Today I spent several hours in the main public library, working at a long countertop that holds a sign saying “QUIET ZONE.”
To be utterly clear, the sign also features “no” symbols placed over a cellphone and a talking head.
Pretty straightforward, right? That rules-enforced peace is the reason I work here* fairly regularly.
And fairly regularly I’m accosted by cell yell. Today was one such day.
Hey, can you hear me?
I look up and a guy, maybe 19 years old, is approaching. Can you hear me? Yeah, what’s up? And naturally he plunks himself down in the Quiet Zone and opens up his laptop while continuing to talk.
At first I gave him the benefit of the doubt, in case he was wrapping up a call with a transplant surgeon or something. But he kept talking.
Finally I pointed to the sign and whispered a little chitchat of my own: Sir, this is a no-phone area. Could you continue the conversation somewhere else?
He looked at me with a mix of entitlement and incredulity. What?!? You mean I can’t use my phone anywhere I want? Then he sighed heavily and folded his laptop closed. I went back to working on my own.
Then, BAM! He slammed his backpack down on the countertop, apparently as hard as he could, causing me to jump halfway out of my seat. (I have PTSD and sudden noises are tough to take.) Entitlement Dude then stuffed his laptop into the bag and walked off, muttering into his phone, “I’m in the library and I guess I have to find another place to talk.”
Anyone else remember when libraries were precisely the places to go and not talk?
Shutting it down
Yep, I’m old, and yep, the library is full of people using smartphones. But you know something? They’re not talking on them. They’re checking e-mail, playing games, Googling who-knows-what.
Apparently the library powers are braced for eventual blather, though, since they created an area to be devoid of phones. It’s a popular place. The countertop is usually crowded with people using the Internet, doing homework (I’ve seen the worksheets) and playing video games (with headphones, thank goodness). Every now and then someone puts his head on the counter and dozes until a security guard comes over to enforce the no-sleeping rule.
I love the Quiet Zone. I love the fact that the Internet is more reliable here; today I was able to download and move several pictures into a Money Talks News assignment in about three minutes. At my house yesterday those pictures repeatedly refused to be inserted into the post, and I saw that “http error” message in my dreams last night (not kidding).
I love having people working near me, whether they’re doing math homework or possibly crafting the Great American Novel. I love the fact that the “New Arrivals” shelves beckon once I’m finished for the day, because that means an evening of reading something new.
Mostly what I love? The quiet.
So down with Cell Yell, and people, please please please consider disconnecting when in a public place. Or a public library.
*In fact, I wrote much of my second book here.
Related reading:
- When screen time = lifetime
- Living in the quieter spots of life
- Screen time for kids: How much is too much?
What an @sshat! I’m glad you spoke up even though he retaliated by slamming his backpack on the counter like an @sshat.
Well, I whispered up. But yes, I figure if there’s only one place in the building where people can work or play without distraction, it should remain quiet. The guy could have taken the call outdoors or in the library’s atrium (which has tables and a cafe).
Our library has a little nook where computers are located and is a no cell zone, but people ignore it. The rest of the library is for yelling and running, very disconcerting!
omg. I had the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago — a guy talking on his phone right in front of a QUIET sign. The library (and amtrak quiet cars) are the last two places left on earth that are supposed to be safe from cell yell. We must protect them! My other pet peeve: smartphone facebook-scrollers who whip out their phone multiple times during a movie. I always say something if the person is near me, like, CAN YOU PUT THAT AWAY PLEASE? But it drives me nuts if they’re across the theater.
Hey, Kimberly! I was just thinking about you today; planning to send an e-mail. I’ll be in New York in May for the ASJA conference and wondered if you’d have time for coffee. Or, given that it will be May in New York, for some iced tea.
Of course! Let’s do it.
Every library and other supposed to be quiet place needs a cell signal jammer. I wonder if those are available? 🙂
You know, I think they are…I seem to recall that the Oak Park Library had a cell-free zone because signals were muted. That was back in the early oughties. I wonder if it’s still in place? Probably not, since so many people access the library wi-fi with their smartphones.
