Pete C. wrote:

> No, I expect to have dinner conversation just like anyone else eating at
> a sit down type restaurant. It makes no difference whether the person
> I'm conversing with is sitting next to me or not.

Good for you, but I really resent having to overhear one side of a
conversation half way across a restaurant, usually so loud that it
drowns out the other two sided conversations with real people present.

>
> They are there to provide a service - to me - and there tip is dependent
> on doing such in an appropriate manner.

In other words, you are going to leave a big enough tip to compensate
for rudeness ?



> Their job is to give me service, not to judge who I choose to converse
> with. I expect them to seat me, take my order, serve me, clear the
> dishes and bring me the bill, and my choice of dinner conversation has
> no impact whatsoever on their duties.

I suppose their presence there is an intrusion, so the best thing for a
server to do is to leave and come back when you are finished your call.


> My point once again is that there is no difference and those that feel
> there is have some discriminatory bias.



> Having been in the "on the phone while waiting in line" situation
> before, I've never had a problem with it. When my turn in line comes up,
> as the previous customer is stepping out of the way, I tell the person
> I'm talking to to "hang on a minute", place my order (or whatever), then
> move aside for the next person in line and resume my conversation.


I am probably not the only person who has been stuck in line behind some
rude buffoon who thinks that their phone conversation with their friend
is more important that the time of the business, whose employer is
wasting time waiting for them to place their order, or the time of the
people waiting in line behind them.



>> Well, we have differing opinions. However, I don't mind someone on a
>> cell phone as long as it is not loud and annoying. Some need to be
>> available. Medical people come to mind immediately. They have to take
>> calls.
>
> We all need to be available for any reason. In these days of ever
> increasing time pressures we need to take the time to converse with our
> friends and associates.

No. We don't all need to be on call. There is a time and place for
everything. A restaurant is not a place to be conducting business for
all to hear, and no one should have to listen to some inane conversation
between two people who have nothing important to say that could easily
be said elsewhere. Take it outside.


>> People tend
>> to talk louder when they are on the phone that when talking face to face.
>> Lots of reasons for that. Poor reception etc.
>
> Probably just ignorance. I never talk louder, and talking louder does
> nothing to overcome bad reception.

From my experience, very few people do not talk louder when on a cell
phone. Bad reception is another reason to take the call outside.



> I'm attacking the entire misguided mistaken concept that somehow talking
> to someone on the phone is different than talking to someone sitting
> next to you. Unless you want a totally silent no talking allowed
> restaurant, you have no right to complain or discriminate about who I
> choose to converse with while I'm having my dinner.


It is much like taking a call and having an extended conversation with
someone on the phone when there are guests present. It's just plain rude.



>>> 2. Nosy people only get to listen in to half the conversation.
>> You forgot the and.
>>
>> 2. Nosy people only got to listen in to half the conversation and people
>> who don't give a shit about, and don't want to hear, what you have to say
>> to begin with.
>
> Nope, no different than the same conversation with the person sitting
> next to you.

Except that there is a person there. It is nosey for the people nearby
to make a conscious effort to eavesdrop on your conversation, but the
fact is that most people talk so loud on a cell phone that the people
next to them can't help but overhear, along with half the people in the
restaurant.