Here's a follow-up to our post on Cell Phones
BFT found an interesting comment by Peter King of Sports Illustrated in his weekly column on SI.com dated 1/2/06 (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/peter_king/01/01/week17/5.html).
In the section entitled Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week, he makes a statement: "Why cell phones are as maddeningly annoying as they are good for society."
He goes on to describe his frustration with a fellow passenger on a a flight from Tampa, Florida. This fellow Passenger decides to take out a cell phone and call a friend while waiting on the tarmac. This other passenger yells, screams and cusses to his friend.
"DAMN IT!'' the guy said into his cell. Now people craned their necks. "You hear that? ... Yeah, we're out here on the runway! Idiots can't get anything right ... Now I don't know when we'll be at the gate. You'll just have to wait for me. You're right outside security, right? ... I don't know, five minutes? Maybe five minutes, 10. Look, I'll call you AS SOON as I know ANYTHING.''
In the end Mr. King has an interesting conclusion and the entire passage is worth reading. Mr King wrote:
"Remember the good old days of air travel? When you landed, sat in your seat, got up when the flight was over, walked off the plane, kissed your wife or just walked to the car? And the person waiting for you looked at the monitor, saw that the plane landed and figured you'd be out in a few minutes? The way I see it, this man just spent five minutes of his life in the most needless communication exercise anyone could imagine -- and I'm sure he, along with millions of others, will do the exact same thing every day they travel with these little phones."
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