Thursday, June 14, 2007

Impressive.

I was walking home from my run yesterday (didn't I just sound athletic there for a minute?) when I see this guy coming towards me, slowly pedalling a bike and talking on a cell phone. My first thought was how brave he was, because I'm not coordinated enough to sit on a couch and talk on a cell phone at the same time if the couch doesn't have arms.

As he approached the stop sign, he began to wobble. Having the scars on my knees to prove it, I knew what was about to happen. Sure enough, the bike fell over. He took great staggering steps trying not to fall over with the bike, and staggered head first into the stop sign pole before regaining his balance. He was not wearing a helmet, but the pole still made a clanging sound.

This is not what impressed me. What impressed the bejesus out of me was he kept talking on the phone. He maintained his end of the conversation, like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Even when he stood up, he didn't say, "Holy shitballs! I totally almost died!" He. Kept. Talking.

Perhaps he's an air-traffic controller, or a 911 dispatcher but dammit -- that took skill. However, it doesn't make up for being a total moron in every other regard. Cell phones should only be used while driving, providing you have a coffee and map book open against the steering wheel to balance the phone on in case of emergencies. I mean, come on people.

2 comments:

Rebecca 'Becky' Heaman said...

I would like to say that it takes just as much skill to keep talking on your cell while in the loo!

Heidi Schempp Fournier said...

Oh, Becky, that is just gross!!! :)