Cell Phone Etiquette

Sometimes your opponent may be on the phone or texting with someone that is more important then you when they didn't plan on having to carry on that conversation.

Shit comes up, shit happens.
 
Icon of Sin said:
Sometimes your opponent may be on the phone or texting with someone that is more important then you when they didn't plan on having to carry on that conversation.

Shit comes up, shit happens.
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I leave my phone in the car when playing pool with others.

What's more important, pool or someone dying? They'll still be dead when the pool is done.


Jeff Livingston
 
If people want to defend surfing their phone that's fine, but this "Sometimes important things come up" is a weak argument. It's using the exception case.

I hear it all the time. "I run a business and have to manage it." Yeah, we're all Elon Musk. Missing a text will change the 2021 GDP.

You can run a business and turn your phone off while you play. You can take a break between sets if you need to, that's fine. If you can't run your business without being unavailable for an hour at a time you aren't running it right. And if you really do have a one off crisis to manage then handle it and don't distract yourself with a pool game. Meanwhile if you checked their actual phone usage I guarantee that it's 90%+ surfing facebook or something totally unessential.

Again, if you want to surf your phone while playing that is your right. Simply admit you are addicted and are uncomfortable with the passage of time when you're not plugged in. Fine. Just don't play the "very important person" card on me. I'm not buying.
 
maha said:
i dont play for fun. but if i did and he was on the phone fine, i would just say ill keep on shooting while you do your phone thing. whats the problem.
do you expect a person to have to have a personal relationship with you while you shoot pool.
if you do then yea, just quit and find someone else with your values to hang with.
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I do play for fun. And yes, some of my best pool memories are sharing the table with a friend while we battle it out playing races to 3 one pocket for $25/set while listening to music on the jukebox Sharing the experience together matters to me. I won't do this with a cell phone addict.

I also play for money and in tournaments. When I do that I don't care what my opponent does.

I do agree we can have differences here and each do our own thing. No problem here.
 
Im not in defense of a phone zombie, I don't play for fun.
I simply don't care what someone else does on the sidelines when I'm shooting.doesnt bother me, don't notice it at all.

I too agree, that we can agree to disagree in a civil way. Is all I'm tryna say.
😎
 
I could care less if they're on their cell phone. But when I'm done shooting, and it's their turn, I expect them to be at the table. I don't need to be waiting on them for 5 minutes while they're talking to somebody.
 
Stretch said:
I don't know about you, but i enjoy pool in order to get AWAY from the world and play some stick. Now i don't mind if a random call comes in during a set with a friend but it kind of pisses me off when the phone becomes a go-to gadget every time back to the chair. More and more i see players not even follow the play and would rather just stare into their phone the whole time until their turn to play comes up. I find it very disrespectful, maybe it's a shark move? It's sad to see all the phoneaholics out there in the pool halls. I kind of miss the days when the phone would ring behind the counter and everyone shouted "I'm not here!".
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I dislike phones while playing pool also. That said, in league for example, when it's not my turn I will mess around on mine if no conversation with teammates is going on. Watching other players wears you out, and if they are playing badly, it can creep into your game. It's just everywhere, an extension of the person at this point. Some are addicted and some have just never known anything but having a phone to piss with.
 
No one has mentioned this yet, but the annoying ringtones can really get ones nerves. Come on people, put it on vibrate, or shut it off.

And another thing.... I remember playing pool, going bowling, playing golf, before cell phones were around. It used to be that the wife had to be face-to-face to nag you to death. Now they can nag at the touch of a button. Yet another reason to turn it off.
 
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buckshotshoey said:
I could care less if they're on their cell phone. But when I'm done shooting, and it's their turn, I expect them to be at the table. I don't need to be waiting on them for 5 minutes while they're talking to somebody.
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That reminds me of playing in bars when I was younger. Some drunk would challenge the table then be off bullshiting and you'd have to wait for them or yell at them to tell them it was their shot.
 
I imagine leaving your phone on ‘vibrate’ (so you are aware you have calls or unread texts waiting…to be answered only after the session is over) would not seem especially rude to your opponent.
 
I know a guy who intentionally goes to his phone every time he's not at the table. When it is his shot you have to say something to him or he will not look up from his phone. The first time I played him was the last time I played him.
 
A little off the subject the pool, but I drive truck for a living. Going down the interstate, one out of every four cars that passed me, the driver is typing on their cell phone. One of the remaining three have them sitting on their lap. So that means they were on their phone while driving.

There's something becoming more common, and that police officers riding along with commercial drivers in semi trucks. They're catching drivers on video texting while driving, then radio ahead to another officer to pull them over and give them a ticket for cell phone use while driving. You'd be amazed at some of the things I see from that vantage point.
 
buckshotshoey said:
A little off the subject the pool, but I drive truck for a living. Going down the interstate, one out of every four cars that passed me, the driver is typing on their cell phone. One of the remaining three have them sitting on their lap. So that means they were on their phone while driving.

There's something becoming more common, and that police officers riding along with commercial drivers in semi trucks. They're catching drivers on video texting while driving, then radio ahead to another officer to pull them over and give them a ticket for cell phone use while driving. You'd be amazed at some of the things I see from that vantage point.
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Drove truck for years. Now work for DOT, on the road a lot.
I see as many truckers texting as I do four wheelers.

Ps. You could not pay me enough to have a cop in my cab.
 
No offense intended but if you are paying attention to what the opponent is doing in his chair that indicates you aren't focused on the table. What bothers me is when my opponent bumps my cue while I'm shooting. Aside from that he can do just about whatever he wants.
 
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