Welcome to the 21st Century.
I think my biggest 21st Century-related pet peeve would have to be the cell phone ringer. No, not the phone itself, but the plethora of ringtones available to those on-the-go and the absolute necessity of said folk to allow their ringers to invade my eardrums.
In today’s society (oh, I sound so professional), carrying a cell phone is fairly common. I’d actually dare to say it’s become a norm. And with that technology comes options, including, but not limited to, deciding the volume of your phone’s ringer. While choosing the most “fitting” song for one’s persona has become the trend - one I am also guilty of - people need to realize not everyone wants to hear the tune of choice. Some people would like to not be bothered with “teardrops on my guitar” while eating dinner at a restaurant, or, worse yet, one of those pre-programmed tones that can only be described as incredibly annoying.
A coworker of mine seems the most oblivious to this common courtesy of choosing vibrate while at the office. His cell phone rings on a daily basis, loudly, and then he walks to the back of the office before answering it. So instead of simply saying “hello, hold on one second” to the caller, he allows it to ring for approximately 15 seconds before ending the disruptive noise. If this were a freak occurrence, I could perhaps overlook it, but it’s not. As I said, it’s daily, and daily, it’s often. I know his ringtone inside and out. It drives me insane.
Then there are those people who choose to ignore a call and yet, continue to let the ringtone play out. I’m sorry, but if my phone is equipped with a button to silence the ringing, I’m sure yours is, too. And if it’s not, buy a new cell phone that isn’t from 1994. I don’t want to listen to Verizon Wireless’ polyphonic Beethoven selection. Turn the damn thing off.
I think I hear - actually hear - my phone ring a few times per week. I can probably count those on my two hands. If I’m too annoyed to listen to the ringing of my own cell phone - and it’s a really great song, let me add - I’m clearly not sane enough to listen to yours. Have a little common sense people, or I’m going to change my ringtone to myself singing, and you can trust that’s not something anyone will want to encounter.
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