be talking to each other (although not at the volume used), are sometimes hyped up enough to be dangerous anyway, AND they have me outnumbered. I don't have a good recourse for that situation, yet.
--BG
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