The Phone Stacking Game

I vote this in as a game at the registers too...

Comments

[Jami]

Okay, stupid question only I could think of.

What if one of the phones on the pile vibrates really hard while ringing, knocking the whole pile over? Is it okay to touch them then? Or is the rule "No touching even if one phone is vibrating so hard it's at risk of falling off the table."

[mike]

restack by the person with the most authority aka grandpa / boss / supervisor. If more than one can be considered highest authority, the person with the darkest shirt or pants.

I'm making this up as I go along

[Madscoutleader]

Or you could, you know, switch 'em off before you stack 'em, and pay full attention to the people around you. Just a thought.

[mike]

the whole point of stacking phones is because people will not turn them off to begin with. Logic fail. Also, people do have custom tones and I have one for the people who call me when it is a true emergency. Very willing to pay to avoid having to clean up a bigger mess because I wanted to avoid paying for others dinner / lunch.

not trying to be rude, just pointing out all of the things that are important here and applying logic / common sense would help a lot.

[The Last Archimedean]

Or you could do what I do, and simply not bring your cell phone to a restaurant where you're supposed to interact with other people in person.

[Hellraiser]

So it's sorta like my submission about the restaurant that offers discounts for leaving your phone, but this solves the problem for people who don't want to leave a $400 with the receptionist. Awesome idea! Now I just have to figure out how to talk my friends into playing this game, especially since it means they risk having to buy me a lot of dinners.

[bellflowermoonfish]

I feel horrible because I do use my phone at the table, not because I'm talking to anyone, I just have too much anxiety about interacting withe people while eating. Lucky for me: both boyfriends have similar anxiety so we all sit there sharing stuff on our phones and it's made us much more at ease. Sorry, off topic, but it's just my perspective. (Still, loud phone talkers deserve to have their phone's flambeed!)

[candieaddict]

It's kinda of sad that have to come up with a "game" to get people to not use their phone at the table. Aside from anxiety like bellflower mentioned, it's just rude.

The person you're with wants to talk to you, not watch you talk/text on your phone.

I take my phone to restaurants yes, not the kitchen table though, but that's mostly in case of an emergency. I never pull it out at the table. That's rude.

[Humor_Me]

I was taken out to a very nice restaurant last summer with a couple of friends. I never go out because I don't have the money. I was a little miffed that my host whipped out her phone to play games while we were talking. I guess we just weren't interesting enough.

[perky]

I think I can modify this for my girl scouts. They all have phones and sometimes instead of paying attention they will be texting or playing games.

I think I will have a rule where anyone who gets caught playing with her phone has to do the hokey-pokey. Anyone who does not play with their phone gets a cookie or candy.

If only I can get my scout leaders to do the same. (I also run the girl scout service unit. So I have to deal not only with my own troop, but also 30 something leaders) I HATE it when I'm trying to give them very important information at a leader's meeting and half of them are texting away. Then 2 days latter my girl scout e-mail box if full of questions from the same people texting--if they had put down their phone they would have known the answer--cause I went over it at THE MEETING!!! BUT NO THEY WANTED TO TEXT!!! AAAAGGGGGG KILL ME NOW!!

ok. Sorry. End rant. It just gets to me some days.

[Nomnom]

Usually when I use a phone while at a restaurant its to look something up that comes up in discussion, or to plan the next activity. Yes, I've done this on a date. Do you want to see a movie after? Sure, let's look up what's playing.

[The Worst]

It's one thing to keep your phone on for emergencies, use it to ease anxiety, or use it in connection with the evening's events. My cousin is on a very strict diet for health reasons and uses her phone to look up nutrition info on the menu offerings. It's another thing to be playing games or on Facebook or doing things that could wait until later and ignoring the people you're with.

[bellflowermoonfish]

Whew, I'm grateful that I wasn't castigated! I really do feel bad about it. (Also, as some people mention, it can be fun to have your phone when something comes up in convo like a trivia dispute or when making spur of the moment plans.)

[TechDeath]

I avoid using my phone for casual chat but I typically answer it or check my messages from key people just in case it's an emergency and then get off the phone quickly if it is not.

[Skittles]

@bellflower
There is a monumental difference between using the phone in a way that is inclusive as you do and using the phone in a way that is exclusive like in the example Humor_Me made. Personally I'd much rather have all phones off with the exception of people who might get emergency calls. I do think people need to re-evaluate what an emergency is though. If no one is going into labor, being rushed to the ER, or nothing is on fire then I'm sorry you have a very absurd definition of the concept of emergency.

[Phone Systems]

Your work has always been a great source of inspiration for me. I refer you blog to many of my friends as well.