Even if a place is not a “no phone zone” I think manners still apply. Talk quietly, in other words. At the Barnes and Noble café the other day there was a guy bragging at the top of his lungs about some sort of stock deal. After five minutes or so, I went over and sat at his table. I proceeded to intersperse my opinions into what he was saying. He asked me what I was doing and I said that since he obviously wanted to brag to the entire world about his financial prowess, I thought I would move closer to make sure I heard every word. He looked at me for a minute and then said into the phone, “I’ll call you back. There is some crazy old woman here bothering me so I have to leave.” Other people in the café actually clapped when he left. I also filed a complaint with the bookstore’s management. Before I took action, I had asked the café manager to ask the guy to quiet down and she said she didn’t want to “upset him” and “maybe other people don’t mind listening.” Another patron had asked the guy directly to pipe down, to no effect. I didn’t feel like I should be the one to leave when he was the one infringing on my space. The cell phones every place annoy me as much as TVs playing every place at top volume.
Agreed! And I would have clapped, too.
Loved how you handled that situation! What a jerk he was! I just cannot get over how attached/addicted people are to their cell phones! Couldn’t he have waited until he saw the friend in person and then told him about the stock deal?
You. Are. Amazing.
Ugh. I had something similar happen in a cafe only it wasn’t talking loudly, they were watching a movie at full volume on their laptop.
Whoa…Did you ask the manager to have the viewer dial it back or to use headphones?
We (2 kids, DH, and my sister) were at a restaurant today for my sister’s birthday and two guys were going to be seated at a table near us. One of them told the (heavily pregnant) hostess that no he did not want that table because he did not want to be sitting near children (said in a voice definitely for us to hear). Later when my sister went to the restroom, she said the same guy was talking really loudly on his cellphone at his table, loud enough to for her to hear his conversation and thus to disturb people around him. Some people are just jerks.
Yes. Some people really are just jerks.
Thanks for reading, and for leaving a comment.
I’ve noticed that people are much more involved in texting or playing games on their phones rather than screaming into them. Which I really like. I don’t want to hear your side of the conversation. Our commuter bus line, which goes into New York City has a large no cell phone sign in the bus. The bus driver will even get on the PA system to tell people to hang up. So it ends up being a pleasant drive into the city.
Thank you for the timely blog. I too love the library…Looking back not so long ago I may have been one of those “jerks”. I was sitting in an area with a cluster of chairs near the magazines reading. An older gentleman came over and struck up a conversation but was a bit hard of hearing…So to chat with the gentleman one had to talk a bit louder and repeat yourself…often. After a few minutes a staff member came over and said there had been a “complaint”… and could we quiet down…Gotta admit I was a bit startled BUT I complied…The gentleman said…”what did she say?” I replied… “that it was time for me to go”… Thank you for a different point of view….and reminding me that the library is a “quiet place” not a coffee shop….
We are fortunate enough to live in a college town with a county library and the university libraries. The county library must serve those without sitters and all without home computers and some days the whole atmosphere is like a zoo.
Even parts of the university are rowdy, but the 4th floor is sacrosanct/an enforced Silent Study Zone. I wish for you the same.
I miss the library being a quiet zone.
“In case he was wrapping up a call with a transplant surgeon…” Best line ever!
I work in a public library and yes, it is a yell cell zone. The acoustics in our building were poorly designed so the staff at the circulation desk are heard everywhere. I have to remind myself to hush as much as I remind the patrons!
Good for you that you spoke up for yourself. Most people come to us.
I continue to be amazed at the rudeness of people today. I would never win any “Miss Etiquette” award, but jeez, a No Cell Phones sign is STILL a No Cell Phones sign! Not sure if we should teach kids manners or reading comprehension in school…
I’m surprised the librarian didn’t say something. Publics libraries here on Oahu have security guards in them in case people want to talk on cell phones, break rules or to make sure the homeless don’t over take things. Even when its preschool story time the kids are taught to keep the noise to a minimum so if preschoolers get it don’t understand. I know you sometimes cant help it but if so step outside or get a private study hall where it can still be quiet or loud if your the only one in there.
