Two Little Rock restaurants ban cell phones

[ChoralScholar]

From the Arkansas Times Daily Blog:

I post this because I wonder if it is happening other places - and also to open a dialog on cell-phone free restaurants vis-a-vis smoke-free-restaurants.
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http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2007/06/now_if_they_could_do_something.aspx

Effective immediately, Nancy Tesmer and Kathy Webb of Lilly’s Dim Sum, and Capi Peck and Brent Peterson of Trio’s, have made their respective restaurants cell phone-free. The four business owners said that cell phone use is disruptive to other patrons, creates excessive noise in the dining rooms, and is just plain out of control. The four say that they want to enhance the dining experience for their patrons, just as going smoke free did, and create an oasis in the 24/7 wired world in which we live. Tesmer, Webb, Peck, and Peterson encourage other restaurants to follow suit, and will be happy to share their tips with fellow restaurateurs who want to go cell phone-free but are not sure of the best way. Also, Lilly’s is creating a list of cell phone free restaurants on their website for customers’ convenience.

Webb says that feedback has been extremely positive. “Most people read the sign at the host stand, or the article in our newsletter, and turn their phones off. We have gone to a couple of groups and quietly asked them to finish their conversation outside. Customers are thanking us for doing this.”

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2007/06/now_if_they_could_do_something.aspx
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Comments?

[ret5hd]

1. Here here!!

[Richard Steele]

2. If I lived there, they'd be bumped to the top of my "places to eat" list.

Maybe I should forward this article to some of
my local restaurants? Hmmmm.....

[DURHAM D]

3. Good for them.

Using a cell phone in a restaurant is the same as saying "Look at me - I need attention"

[ChoralScholar]

5. I wonder who is SOOO important

that they can't take 30 minutes out to eat. These are the same people who talk while taking a dump in a public restroom.

[northzax]

4. Good for them

As private businesses, they can ban any behaviour they want.

[sueh]

6. But, but, if diners had to go outside to use their phones,

they might run into the smokers who need a ciggie. and, and, then where would everybody go? :sarcasm:

[DavidDvorkin]

7. What bullshit

I'd take them off my list, if I lived there.

The problem is with people speaking too loud, not whether they're doing so on cell phones. When I'm on my cell, I speak at the same volume as when I'm not on it.

[kestrel91316]

10. Well, I imagine that lack of decibel meters or the training to use them

is what has led to this rather commonsense measure.

[ChoralScholar]

11. I wish everyone did.

There are quite a few people (even myself, unconsciously) who speak louder on a cell phone than in a flesh-and-blood conversation.

[petronius]

27. I don't think that's entirely true

People do tend to speak loudly into cell phones, but even at normal volumes the one-sided, start-and-stop nature of a cell phone conversation is distracting (IMO). It's not a sound pattern that fades easily into the background or that we're trained to overlook...

[Raine]

30. That's true but

it seems that a majority of people who use cell phones in public can't get passed the idea that they are not talking thru two tin cans tied together with string. I keep my voice down but I sure get annoyed by the number of people who don't.

[BlooInBloo]

8. Good. I hope they ban a bunch more stuff non-smokers love.

[RiDuvessa]

9. Woo Hoo!!

If I lived there, I would never eat anywhere else.

[KT2000]

12. Yeah!

Dining out is a kind of shared social experience. People on cell phones ruins that.

I heard of a fast food place that had to post a sign informing people to NOT be on their cell phones when placing their orders.
People need some basic lessons in manners it seems.

[ret5hd]

13. No soup for you!

[WindRavenX]

14. nothing pisses me off more than having some douchebag while on a cell/bluetooth...

...place their coffee order(I work at starbucks) WHILE STILL TALKING ON THEIR CELL.

:nuke: :nuke:

[Kingshakabobo]

15. I hate that too. Don't just want to say "Step aside and let the..........

.........next person in line order while you finish your fucking conversation."??

I've been SOOOO tempted, on several occasions, to jump ahead and say "do mind if I put my order in while you jack your jaw?"


The other day I actually saw some jack-ass on the phone while he was in the barber chair . I told the owner of the shop, who was cutting my hair at the time, to go over and tell the guy: "excuse me would you mind not talking on the phone while my employee cuts your hair......he might be tempted to slice your ear off with the fucking straight razor and my insurance won't cover it."

[WindRavenX]

16. seriously! And it ALWAYS happens when it's REALLY busy

And they always order a really complicated drink and get pissed when I ask them questions to confirm their order so it's made right :eyes:

[mondo joe]

18. Or, for me, people who stand there for 5 minutes but don't think of what to order until they're

at the register. "Oh, hm, I think I'll have....oh I don't know."

