Barbarians At The Gates

Society is teetering on the edge of anarchy as more and more people believe talking on their cell phones is a God-given right that trumps everyone else's right to a little peace and quiet.

Woman feels 'disrespected' after being kicked off train

A woman who was pulled of an Amtrak train by police after passengers complained she was speaking too loudly on a cell phone said she felt "disrespected" by the entire incident.

Lakeysha Beard of Tigard was accused of disorderly conduct after police said she got into a "verbal altercation" with train passengers on Sunday. Passengers had complained she refused to put down her cell phone. Conductors stopped the train in Salem, where police got involved.

Beard told KATU she was indeed talking on her phone, but said she didn't understand why she had to be escorted off the train.

Why? Here's why. She violated Amtrak rules prohibiting the use of cell phones in designated "quiet cars," like the one in which Beard was riding. When asked by other passengers to tone it down she "got aggressive." She ignored the conductor's request to comply with the rules. So he did what her parents should have done years ago, and taught her that there are consequences to that type of behavior.

An Amtrak official said a number of passengers complained that Beard was being disrespectful during her prolonged phone conversations on the train. Salem police reported she had been on the phone non-stop since the train pulled out of Oakland, Calif. 16 hours earlier.

16 hours?!? How on earth could anyone have so much to say that it takes 16 hours?!? My ears would have started bleeding long before then.

While the train incident is an extreme example, social etiquette expert and instructor Jodi Blackwood said too many people don't exercise basic courtesy when it comes to using their phones.

She said when people speak too loudly and have personal conversations in public places they don't always realize the message they're sending.

"What does that say to them? It says that you're only thinking of yourself and that you are only aware of what you need and what you are doing and you are a less considerate person," Blackwood said.

Here's another example of someone who thinks the rules don't apply to them..

Well-Educated but Obnoxious Cell Phone User Ejected from Train

The NY train passenger was caught on a cell phone video ranting to the train employee who had asked her to quiet down. (The video has since been pulled from YouTube.) Numerous times, the rider repeated that she was not "some little hoodlum".

At the same time, she dropped numerous F-bombs during her conversation.

Several times, the woman refers to herself as a well-educated woman. She rudely asks if the train employee is aware of how many schools she's been to.

Hey, I've been to several schools as well. I'm even eligible to go back to some of them. But I don't go around broadcasting my private conversations for the world to hear. I also don't use profanity in the course of normal conversations (unless I'm talking about my ex-wives, in which case it's describing, not cussing.)

Regardless of how well-educated she is, the woman seems to have missed the lectures on common sense and common courtesy. She's basically saying, "I am educated, therefore the rules don't apply to me."

Some of us parents are scrupulous about behavior expectations for our children in public. We don't allow our children to be loud, disruptive or disrespectful. We expect them to speak in a reasonable tone. Then along comes some adult who talks like a sailor and babbles loudly and incessantly. The only good thing that can be said is that it provides a good negative example. I always tell my kids: "See that? That's how I don't want you to act."

Actually, it seems like kids today are more into texting than talking. I've seen my daughter and her friends texting each other in the car as I drive them places. Of course, that's proably because they don't want me to know what they're saying...