Cell phone users should show some respect to fellow bus passengers

Well, it has finally happened. The inmates are now running the asylum. Everyone is talking about the symptoms. Marlboro is taking steps to plug the hole in the dike, but the damage is already out of control.

Cell phones are now the national disease.

Unfortunately, I am just old enough to remember when the expression "common courtesy" had an everyday, working definition. Today it is almost totally forgotten. Spend some time on a commuter bus to see modern rudeness at work.

The time is 6:30 (a.m. or p.m. — take your pick). A bus filled with sleeping, reading or paper-working travelers is on the highway. In the middle of the silence, 48 out of 49 passengers hear the dreaded beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep of the "cell phone that just can’t wait."

We get to listen, at full voice, to "The Most Important Traveler in New Jersey" discuss what’s for dinner, what movie he/she will see that night, what account did/did not write an order, how the soccer/basketball/baseball game went, and assorted other vital matters that have to be dealt with now and not in another 20 minutes, in privacy, at home.

But, here comes the "Alice in Wonderland" new logic. When sleeping passengers complain about the unwelcome intrusions, they are told, "Who do you think you are to interrupt my call? Cell phones are a fact of the modern world. If you don’t like it, find a different way to travel."

The majority, who show respect to fellow commuters, are intimidated by the few rude, offensive, insensitive riders who have no idea that there are other people on the bus and do not care when that fact is pointed out.

When did rude and nasty become the norm? If you are not finished working, do not leave the office. If you want to know how your kid’s day went, get home and ask. That is what families do. If you don’t have a date by 6:30 p.m. on Friday, the odds are you are not getting one on the bus. Just go home.

While I am not as important as you, I do use the bus to rest from my working day so I can enjoy my family, a little refreshed, and would like to have that opportunity. Of course there are emergencies, accidents and delays, but those are exceptions that do not require a loud ring or a lengthy conversation beyond informing business or family about unexpected lateness.

Marlboro has banned cell phone use in moving vehicles. One of the northern New Jersey bus companies has outlawed them on their commuter line. It is time for NJ Transit, Coach-Suburban and Academy to issue strict, enforceable controls that protect the rights and comfort of the vast majority of passengers from the abusers.

Turn the cell phones off on the bus. Retrieve your messages and return calls when you get off. You are not in your kitchen; speak softly when a call is unavoidable. No one else is interested. Reception stinks all over the state. Since you need to shout, you should not be making the call in the first place. Everyone in the Northern Hemisphere knows that there is no reception on Route 9. Why make the calls in the first place?

Unfortunately, with Walkman units, laptops and cell phones, many people have become so self-contained that they no longer notice or respond to the rest of us. I hope some of you recognize yourselves and remember the manners your mothers, or in some cases, your grandmothers taught: Have respect for other people — always. I will promise not to read my book out loud if you agree to hold the calls until you get off the bus.

David Finkelstein

Manalapan