Or groups that are yammering in line and don't notice that they're next.

All the same function: lack of consideration for others.

[WindRavenX]

19. oh man.

Nothing is worse than that because you have the rest of the line *burning holes* into you, the cashier, and the dumbasses that are just chewing their cud looking at the menu.

And then they order something *absolutely* asinine like an upside-down caramel machiatto. An upside down caramel machiatto IS A VANILLA LATTE WITH CARAMEL. ARGH. ARHG. :grr: Pompous assholes.

dear god people, can you think at ALL?

[mondo joe]

20. I was a barista a looooong time ago. As bad as it was then, it was before the

widespread variety of drink choices. The milk choices were whole, 2% and non fat. There was the occasional request for vanilla, but outside of that just the run of lattes, mochas and so on.

Of course even then there were all the jackasses who thoughtlessly used the time of everyone around them. I always loved saying "Okay - take your time and decide what you want - I'll take the next order while you think about it."

I have nothing but admiration for the patience of baristas today.

[WindRavenX]

21. I have no problem with complex drink orders as long as they aren't assholes about it.

Where did you start off? And how do you feel about the tip jar for baristas?

I need the tips to survive, which is why I go far out of my way to please everyone, because the extra 2 bucks/hr I average so far is worth helping clueless people order lattes :)

[mondo joe]

23. I didn't mind complex either - I was all about the efficiency.

Double tall half-caf lowfat on the hot side with a splash of vanilla was fine - as long as they could just get all the words out together in less than half a minute.

"Oh, did I say I wanted that lowfat? Oh well. I want it lowfat."

I can't say how many times I just gave someone the milk of my choice rather than theirs. And then there was all-caf. Can't decide if you want caf or decaf? Fine - decaf it is, already pulled by the time you're done wasting everyone's time.

I started working at SBC in Pike Place Market back when it was Stewart Brothers, and before Starbucks was national. We always got tips. But in Seattle everyone has a tip jar.

[WindRavenX]

25. Ahh...

Wow, that must be interesting to say that you worked with the company before they because so huge.

I love the Pike market. There's this one Russian pastry place that sells these apple cinnamon rolls...dear god! Amazing! :9

[Telly Savalas]

33. Get me an organic iced chai latte with decaf milk, a shot of Yoohoo, some freshly grated lemon zest

extra whipped cream, a pinch of nutmeg, shaken not stirred, and put one of those little umbrellas in it.

[susanna]

40. I was in a quandary tonight, maybe you can help.

I'm at a Barnes & Noble (yay Blue) with a Starbucks inside. Now, the thing is, the other Starbuck's in town has a tip jar; B&N's Starbucks didn't.

Now, call me a purist, but I'm not going to ask about a tip jar if it's not in plain sight. The whole idea of a tip (to me anyway) is to reward a job well done kinda inconspicuously. So the tip jar SHOULD be there, IMNSHO. If it isn't in plain sight, I'm completely hosed; I don't know what to do. So, for the first time in my life at a barista, I didn't tip. Am I an asshole? (Cue to the thousand responses saying yes.)

[WindRavenX]

42. Barnes and Noble Starbucks aren't "real" Starbucks

The only Starbucks that have tip jars are *corporate* Starbucks--Barnes and Noble, Airport, and grocery Starbucks are all franchise Starbucks.

My sister works in a Starbucks in a grocery store and they too do not have tip jars.

Corporate Starbucks are usually by FAR the best places to work--much higher pay, health insurance (!!), free drinks/ pound of coffee a week, and other huge perks, and they encourage independent baristas which is why they have tips jars-- it is the starbucks philospophy to please the customer 100%. If you don't like the drink I make, I WILL make it again til I get it right. Which is why I do "expect" tips in certain situations because I go far and above what most Starbucks "require".

And no you're not an asshole-- Barnes and Noble is for not having a tip jar for their baristas (who are usually just regular Barnes and Noble employees).

[susanna]

45. Thanks. I was feeling really bad about it!

Truth is, the Barnes & Noble I was at offer the Cafe Breve (cappucino w/ half and half instead of milk) and the Corporate Starbucks near me doesn't, for some strange reason. When I go to the corp SB, I just get the cappucino. I have to admit, sometimes I like the Cafe Breve, so I hit B&N. Supposedly they're pretty blue, so I guess i can't hate them too much for weirding me out about the tip jar. :-)

[ChoralScholar]

31. On a side note...

generally, people who spend an inordinate time staring at menus, be it in the restaurant, or at the drive-thru, are oblivious to the fact they are irritating other people.

