My husband and I took our son to the dentist office this past Friday. He was getting 3 teeth pulled and we all were pretty anxious about it. The waiting area was very kid friendly - full of electronic games, children's programs on the t.v. and books. There even was a computer for the adults to utilize with access to the Internet. As we were waiting, I noticed a mom sitting in front of a child's game screen nervously tapping her foot. After a few seconds, she got out her cell phone. For the next 10 minutes, I had the distinct displeasure of hearing every detail of what happened to her son as she explained it to her friend under the premise "please pray for him". I can tell you what school he went to, where he tripped and fell, what shoes he was wearing when he fell, how many times she told him to change his shoes, how many teeth were knocked loose, the school staff who helped him and what Christmas presents she bought them last year ("they take care of the kids who's moms are involved" so I understand). I can also tell you how much blood was involved, how much ice, what they would have to do if the teeth needed to be pulled ("knock him out for sure") and how awesome the school was during this "crisis". She hung up just as my husband was making the motion to hang himself. Truly, the nurse saved us both from further torture to tell the mom he was going to be fine. After David got taken back, we decided the "not-as-kid-friendly" waiting room down the hall was more our style, so we headed back to wait.....and pray. No sooner were we in that waiting room does the woman next to me pick up the phone to make a call. Do you know hard it is to read an article on stress free parenting in Parents Magazine while the person next to you is talking about her niece who has been burping and farting every two minutes for the past 3 days? Hard, let me tell ya. I know more about these women....whom I DO NOT know....than I do some of my closest friends. The problem with that is - I don't want to.
I feel violated. I was subjected to these moronic conversations against my own will, unable to leave because my sweet little boy was getting 3 teeth pulled and for crying out loud, if something happened, I wanted to be there! I was trapped.
Much like those of us who don't smoke have historically been subjected to others that do, we now face a new enemy: The ignorant cell phone user. Honestly, if either of these women would have lit up a cigarette, I would have politely asked them to take it outside. Why in the world would they think other people in the room want to hear their conversation? I wish I would have had the nerve to tap them on the shoulder and say "pardon me, I really don't want to hear your conversation, would you mind talking elsewhere? I don't want to be subjected to second hand conversation - it's endangering my health" (and obviously the health of my husband who decided he'd rather watch his firstborn get 3 teeth yanked out than listen to this conversation any further - and he hates blood - especially when it's coming out of his 9 year old).
There are designated areas for smoking - there should be for cell phone users. Quite frankly, and forgive me for being un-christian, but if people want to kill themselves with smoking....or hideous cell phone conversations, so be it. But those of us making different choices for ourselves should be spared. I feel a "freedom from speech" movement coming on!
