Phone Etiquette

Okay, so here’s one of those fun ones.

This evening as I was grabbing my coffee, my mother was finishing a phone conversation. And then we started talking about … er … um … really, I don’t know what. Small talk. Chit-chat. Oh, right, schedules for the next day.

Anyway, at about the same time, we look down, and her phone has been activated for an incoming call. The clock says fifty-three seconds and counting.

For whatever reason, my mother sits there with the phone in her hand, expressing her astonishment at the call, and the one thing she won’t do at that point is put the phone to her ear and say, “Hello?”

And I stood while she talked to me, expressing her puzzlement about this incoming call for over a minute, while tacitly refusing to answer it.

What the hell? No, really, just one of those slightly surreal moments.

Everybody Say, “Thank You, Samsung!”

So it would seem the White House is considering the prohibition on “selfie” photos with President Obama. Before anyone gets their dander up at the evil White House occupied by the Black Man, let us be clear:

The White House may prohibit selfies with President Obama, a top adviser said on Sunday.

Speaking on CBS’ Face The Nation, Dan Pfeiffer said that the president didn’t know the photo he took with Red Sox star David Ortiz was part of a Samsung promotion.

“Someone who uses the President’s likeness to promote a product… that’s a problem,” he said. “Maybe this will be the end of all selfies.”

The selfie controversy began after Obama took a fun photo with Big Papi. The image quickly went viral, receiving over 45,000 retweets and more than 48,000 favorites on Twitter. Samsung later announced that it was all an orchestrated PR stunt.

(Horowitz)

So, yeah. Everybody say, “Thank you, Samsung!”

Capitalism: This is why we can’t have nice things.

Oh, right. Also make sure to thank the Boston Red Sox for their part in this. David Ortiz can go screw himself. Then again, he’s rich enough to hire someone else to screw.

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Horowitz, Alana. “White House May Prohibit Selfies With Obama”. The Huffington Post. April 5, 2014.