These same people feel it's perfectly OK, however, to come to my desk and expect immediate assistance from me while they're still chattering on their phones, and don't have time to answer any questions I might have about what they need; they're too busy blathering. Their time is valuable. Apparently, mine is not. Grrr.

Though my biggest beef with phone users are the ones who walk along texting and not bothering to look where they are going, either walking into you and then grunting at you as if it is your fault, or the ones who walk out into traffic not looking where they are going.

Personally, I feel like grabbing their phones and with a swift blow from a mallet, inserting it pretty high into their rectum, preferably sideways.

However, the appropriate way to handle this (and I work with people every day) is to say to the caller, "I have a customer. Please hold for one moment. Thank you." Then you put the caller on hold and complete the sale in progress, then deal with the customer on the phone. If there's a line at the register, you get the request, the customer's name and number, and when the register line clears out, you find the answer to the question and call the customer back.

That's how it's done when your associates are properly trained in service etiquette, both on the phone and in personal sales.

After the movie we went to a bar and found a table. We got some drinks then sat down. Both my sister and cousin take out their phones and begin tapping away, texting various people as I sit staring into space drinking my drink. I really say loud enough for both of them to hear, "Whatever happened to the art of conversation? Phones are more important these days," and immediately, both get aggressive, telling me who they are texting. OK, so you are texting a friend and ignoring me then? Hello? I'm sitting right here and reading and typing words into a mobile phone is more important?

Before the phones, me and my cousin would sit and play a video game together for a few hours having a good time laughing and taking turns. Now when he plays, the game is paused every five minutes when his phone beeps signalling him to pick it up and type some rubbish to someone as I stare at the paused video game in silence.

Some phone users are pig ignorant and just plain sad. I dream of the day when all cell towers malfunction and phones stop working all over the world. finally we will have to reconnect to the people we are with instead of the people on the end of a phone.

He tried to pull me into the conversation but I would not as I felt it was an intrusion. This lasted for 20 minutess because she even had him on hold at one point! My response was to turn up my radio and that got his attention! He acted like I was the rude one as he now could not hear the damsel.

I said I did not want to be part of someone's drama and not that I am uncaring but it could have waited until he was alone. He was defensive about her DV situation and I said that once he found out that it was not such a dire emergency, he should have ended the call. Was I wrong?

Everybody knows how 'delicate' that relationship can be. On top of everything, her long conversations on the phone are her tax guy, her travel agent, her friend. It's unbelievable. I'm sitting in my couch enjoying rare moments of quiet. (I have a 2 and a 4 year old). If she only knew how much I appreciate quiet time. Am I too difficult?

If they are not paying attention it is likely they won't even notice. If they should notice if addressed by management I would simply claim the matter was an honest error. Unless you are dealing with an emergency, get off the phone in my line.

All we heard was her screaming and going, "Why you breakin' up with me? I thought we had something!"

and it's like... Lady, shut up! Nobody wants to hear you break up in the middle of the library!

It's sad how little cell phone etiquette people have.

A quarter way through, he pulls out the cell to check football scores. Cell phones were bad enough but now you can check everything from email to facebook to ball scores anytime, anywhere.

Where does it stop? It truly made me feel like I was second on his list. Perhaps he was bored with the movie? Honestly, I probably wouldn't have minded if it was during a commercial, or if he had even said "hey, i need to take a break for a minute so i can check a score." It's just rude. Put it away. Wherever you are you should be all there. There is a time for everything.

I also work in retail and it's very insulting to have to wait on customers that continue to yak on their phones while I'm expected to wait on them. I'm tempted to refuse customers until they are off their phones but since I'm just an employee and not the owner what can I do without getting fired?

As for myself I have a phone and I use it when needed but I'm always courteous of others. On buses and public places I text rather than call. If I'm with friends or a date then I have my phone put away, period.

What also gets me is people that constantly have to have the newest, latest and greatest phone with all the new bells and whistles. You have a phone that works - do you honestly need a new one that costs you another $200-300 bucks?

Sometimes I just get so disgusted with people and their screwed up priorities.

What was the point of coming to have a conversation with a friend if you are going to be preoccupied playing a game? Personally, I felt insulted by the rude gesture. If it wasn't for the fact that I use my personal phone for business, I would prefer that they be banned at work.

The nonworking constant texter, gamer, slacker phone usage is running rampant.

The thing I do not understand is that she has to report every single detail of her life to her family! She lives a very sheltered life and when I commented on such things, she snapped at me and said I was not being understanding at all.

Nowadays if she ever asked me to go out I will simply say no because I don't enjoy her company anymore. What's the point of going out if I have to see her constantly answering the calls all the time and pretty much whatever time is left is barely enough for us to have a decent meal and good conservation with each other? It just ticks me off!

In my opinion, some people just do not know how to act properly sometimes, including when to answer your call or otherwise. They expect us to understand their circumstances but seriously I find it full of crap. It is just a matter of being reasonable and considerate to your company that you are spending your time with. That's all.

And when she finally arrives her cell phone rings when she is walking up the sidewalk and it's one of her sons and she continues talking in a very loud voice and comes in.

She'll get her coffee and just sit and have a long, long conversation with him and when she finally gets off the phone she has to go and there goes our so-called visit out the window.

I understand that her sons live out of town (just two hours away) but, when you basically invite yourself for coffee, the cell phone should only be answered for an emergency and if it's not, let your kid know that you are visiting a friend and will call back. Ugh! I feel better now. Lol.

