11:15 p.m. | 2005-02-25 The Power Of Cellphones. I met a friend of mine, Motorcycle Guy (MG) for lunch today. I haven�t mentioned him for a while because we haven�t lunched together for many moons. Anyway, I asked him to meet me at a local dive he�s never been to before. Great food� it�s been too long since I�ve been there. We met up, ordered lunch, settled in to talk and of course, his cellphone rang. It was actually somewhat of an important call � by that I mean, more serious than the caller experiencing a short bout of boredom. (Seriously people, learn to entertain yourselves.) I didn�t mind though since MG is very considerate and quite succinct when it comes to phone calls. So, I�m sitting there � entertaining myself by people watching � while MG was handling a situation. Because I was people watching, I noticed that a couple of people entered the restaurant. A man and a woman. As the man walked past our table, he looked at MG and touched him on the shoulder in that �hey there� way as people do when they know someone. The shoulder thing was done in the standard �oh, I can see you�re talking on the phone� just wanted to say hi� type of way. What�s interesting from my point of view, as a people watcher and passive participant in this friendly gesture, was that MG didn�t seem to notice this greeting at all. Usually, people talking on cellphones look up, acknowledge the person and go on with their conversation. MG? Nothing. No reaction at all. A little strange for him� he�s quite professional and friendly. And, shortly, MG hung up his phone. That�s when this happened. (CI:) (Trying to be discreet considering my question thereby whispering.) Who�s that guy that touched you? (MG:) What? (CI:) That guy that touched you� who is he? (MG:) What are you talking about? (CI:) While you were talking on the phone some guy came by and touched you on the shoulder. He seems to know you. Who is he? (MG:) Really? Somebody came by and touched me? I was gonna ask you if someone had done that because it felt like someone did, but I wasn�t sure. (CI:) Obviously, you�re not homophobic. Yes, a really tall man came up behind you and touched your shoulder and YOU DIDN�T REACT AT ALL. (MG:) That was probably really rude, huh? (CI:) Well, yeah. And, a little strange. I mean he walked up and touched you and you didn't react at all. Who is he? (MG:) (Looking around the restaurant.) Oh hey, that�s so-and-so. (Making some very serious direct eye contact with me.) Do NOT let me leave this restaurant without saying hi to him. Man, I was really rude. (CI:) Heh. I thought it was funny. Rude, of course, but kind of funny. I mean, he touched you and everything. Just to note, it was kind of awkward to ask MG if he noticed that some guy had �touched him�. And, it wasn�t really comfortable to keep repeating that phrase either. Which is why I kept whispering. You try it. Not so easy is it? And, MG did go over to the guy and say �hi� before we left. See what you miss when you�re wrapped all up in your cellphone. I have to say, though, that you cellphone users make it really, really easy for me to entertain myself. your thoughts? seed flower