Are You Talking on the Phone?   How Would I Know?

Are you tired of hearing someone in the same room with you blurt out, “what did you say?” You look up to repeat yourself only to realize they’re on a Bluetooth headset holding a conversation with someone else. The recent increase in headsets is just amazing. Are some of your business colleagues beginning to look like junior Cyborgs with electronics bolted to the side of their head? Have you mistaken the girl in accounting as a Britney Spears lookalike because she sports a boom microphone poised over her mouth to capture her next exclamation?

More than once I’ve been accused of being “old school” since I don’t care for people yapping on their cell phones while giving me a vacant gaze because a Bluetooth earpiece was out of my sight.   Many times the microphones aren’t close enough to their mouths so that they can use a normal speaking voice. These people have to YELL and often still end up repeating what they just said. I’m told I’m supposed to get used to it because these Bluetooth devices are here forever, not to mention that they are getting smaller and harder to see. I expect soon Plantronics will have a version which is surgically implanted in our ear canal powered by a solar panel ear ring allowing us to talk forever.

Bluetooth ear pieces are only getting more popular as nearly every cell phone, smart phone, computer, and now cars are equipped to connect to these popular devices.   But how do we deal with people who appear to be talking to themselves, but are actually speaking to someone who is not in the room with you?

One of my favorite websites is www.thinkgeek.com. The site is just what it is says it is, a site for geeks to buy fun and strange devices that, for the most part, they don’t need, but are cool to have.

In response to my concerns about the Bluetooth revolution, Think Geeks has come to the rescue (at least in my opinion) and they call it the “retro-BlueTooth Ear Piece”. Retro because most of the readers probably don’t remember the old black rotary dial phones that everyone had back in the 60’s. My mother-in-law refused to ever migrate to a new digital, wireless, state-of-the-art handset because she liked the grip, the weight, the reliability, and the quality of the call.

The retro-handset is perfect for those of us who are tired of not knowing, “is she talking to me?”   Using the handset, held up to the side of one’s head, obviously means “I’m talking on the phone fool, leave me alone”. Secondarily, the microphone is exactly where God wants it to be, next to your mouth!!   Because it is perfectly located, you don’t need to SCREAM into it, disturbing every other human being in the office.   Finally, when you are done with your call; you set it down!   A clear indication to everyone with eyes “I’m done talking to someone else; I can talk to you now!”

Until Bluetooth ear piece microphones become much better and are equipped with a rotating, flashing red beacon on top of your head, telling the world you are talking on the phone, this old “retro” handset might just be the thing to resolve my pet peeve with today’s cell phone users.