If you know me well, you know that I love my gadgets. In fact, I’m posting this from my Motorola Q right now. However, with great technology comes great responsibility.
Whipping out your cell phone in the middle of an actual conversation is rude; regardless of whether you are answering a call or reading and replying to an SMS. I think we can all agree on that, right? Other pieces of cell phone etiquitte that have evolved over the past several years include being mindful of your ringer volume (or, more importantly, the on/off status of the ringer) in various public locations. That’s why most phones have a vibrate feature!
However, I think it’s time to add another to that list: when and where to wear your bluetooth headset. Last night, my wife and I were at dinner and we couldn’t help but notice the guy sitting at a nearby table who was obviously on a date wearing his headset the whole time. There was a romantic light blue glow radiating from his right ear throughout the entire meal. The best part about the story is that his phone NEVER RANG AT ALL! At least he could have arranged for a buddy to call him halfway through the date so he could pretend to talk someone through the life saving brain surgery of several orphaned kittens or something. You know, make it look good.
You know? Nothing says, “You are not as important as whoever is not currently calling me” quite like that romantic blue glow.
Don’t get me wrong; I love my bluetooth headset. In fact, I just had to buy my third one because I wear them out from over use. In fact, mine stays on and connected most of the time even if I don’t have it in my ear. Maybe I’ve watched too many episodes of 24, I don’t know. Anyway, if I start to carry on a face-to-face conversation with someone, I will take it out of my ear out of repect for the other person - especially if I don’t kow the person well. And I will definitely not wear it while I’m having dinner with a woman as beautiful as my wife (as if that were possible!).
Seriously, if you are in a situation were you can use you phone in the traditional way, do so. Otherwise you just look like you are trying to appear more important than you really are.