I Gotta Take This Call

While walking to the bus stop today, I passed by my neighborhood garbage men collecting the week's trash. The guy in the cab of the garbage truck was talking on his cell phone. What could be such an important call that you have to make it from the front of a garbage truck at 7:45 in the morning? I'm happy for the guy that he has someone that is so important to him that he has to be in touch with them while he's collecting refuse, but I can't see the urgency of the call.

I don't understand the whole obsession with cell phones anyway. Yes, I have one, and yes I use it, but I rarely make or receive calls just while walking around in public. Yet, I can't walk one block in this (or any) city without counting at least a dozen people talking on their cell phones. And when I eavesdrop on their conversations¹, at least 9 out of 10 calls do not need to be made. I'll hear people talking about what they had for dinner last night, who should win American Idol², or what color that mole was that they had removed³. I don't think this is something I'd want the entire train car to hear. Maybe it's just me.

Update: I just read this at theonion.com, and I thought it was appropriated to this post:

Local Woman Dies Of Lost Cell Phone
APALACHICOLA, FL—Catherine Polk, 24, died at a local Starbucks Monday afternoon, due to complications resulting from the tragic loss of her cell phone. "It was horrible—Cathy didn't have any of her numbers written down anywhere else, and she was waiting on a call about last-minute tickets for a concert," said best friend Melissa Barreth, who was with Polk when she first discovered that her Cingular V400 quad band/GSM cell phone was not in her purse. "We tried everything to find it, but in the end, there was nothing we could do." The coroner's report confirmed that Polk died of a sudden lack of wireless service.

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¹ For research purposes, not to snoop around.
² Which, unless they are talking to Simon or Paula Abdul is just not necessary
³ Mine was paisley