I thought this was disrespectful. But they on the other side thought is was perfectly ok but they knew it was me on the line. They think I am wrong and I have a problem. Who is right? Thank you.

The kind of callous rudeness your wife demonstrated would essentially have been the same if she'd had her nose buried in a book the whole evening or if you had decided to read a magazine instead of talking to her.

Essentially, this comes down to putting someone else's comfort and pleasure over your own and if your wife can't see that, there are probably bigger things than just an enjoyable evening at stake here.

I also talk loudly when someone next to me is being obnoxious on their cell phone and beep my horn long and loud when someone on a cellphone isn't paying attention while driving. The only way to win this game is to be more obnoxious than they are.

Am I crazy or this totally rude and grandstanding?

Last night the wife and I went out for dinner and a concert. While waiting for our food to arrive I walked up to check on our order. When I got back the wife is playing Solitaire. (She just got a new iPhone and found out she can play Solitaire.) She says, "well you got up so I started playing." When the food was ready she stopped and we ate. Then, we went to a concert at a local venue. During the first acoustic act I look over and she is playing Solitaire again. I asked her if she was bored and she said no.

After about 10 minutes I asked her if she could at least turn off the sound effects on the game and she does, but continues to play. I then ask her nicely to stop playing and pay attention to the band. She finally lays down the phone and I thank her for doing so.

A little while later I come back with our drinks and she is back at it. I joked with her that Solitaire, by virtue of the name, is supposed to be played when you are alone, bored and have nothing else to do. She says she can enjoy the show and play solitaire too. She keeps on playing.

I reach over a couple times and touch the screen and mess up her cards just to get her attention. We both laugh or smile, but she does not stop playing, even after I repeatedly ask her to.

After awhile I just take my drink and walk out to the stage area and leave her to play solitaire alone. As the show is winding down, I go back to our table and get my coat and tell her we are leaving. We go out to the car and don't talk the whole way home.

This morning we "discuss" the matter. She thinks I am looking at it as a "you weren't paying enough attention to me" issue. I see it as rude and childish that she chose playing solitaire over enjoying a concert, even when she knew it was bothering me. So, who is right here?

I am often in the library, at my university, and cell phone conversations are quite frequent, and annoying. Five minutes without a cell phone conversation is a rarity. The library workers do absolutely nothing about it, even when I complain about the 23 cell phone conversations within the last hour.

When people are arguing with boyfriends, or swearing, and yelling, I am often tempted to smack the phone out of their hand. Cell phone jammers are a gem, but sadly, they are illegal. I would not hesitate to use one in the library.

I have a friend who became quite enraged and confrontational with me when I revealed to him how vexing it was for me to listen to his constant and long one way cell phone conversations he has while in my company.

In the car, he has to have the radio off while he talks and I drive and it goes without saying that I cannot talk with him while he is on the phone. I have to listen to him drone on and on to what he calls "very important business calls related to his personal career" -- calls that are so important to him that he just cannot miss them or let them go into his voicemail and call them back later.

When we’re in a restaurant he has the phone "at the ready" so he can take calls. Today was the coup de grâce! He took me for a birthday lunch and though he was quite polite during the meal, as soon as we finished, the waitress said she heard that it was my birthday, so she and another colleague joined to sing me a special birthday song. Then, his cell phone rang and he walked off to talk and did not even join or watch during the well wishes by this friendly restaurant staff.

Then when we got in the car he was back on the phone again! I told him, I never knew that men talked on the phone so much (I was mistaken -- thinking that the need to constantly chat on a cell phone was a female thing) and that it was really getting on my nerves.

I continued telling him my feelings about his constant cell phone use while with me and in public places and that I really thought it was rude and disrespectful of the live human beings in front of you. He immediately took offense and defiantly said, "Well, from now on when I'm in the car with you I just won’t answer my phone" and eventually added that what I said was weird and he could not see why it would bother me since it would not bother him if I did the same.

I tried to tell him how it feels to listen to a one-way conversation of no interest to me personally, and if he had to listen to me in close quarters doing the same it would be annoying. No go!

After letting me know that I was basically crazy and trippin' he asked if we could drive somewhere else, so I told him I would rather he drop me off at home and that way he could converse with whomever he wanted and I would feel better not being trapped with him in the car with him any longer. Problem solved, right? No! It was obvious that he was very offended by what I said and took it as a personal affront to his phone etiquette, which in his opinion was totally understandable and correct.

Needless to say, I asked him if he could make arrangements to stay with another friend during his visit. Now, the problem is truly solved. Some people just can’t comprehend that they have taken this truly modern marvel that can literally save your life and twisted it into a useless toy that provides just another way to show how ignorant some people can be.

I do not carry my cell phone wherever I go, such as when I'm doing yard work, cleaning the house, etc. They feel I do not care about them. I do not have a house phone.

Mainly my adult children call because they want me to babysit. They get mad when I do not pick up the phone. But I do call them back as soon as I can. Before I got a cell phone people were more understanding of me not being available to answer the telephone. Any suggestions?

Always the person who dropped the call should make the call back. The Scovill Protocol (what this is called) is very clear because you don't know how long the dropper is going to be out of range (it could be short tunnel) or a long ride in an elevator.

Please stick to the Scovill Protocol - whoever dropped the call makes the call back. The droppee (is that a word?) waits.

And tell everyone so that we can clear it up. And don't worry about the case where you both drop the call, it's rare.