My lovely wife is afflicted with this disorder. I often become livid at the drive through, because we have to spend 10 minutes looking at the same choices on the McDonald's drive-thru menu that have been there for years.

[susanna]

41. Your wife and my husband.

It's amazing he can take so long to order what I already KNOW he is going to eventually order. He literally has to read the freaking menu first. Then he orders "the usual."

I just kind of zone out and pretend I don't know him. But I love him, just the same. :-)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

24. And that has to happen... what? 10 times a day?

I would go ballistic as I abhor cell phones and the rude (mostly) users of such.

[LeftyMom]

22. I wish the store I used to work at would have done that.

I lost count of the number of rude assholes who couldn't get off their damn phone long enough to do a one minute transaction. I don't recall that any of them were walking somebody through crash landing an airplane, either. :shrug:

[susanna]

38. I saw a sign like that for the first time ever in Maine...

Hubby and I were doing the Route 1 thing, and at some lobster shack a sign was up: "Please hang up your cell phone conversation before placing your order."

I was awash in happiness. :-)

[fizzgig]

17. like it was said upthread

the problem is the volume at which some people speak on their cell phones. i keep my voice at a conversational level when i'm talking on my phone and, to me, it's no different than talking to someone across the table. if i'm dining with someone, i usually won't answer my phone. if i'm eating alone, who cares if i answer my phone?

why don't restaurants ban those assholes who speak with their dining companions at top volume? i don't really want to hear their conversations any more than i want to hear a conversation someone is having on a cell phone.

[rustydad]

26. A small segway

My daughter lives a block from the local highschool. Her neighbor is a retired crank who hates watching the students coming and going in cars and on foot using cell phones. So installed some sort of blocker that shuts down a cell phone connection after around 15 seconds. It seems to work in a radius of at least 2 or 3 hundred feet. Of course the neighbors are pissed but so far no one has done anything. He admits this face to face. And as far as the drivers using cell phones getting cut off just makes them have to redial which is the most dangerous part of driving and cell phone use. Bob

[ISUGRADIA]

29. Those devices are illegal in the United States

Someone should call the police on him.

[ChoralScholar]

34. What is not illegal, however, is building your store

with brass screens behind the sheetrock, creating a virtual Faraday Cage, so that no cell-phone signal gets in.

My classroom at school is partially underground, with a floor above it, in a completely concrete building, so I basically have the same thing going on.

[madmom]

28. I work in the deli of a grocery store and everyday get more than my

share of people of cell phones and trying to order(and in a lot of cases ignoring their small children)what we've done on occasion when the person was really obnoxious was to skip over them to the next person "didn't want to interrupt your important call ya know! Now if we could just figure out what to do about people who insist on bathing in their cologne or after shave all would be good.

[Bluzmann57]

32. If I ever go to Little Rock, I will search those places out

and thank them profusely. Who cares about someone else's business when one is trying to carry on a conversation and enjoy a good dinner? Not me.

[RB TexLa]

35. More of the arrogance of people who's favorite word is me. Not the cell phone users

the ones saying "I'm right here, stop talking to someone you want to talk to and talk to me, to me, to ME, ME, ME!" Sorry, I'd rather talk to the person on the phone that I want to talk to than to the person who feels slighted somehow by a stranger not paying them attention.

[The Straight Story]

36. We need the govt to make laws on it like smoking - we need more control over people

from people who 'own' their business, to patrons who think they are 'free' to go where they want to employees who feel they have a choice in where to work - for the good of all people, we must not allow such businesses to make their own decisions.

Now, what else can we turn into something illegal, this freedom shit is getting on my liberal nerves :)

:sarcasm:

[NeedleCast]

37. I'm generally opposed to banning of things

but this one just doesn't bother me very much. I was in an upscale restaurant in Austin, TX recently (it was in a converted victorian style mansion) and they had a sign at the hostess stand asking patrons to please set their cell phones to vibrate and if they needed to talk on the phone, to please move to the bar area of the establishment. I thought that was a pretty good idea.

[Zomby Woof]

39. There's a diner in Star's Hollow, CT...

That's been doing that for years.

[SidDithers]

43. Ack! The fast-talking show!...

just when I thought I'd never have to hear about Luke and Lorelei and Rory again, you go and post a damn picture!
(sorry, my wife was addicted to that show. My DU use on Tuesday nights has gone down significantly since they finished)

Sid

[michreject]

44. I hope it catches on from coast to coast

I should email the link to my favorite establishments.