Dining Etiquette

Cell phones in restaurants drive me nuts.

Unfortunately I have an emergency cell phone. When I must answer it, I leave the dining area immediately. This rarely happens because my life is on a pretty even keel and anyone who pesters me needlessly with non emergencies must buy me chocolate. It's a good system.

Not everyone lives by the same rules.

When a group of friends and I were out one night at a restaurant, a gentleman walked over to our table and stood right beside me yakking on his cell phone. He was completely oblivious to the fact that his hovering converstion was disturbing our table.

We stopped talking. Some pointed glances didn't work and now he had his back turned to us. I picked up my cloth napkin and twisted it. The yakker was so close I had to lean away from him to draw back my arm for a good snap. But snap I did, a gentle little snap on his hind quarters to get his attention. Everyone at the table laughed and he hurried away with his phone still glued to his ear.

After he finished his conversation he came back to apologise. He sheepishly admitted that he had been asked to leave his own table by his friends and he was not paying any attention when he continued his conversation.

We all had a good laugh.

No harm, no foul.