Let’s be honest here. Given the tone of your voice and the sing-song melody of your words, you didn’t have to take that phone call in the grocery store.
And had you not taken the call, you wouldn’t have been meandering down the aisle in front of me like you were Mr. Marsh himself.Â
You wouldn’t have been so caught up in your own bullshit that the rest of us in the store…not on our phones…trying to buy some groceries…would have been able to do so in peace. Or rather, without interrupting you.
Sure, there are times when a call is urgent or an emergency and you have to take it. I get that. But usually when that happens, the person doesn’t continue to wander down the grocery store isles…or the sidewalk…or the parking garage…or whatever public place they happen to be in with complete disregard for the fact that they are in a public place.
Usually if the call is of an urgent nature, the person stops. They stand still. They sit down. Or they turn back around and head to their car…out of the way of regular citizens that are present…engaged in their surroundings…and trying to be neighborly.
Have I been the girl on the phone before? Yes and no. Yah, I’ve taken a call in public before. But I don’t take calls and wander down the center of the island at a snail’s pace. I can do two things at once…like talk and walk…or remember that I’m not in the privacy of my own personal grocery store.
I’m guessing if that’s how you behave in the store on your phone, you’re probably a menace on the roads too. I’m guessing you don’t have the capacity to do those two things at once…like talk and drive. I’m guessing that much like the store, in the privacy of your car, you forget that you aren’t the only human on earth.
Dear girl in the grocery store…get.off.your.fucking.phone.
And to the rest of you that aren’t her…stay off your phones too. We’re close enough to robots these days that no one needs another distraction. Another reason to unplug from the reality staring you in the face and another reason to space off into a virtual world.
Stay present. Be engaged.
This has been a public service announcement. You’re welcome.