This (non qualifying) post for my Cell Phone Users and Abusers contest has to do with conversation etiquette.

The issue – when is a conversation over? Have you ever had a conversation with someone who is impossible to get off the phone? Someone who will continue to find something to say long after the topic has been exhausted? Someone who responds to every “good bye” with an “oh just one more thing …”? Someone who never picks up the hint that the conversation is OVER?
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WAITING FOR GOODBYE

An existential cell phone drama in one act, by Brad Shorr

ESTRAGON: It’s been fabulous catching up with you on the weather …

VLADIMIR: Agreed! Have you noticed the dew point has risen every day this week?

ESTRAGON: I really must leave for the funeral. It’s my father-in-law, you know.

VLADIMIR: Have you brought in your patio furniture yet? They say it might snow Saturday.

ESTRAGON: Good God! Can we cut this short? A meteor just hit the garage.

VLADIMIR: I brought in my patio furniture last night. The dew point will fall if it snows.
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These situations give me extreme heartburn. And yet it doesn’t end with phone conversations.

  • What about email exchanges when both parties seem hell bent on having the last word? Such exchanges can go on for weeks.
  • What about blog comments? Do you, as a blog author, feel compelled to respond to every commenter’s comment? What if the commenter has the same compulsion? When is a blog post conversation over?

I guess I’m from the short and sweet school of digital conversation. How about you? Can you chat on for hours, or do you like to keep it brief?

You start a conversation you can’t even finish it.
You’re talkin’ a lot, but you’re not sayin’ anything.
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed.
Say something once, why say it again? (Talking Heads, Psycho Killer)

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