On the subject of rude people, I think today's "Pearls Before Swine" will have immense appeal for you, Amy.

In line at McD's yesterday, the woman in front of me opened her minivan door and tossed her old McD's drink (cup and all) next to the ordering speaker. As I pulled up behind her when she was getting her food, I yelled out "Hey, that was real classy tossing your cup on the ground back there!". She sped away rather quickly. It's not like there wasn't a trashcan right up at the end of the drivethru, conveniently located for tossing trash out windows.

There are a lot of swine out there!

The fact that you fantasize about things like that is part of what makes you awesome. Lol

I'm rude on my cell phone a lot, but I don't know any way around it.

I need to manage my father's health care issues (making appointments, getting reports from therapists, dealing with frequent issues with his aides, etc.). There's no private place to have these conversations, and I need to have them during business hours, working around these people's schedules. So my co-workers know more about my private life than I -- and they, likely -- am comfortable with. But the only private place within a three block radius is the bathroom at Starbucks, and I doubt people would appreciate me holding it up several times a day for phone calls.

I've apologized to my co-workers a few times for the interruptions, but I'd be annoyed if I were them.

Treat cell phone use like cigarette use. Outdoors and away from others.

This is why you use a headset. You can have a phone conversation in public without bothering people and broadcasting yourself to the crowd. A friend of mine works for a trading firm in NYC that issued personal headsets to all of their employees for this very reason, and they emphasize that they should always be used when out of the office. Because they came to realize that their people were being spied on when they went to lunch and after work.

Because if they're used properly, you can't hear the person speaking, unless you deliberately try to. You'll see people in NYC who are very good at this. You can be standing right next to them and not notice that they're speaking on the phone until you see their lips moving.

As I wrote in my book, a one-sided conversation, no matter what the volume, is disturbing to people in a way a two-sided conversation is not, because your brain tries to fill in the other side of the conversation.

I get this, only I don't see a way around it. There's no place to be alone outside in Midtown Manhattan, and everything is so loud that even if I managed to find a place where nobody was standing or sitting, I'd have to scream into my phone to be heard over the background noise, which is why I generally try to find an indoor spot and just keep my voice down.

I'm going to try the headset idea. Hadn't thought of that.