RUDE man!!

No, your husband wasn't being rude, at all. The guy was being rude and more than likely, is a fine example for his children...not!

At any performance, you're asked to turn off any cellular/electronic device(s), for obvious reasons; they're a distraction to performers and audience alike.

I'd have said "Yes, Let's take this outside. You go now and I'll meet you out there when the performance is over." But that's just me.

I've heard of road rage.
I've heard of adult rage at children's athletic events.
Dance recital rage is a new one. I would have been tempted to give the jerk a PDA enema.

He was very rude, Caro, but in today's world, it's not a great idea to start with others. You never know how nutty they are, unfortunately. Glad you were able to enjoy the performance anyway.

He actually said "You want to take it outside?" People still say that? It's the 21st century! Surely we should have come up with something else by now.

And, of course, dude was out of line. The thing is, people like that, eventually he's going to use that line on the wrong person. Then he'll end up outside with some MMA trained mofo who slaps a Muay Thai clench on him and throws a knee through his nose.

That's not rude, that's childish! WTF? What ever happened to common decency and being considerate of those around us?

I bet his report card always came home with "Does not get along well with others."

Umm, that question has already been brought up twice...by me. No one can tell me what's happened to it, therefor there are no answers SF.

That's not rude, that's childish! WTF? What ever happened to common decency and being considerate of those around us?

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I agree, fuzzy one, it was childish. Any adult should know better.

Why did the dude even attend the event if he had no intention of paying any attention to it whatsoever? Odd.

This multi-tasking and dual-tracking nonsense is disgusting and undermining our social fabric. (I know, I sound like some crazed old lady banging her cane against the floor as she sits just a little bit too far forward on the edge of her rocking chair.)

When I got my first telephone service job (the kind where you sit in a cubical wearing a phone headset taking in-bound phone calls on an 800-phone line and logging the calls into the computer), I answered each phone call and spoke directly to the caller with all my attention riveted upon what they were saying. And I was eventually asked by management to do some busy-work as well. In order words: management wanted me to be able to multi-task by talking on the phone to a customer while at the same time I was supposed to be stuffing envelopes.

Multi-tasking.

I hate it and I believe it's unhealthy. If I'm talking to you, well then I am talking to you. If I'm stuffing envelopes, then I'm stuffing envelopes. But doing both at the same time???? I think that's rude.

We now have an entire generation of people who are incapable of doing JUST one thing. They grew up doing their homework in front of the TV set. They sat in college lecture halls listening to the professor while also reading a text book for a totally differnet class. And so now they MUST multi-task. They drive the car and talk on the cell phone and eat all at the same time. They watch TV while surfing the net and also listening to their playlist.

And I think it's sick. This isn't a skill, it's warped.




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what a loser.

I'm all for putting cell phone jammers on the roofs of schools to keep the little buggers offline.

Sheryl Nantus said:

I'm all for putting cell phone jammers on the roofs of schools to keep the little buggers offline.

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I'll bet a lot of teachers are with you on this, Sheryl.

On a scale of one to ten, how rude was he? 12 1/2!

And I might be inclined to rant with PD about multi-tasking (I agree 100%, and I know from my own life that I definitely get far more done if I don't multi-task), except that guy wasn't multi-tasking. He was just bored and rude. If he'd been multi-tasking, turning off the PDA would have ended the problem. But it didn't. He continued to play with it.

The sympathetic side of me, though, says that it's quite possible the man has ADHD. There are a lot of adults with that problem--it's not just a kid thing. And it is a real problem.

But he should have apologized and left the room if he couldn't sit still or didn't really want to watch the performance. He is an adult, after all.

As for how to react to it--I would have moved seats, if at all possible.

In defense of multi-tasking, it's something of a necessity in certain environments. Sometimes you've got no choice but to stuff envelopes and talk to someone at the same time if you want to get all the work done that day without having to stay until 7pm. It just is what it is...

Is that why "they" put magazine racks in bathrooms?

Multi-tasking is fine, but not when you are meant to be supporting your children.

So, they should put PDA racks in bathrooms...

veinglory said:

Multi-tasking is fine, but not when you are meant to be supporting your children.

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Yep, or any other environment where it's not called for. It's just simple courtesy, if you have to take the call then it's clearly more important than the recital (or movie, or play, or lecture, etc.) than you are attending, so it only makes sense that you should excuse yourself to handle that call, so as not to disturb other people and to also take care of your business.

If it's not that important then don't answer the damn call. When I call my friends and they answer their cells and tell me they're in a theater I immediately hang up on them. I refuse to be the prick on the other line...

Jcomp said:

In defense of multi-tasking, it's something of a necessity in certain environments. Sometimes you've got no choice but to stuff envelopes and talk to someone at the same time if you want to get all the work done that day without having to stay until 7pm. It just is what it is...

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In my line of work, multi-tasking is a must. Unfortunately, it's very, very difficult to find people that can multi-task in the correct way. Yes, we can watch tv, surf the net and listen to music or drive, talk and eat but can we really listen to two things at once? (officers on the radio and an emergency on the phone?) No, very few people can and get it right. What we do now is not really multi-tasking because we don't do two things well, we're simply distracted.

As for PDA guy, I would have gladly gone outside with him and shoved that PDA down his throat. What an asshat.

Yeah, that guy was definately being rude. I hate that stuff. You see a lot of it at the movies where girls sit around and text during the whole movie. Makes me want to get up and go through my popcorn on them.

In the future, though:

I'm going to have to ask you to turn that off during the show. It's distracting.

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is probably not the most effective way to get someone to do it. If someone is doing something that bothers me, I've found the more effective way is to ask it as if they are doing you a favor.

"Hey, man, would you mind turning that off during the show? It's kinda distracting and I can't really focus on the show. I'd appreciate it."

Most people are a lot more compliant if you approach them with a little tact, even IF they are being rude assholes. I know, I know. They are being rude and you just want to shove that phone where the sun don't shine, and it's a little debasing to actually make it seem like they are doing you a favor. But on the other hand, whatever works best. My issue is to get them to stop. If I have to make them think they are doing me a favor to see to it my enjoyment of a show isn't being ruined, so be it.

Joe270 said:

I agree, fuzzy one, it was childish. Any adult should know better.

Why did the dude even attend the event if he had no intention of paying any attention to it whatsoever? Odd.

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you know, now that you bring that up, he was obviously there for his own child, otherwise why go, right?

So not only was it rude and childish, it was rather uncaring and selfish as a father.

Answer: It was rude and beyond that ridiculous.

Years ago I was attending my sister's graduation from high school. An outdoor ceremony. At one point a woman announced "There will now be a moment of silence"--for a young man in this graduating class who had been killed while attending a movie. (a similar "let's take it outside" situation because he had complained about a noisy moviegoer; he ended up getting stabbed with a knife.)

So while we're all bowing our heads in silence, this rude person behind me started yacking away to his friends. Absolutely no respect. My whole family turned around and glared at him. Did he blush and say "I'm sorry"? No, of course not. He started mouthing off, threatening us.

I'm sorry to have to say it but there are rude, obnoxious people everywhere you go. They think THEIR rights are more important than anyone else's.

Sounds like a typical hockey dad looking for a fight. Was he booing the other kid's dancing?

Somebody needs a knife in the ear.