So, the cell phone rang during a funeral... (1 Viewer)

[Joseph DeMartino]

I'd be worried about getting a call.

Although I'm sure you're right. People get buried with all sorts of sentimental or symbolic items, and I'm sure cell phones have made the list. (My dad was buried with a picture of his great-grandchildren, a pack of playing cards and a cigar. )

And some are probably buried with working cell phones for fear of being buried alive, an modern update of the old practice of using bells* or flags or other devices controlled by a string or wire from within the casket to call for help if needed. (This as a big and not entirely unfounded fear, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries. George Washington famously insisted that his servants keep his body above ground for three days to ensure he was dead before he was buried.)

Regards,

Joe

* And before anyone brings it up - no this is not the origin of the phrase "saved by the bell", which arose much later and comes from the world of professional boxing.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Want something worse (or at least dumber) than answering a cell phone at a funeral? How about refusing to get off a cell phone call even in the middle of a bank robbery? When you're the bank robber? (With security cam video goodness!)



Joe

 

[Garrett Lundy]

I've seen a few of these devices in some of the older cemeteries. Morbidly fascinating area of history. Mortsafes are also pretty cool to find.

 

[Henry Gale]

This particular service was for someone who had been cremated so I'm declaring an official thread drift.

If I woke up in my casket with a cell phone the first thing I would get is "Call Failed".
Last thing too.

 

[Lucia Duran]

cell phones have become such a pet peeve of mine.

At work, members are always standing in line gabbing a way, completely ignoring everything going on around them. I've actually gone as far as taking someone else in line ahead of them, because they were being so rude and would not get off the damn phone.

I carry a phone at all times, but there are places I will not have the ringer on and that includes, but is not limited to, movie theaters, hospitals, restaurants, friends homes, funerals, doctor/dental appointments, schools and so on. It's just rude!

People have become so phone obsessed that I cringe when I hear that stupid little Nokia ringtone or some other stupid ringtone.

 

[DavidJ]

If I left my phone on vibrate all of the time, I would end up missing a lot of calls, texts, etc. I do try to put it on silent in the situations being discussed in this thread and have never had it ring in one of these situations (knock on wood), but it has in some others that I wished I had remembered to put it on silent.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The problem with "vibrate" is that even that setting makes some noise - moreso when the phone in question is clipped to a belt and adjacent to a belt-buckle or in a handbag with the loose change, or on a desktop where it wanders around like one of those little plastic lineman in the tabletop "football" games that some of us remember. I heard phones on vibrate from 15 or 20 feet away in a fairly busy office. And have you ever heard one start shaking in the middle of a quiet moment in a movie, or during a quiet passage at a concert? Makes me wonder what the point is sometimes.

And don't even get me started on ringtones. One of my co-workers has two of the most annoying songs on record as the primary ring tone on her phones (one business, one personal.) I can't name either of them, but they are classical pieces that have been used as "sinister" music in so many horror movies, commercials and Halloween TV news reports that they are both now musical cliches. Worse yet, she's programmed a number of other tunes (a different set for each phone, of course) for various things like text messages and e-mails, and even for calls from different friends and family memebers. For some reason she has both phones set to ring and vibrate. And finally, despite the fact that she gets a ton of calls all day long, she almost never remembers to carry either of the phones with her. Instead both phones stay here in the office we share, for my listening pleasure. The personal phone sits in her purse, hanging over the back of her chair, and the work phone sits on her desk, gradually migrating from one side to the other throughout the day as it rings and vibrates along.

Another of our co-workers has a faux Andrews Sisters group singing "You've got a call, you've got a call. Better answer the phone 'cause you've got a call" in close harmony. Evidently just a regular ring wouldn't be enough to convey this information to him.

Finally there's Mr. Macho Man who let his wife program his phone and has no idea that the tune that plays everytime he gets a call is the theme from Sex and the City.

I'm with Fran Liebowitz when it comes to banning stupid options that have no reason for their existance. I'd like to extend her list:

Ice Cubes That Come in a Choice of Interesting Shapes: Cubes are fine. Half-moons or little drums are acceptable if they're being mass-produced by a machine. But flowers belong in one's lapel, not in one's borboun.

Cigarettes That Come in a Choice of Interesting Colors: White was good enough for Edward R. Murrow, it's good enough for you.

I'd throw in:

Phones That Come with a Choice of Interesting Songs, Sounds and Human Voices in Place of More Conventional Alerts: I want a ringing phone that sounds like a phone ringing. Where can I download that?

Regards,

Joe

 

[andrew markworthy]

If a student's phone rings whilst I'm lecturing I stop talking and tell the whole class we're going to play 'name that tune'. Strangely enough, after about week 2, I have no problem with people accidentally leaving their phones switched on in class.

 

[Marianne]

Some ringtones are annoying but some are quite funny, depending on where you are.

The first time I heard the "cat meowing" one was in a bank and I wondered which asshole brought a cat into the bank. Another time in the bank a woman's phone started playing an old Motown classic and everyone in the line started dancing.

My co-worker is from New York and is of Sicilian descent so, naturally, her phone plays the Godfather theme. Whenever it plays we all shout: "Someone just got whacked!"

My phone just goes "brring, brring" like an old phone. :rolleyes

 

[cafink]

Actually, humans have existed for only about 250,000 years.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Modern humans. Various members of the genus homo go back way further than that. I'm perfectly willing to dragoon our hominid forbearers to make a point.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Marianne]

It just seems like millions of years!

 

[Henry Gale]

Who said anything about humans?

 

[Jim_C]

My phone is on vibrate 100% of the time. If it rings in an awkward location and I have to take it (little kids in school, one with medical issues) I excuse myself and go to a place I can talk. Any other number and it doesn't get answered.

I'm beginning to hate cell phones. As useful as they are they are just breeding rude behavior in people.