On a mission

I am on a mission and I want you all to help. I need you and hope you'll enlist your friends and families in this mission. Here it is. I think we need to educate the world on one of those cell phone stupidities that seem to be getting worse and worse. Listen, we all know it's stupid to talk on the phone when driving and even dumber to text while driving. But, we're all probably guilty of it. I justify my stupidity by saying "oh, I'm on speaker phone" or "I'm at a red light" so I'm not as bad as these people who seem to be having hour-long, in-depth conversation with their long-lost friend across the country. But, there's no justification - it's wrong and we shouldn't do it. But that's not what I'm here to discuss today. If you want to talk on your phone when you're driving or when you're sitting in a restaurant or at your son's little league game or wherever, go ahead. But please, can you for one second get off the phone when you're on line in the store? Seriously. This is what we need to stop my friends. This is happening more and more these days. I just noticed it today in the dollar store. The woman in the store couldn't even be bothered to stop her conversation to tell the clerk which balloons she wanted. She just pointed. How rude was that? Obviously, this lady is very important. Her call must have been life or death. She must have been negotiating a peace treaty between warring nations while she was getting the balloons. Why else would she think it okay to not even acknowledge or address the girl behind the counter. There was no "thank you," no "have a nice day". Nothing. Just her free hand out with the cash and then grabbing the balloons and walking out the door. Why has this become an accepted practice in any establishment? There are some facilities that have signs asking people to not speak on the phone at the counter. You need a sign for that? Oh, I guess you do because there are people who do it. But, wait, those people are so rude that they probably don't care what the sign says. Like, they might just have an epiphany - "Oh, Gladys, the sign says not to talk on the phone at the counter. Let me go, hon, and we'll talk about your bunions later." Here's the way I see it - if I was at work and I was discussing a project with my co-worker, but she was talking on the phone, would that be okay? Or if I was asking my kids what they wanted for lunch and they just kept gabbing away on the phone with their BFFs - would that be okay? NO! Would you like to be the cashier at the grocery store who gets treated that way? I'm not saying you have to have a major talk with the kid while you're on line, but talking to someone on the phone when you are supposed to be communicating with another is just plain rude. Please, my friends, help me spread the word. Help me show people that this rude behavior can't be tolerated anymore. We can't keep blaming the world for all our woes when we are so self-involved and teach the next generation to be the same way! Okay, I'm getting off my soap box. I gotta go take a call.