Discounted Food If You Stop Being Rude - 5% Off If You Unplug

I took some personal liberty with the first part of the title as I couldn't resist.

I am a pretty patient person when it comes to every day life, but this subject pushes my buttons. I guess you could say I am kind of hung up on it.... Yes. Painful I know.

In all seriousness I do get really frustrated when I go into a restaurant to eat and phones are going off right and left. Not only that, but it seems like all of the folks who answer those phones have a hearing issue, or at the very least the person they are talking to is about 95% deaf because I can always hear their conversations word for word as if they are screamed through a bullhorn.

I don't want to hear about Uncle Brightman getting drunk last night and using your lazy boy as a urinal. I couldn't care less if you are totally done with your tramp of a girlfriend because she and Uncle Brightman spent a few sordid nights together. Call me crazy, but that's just the kind of silly woman I am.

I ran across this article and thought....Hey! I am definitely going there for dinner. At least it will lower the chances of me having to hear about someone finding polyps south of the border and what they were going to have to get done about it for cripe's sake.

I hope more places consider doing the same thing this one did....

RESTAURANT OFFERS DISCOUNT, IF YOU UNPLUG

Those of use who are always connected are guilty of peeking at our phone during a nice dinner out. Hence, the smartphone screen glow has replaced the candle as the most common type of lighting at restaurants. It’s not always intentional, it just happens, almost like a reflex. Well, what if someone offered you an incentive not to use your phone during dinner, maybe 5 percent off a hefty dinner bill?

That’s what Mark Gold is extending to diners at his upscale Los Angeles spot, EVA Restaurant. The offer is printed at the bottom of EVA’s menu and is suggested by the server. If you decide you’d like to go for it, you can give your phone to the receptionist and it will be held near the entrance in a basket with your name on it to be retrieved when you leave. It’s important to note that this isn’t a ban on cell phones, just a suggestion with a 5 percent incentive. According to Gold, about 40 percent of the patrons coming into EVA have participated.

Gold told Kai Ryssdal on American Public Media’s Marketplace, that he felt phones were a distraction from conversation and connection at the dinner table. “For us, it's the art of the lost conversation -- how people don't converse anymore when they sit at the table. What you see now is a cell phone on the dining room table. We're trying to get away from that.” He admits that he's guilty of this violation in dining etiquette and says that’s part of the reason he decided to try this out.

You can read more here: news.discovery.com...

He has a point about the lost conversation. A couple of months ago, my husband and I went to The Outback Steakhouse for a special dinner. We rarely get to do that. I noticed that there was a younger couple in the booth next to us and the girl had her cell phone out texting like mad. I looked over again and he had his cell phone out also texting like mad. I don't think I saw them talk to each other more than twice while we were there and even then it involved one or the other of them showing the opposite one what was on their screen. It's like they were there together....but not. I wondered to myself, why even bother?

Technology seems to be a blessing and a curse. Would you unplug for a discount? Does he have a point?

I keep my phone put up in places like this because it does irritate me when folks answer their's and speak loud enough for everyone there to hear them. It doesn't irritate me to see couples doing what I saw that couple doing at the Outback, that just makes me sad for them in a way.

I'd always wanted to get myself one of those phone jammers I'd read about over the years. I never have found a source I thought was real and last I knew the FCC said no no for us to have one...but it would be fun wouldn't it? At the time, I imagined using it while in traffic jams in the truck. It's already sitting high enough to see down on everyone around so killing cell phones in a place like Los Angeles would be hilarious.... (Okay, maybe a warped sense of humor I admit it)

I'd love it for something like this though. There is nothing worse than some kid banging away on their giant LCD screen in a dark theater or ...of ALL the offenses...a ringing phone in a nice dining room. Dante' never saw all the levels....there has to be a special one for people using gizmos when they shouldn't!

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
I'd always wanted to get myself one of those phone jammers I'd read about over the years. I never have found a source I thought was real and last I knew the FCC said no no for us to have one...but it would be fun wouldn't it? At the time, I imagined using it while in traffic jams in the truck. It's already sitting high enough to see down on everyone around so killing cell phones in a place like Los Angeles would be hilarious.... (Okay, maybe a warped sense of humor I admit it)

I'd love it for something like this though. There is nothing worse than some kid banging away on their giant LCD screen in a dark theater or ...of ALL the offenses...a ringing phone in a nice dining room. Dante' never saw all the levels....there has to be a special one for people using gizmos when they shouldn't!

edit on 20-8-2012 by Wrabbit2000 because: (no reason given)

I would to have one of those myself! I also believe you are right about there being a level for those folks alone... one can hope for that at any rate.

Wonderful article, S&F!

What I find crazy is whenever my family visits a theme park, everyone is on their phones either talkin or textin! Come on, you are at Disneyworld and you'd rather text than pay attention to the awesomeness around you?

We were getting on a roller coaster when the girl in front of us got a call....we're riding up the hill to the top and she's talking away on her cell phone. Telling whoever about how she's stuck at the theme park and its soooo boring. I couldn't believe it. You're on a roller coaster! Enjoy it!

I guess its kinda like the camera phenomenon. People so busy taking pictures that they don't actually take the time to just be in the moment.

People are becoming more ignorant and rude everyday with these cellphones.
It's becoming a nuisance, to the cellphone user, if you tell them to get off their phone!
How ridiculous is that?

It's getting beyond "out-of-control" and I believe that it needs to stop.
But...you can't correct the bad habits of others, without some recourse.

I hate the fact that people believe it's an "extension" of themselves.
That's a load of bullcrap.

Get off your phone and look around.
People don't want to hear you talk into it.
(loud enough to annoy others)

Be courteous for God's sake!

Originally posted by smyleegrl
Wonderful article, S&F!

What I find crazy is whenever my family visits a theme park, everyone is on their phones either talkin or textin! Come on, you are at Disneyworld and you'd rather text than pay attention to the awesomeness around you?

We were getting on a roller coaster when the girl in front of us got a call....we're riding up the hill to the top and she's talking away on her cell phone. Telling whoever about how she's stuck at the theme park and its soooo boring. I couldn't believe it. You're on a roller coaster! Enjoy it!

I guess its kinda like the camera phenomenon. People so busy taking pictures that they don't actually take the time to just be in the moment.

I know what you mean and that is a perfect analogy. Too much is taken for granted these days it seems. I have never been to Disneyworld, but I can not imagine texting through the whole experience. I think folks have become so accustomed to having "more" and getting to do "more" that they have lost some appreciation for it.

Originally posted by havok
People are becoming more ignorant and rude everyday with these cellphones.
It's becoming a nuisance, to the cellphone user, if you tell them to get off their phone!
How ridiculous is that?

It's getting beyond "out-of-control" and I believe that it needs to stop.
But...you can't correct the bad habits of others, without some recourse.

I hate the fact that people believe it's an "extension" of themselves.
That's a load of bullcrap.

Get off your phone and look around.
People don't want to hear you talk into it.
(loud enough to annoy others)

Be courteous for God's sake!

I gave you a standing ovation though you couldn't see it. You hit the nail on the head....short and sweet and I couldn't have said it better.