The nearest librarian was quite a distance from the Quiet Zone, unfortunately. And I agree: If you have to take a call, pack up and take it somewhere else.
Our library used to ask people to turn off phones or set them to vibrate. Haven’t been there in a while, so I don’t know if they still do.
I can deal with a brief call, like “What book did you want me to look for?” or “What time will you be home?” But truly, the only words you should ever need to say on the cell phone in the library (if you pick up at all) are, “Hang on, I’m in the library. Let me go outside/call you back.” And it could stand to be accompanied by an apologetic glance at surrounding patrons. Didn’t people use to do that?
Our church includes a reminder to turn off cell phones (or put them in “worship mode” if you have children in the nursery) at the beginning of every service. You wouldn’t think it would need to be said, but every time there’s a rustle as people take out their phones to comply.
I haven’t – as yet – noticed people speaking on their phones during church service – but I have noticed a few filming things (and not just baptisms or that sort of thing) and I am so tired of viewing things through someone else’s phone screen as they hold it up to do their filming! Put the damn thing away and pay attention to what is going on right now!
I did give my ESL class a laugh last night. I had just explained the phrase “Pet Peeve” and told them that my PP was people yelling into their cell phones – and that usually it was a really boring conversation. I keep threatening to pretend that I’m on my cell plotting a robbery or a murder – just to see the look on people’s faces!
But the time that really took the cake was a bus ride where someone’s iPod was blaring – even though he was wearing headphones – people kept glaring but he paid no attention. Then – someone’s cell phone started ringing and ringing – of course it turned out to be the idiot with the headphones – his music was so loud that he was the only one who couldn’t hear the phone. We all burst out laughing – and yes, he missed his call!
Hahahahahahahahaha…thanks for sharing that.
Well, this is reassuring. I thought I was the only crazy old lady left on the planet who HATES listening to people yap on the phone. Yea verily, have hated it ever since the first phone slid into the first consumer’s hands.
The other day, though, I was visiting a mall with a friend when his daughter called him on his cell phone. To begin with, he’s a little hard of hearing. To continue with, his phone is one of those clamshell things that look like they couldn’t possibly work and that are ditzy to try to operate. And to end with, his daughter lives in Germany and could not reasonably be asked to call back several hours later when he would be home.
He sat there and YELLED into the phone for a good 15 minutes, discussing family business and a delinquent grand-daughter and this that and the other, on and on and interminably ON.
Was it rude for him to engage a conversation at all when he supposedly was spending time with a friend, who now had to perch on the edge of a planter and wait for him to get off the horn? Probably. But on the other hand, he did need to talk with the daughter and by the time he got home it would be the middle of the night for her.
Was it annoying and embarrassing to be with someone who was hollering into the phone? You bet. But again: he doesn’t hear all that well, and he evidently thinks you have to yell to get your voice to reach a dinky little cell phone.
Since we can’t make cell phones go away and we certainly can’t make most people have any consideration for those around them, I don’t know what the solution is. Just stay away from public places, I guess.
You’re definitely not the only one who hates it. Trust me on this.
I LOVE the library, for the smell of books AND the silence! Always have. Fortunately, mine is still quiet. I don’t even bring my phone in with me!
The movie theatre, however, is not. It never ceases to amaze me how people cannot go five minutes, let alone an entire movie, without their cell phone whether texting , scrolling or answering it!
I was riding bikes on Sunday and literally was almost hit by a clown driving a convertible ( IN bumper to bumper beach traffic) – because he was looking at his phone and not the road. One hand on wheel, one on phone scrolling – wife in passenger seat and kid in back seat. I said to my friend “he must not love his family if he can’t put that phone down while driving a 2 ton vehicle!
I was almost hit in a Seattle crosswalk by a woman using the phone. She looked up just in time and slammed on the brakes, panic writ large on her face.
I locked eyes with her and said — in a pleasant, conversational tone — “You know, if you kill me, your car insurance will go up.”