Funerals are the worst.

Unless it's a call from the deceased.

I went to a concert recently where the master of ceremonies got up to introduce the musicians and his cell phone rang! He excused himself and we could hear, "Julie, I told you not to call Daddy at work unless something really important came up! What is it? No. Yes, your brother is in charge. This isn't the kind of important I meant! Be a good girl and I'll be home soon. Bye." Then he said, to a mumbling audience, "I am so sorry, it was my daughter. She's only six, and she thinks ice cream is an emergency. So this doesn't happen during the performance, [he got out his phone] I'm turning my cell off right now. As a courtesy to the performers, we ask that anyone in the audience with a cell or a beeper do the same. [laughter from the seats] Thank you." [wild applause]

We have less trouble with cell phones in the library since we moved into a steel-reinforced concrete building. The signal breaks up. I can't frisk people for phones, but I'm delighted to inform them, when they get visibly frustrated, that the structure interferes with the signal, and they will have to go outside to the courtyard to send or receive. heh heh

The issue of silence, on the other hand... Well, I don't work in the quiet library. I work in Youth Services. Sometimes I think we should have a pay phone in my department, for the teenagers.

Regards--
Mary Anne