Here's a tale from the other side of a public-cell-phone-use conflict. About a year ago, I was in Border's bookstore when my brother called. In retrospect, I should have just asked to call him back, but I figured we could be done fairly quickly. Frankly, I hate having people call me on my cell phone, I hate even talking on the damn thing under any circumstances, and I just wanted to get it over with. I couldn't leave the store, because I'd already picked out a pile of books and, as it was, clerks kept attempting to reshelve them every time I turned my head.
So I took my books and moved over into the otherwise empty gift-card/picture-frame area -- about 10 feet from the nearest bookshelves -- and tried to speak in hushed tones. My bro had called about some stuff involving our mom, who was ailing (this was a few months before she died), including health-care and banking issues.
A few minutes in, I noticed this guy crouched over by a bookshelf, as I said about 10 feet away, giving me dirty looks. I lowered my voice further, turned and moved in the opposite direction. Then, a couple of minutes later, the guy suddenly loomed up about a foot in front of my face, and started loudly proclaiming in a sarcastic way: "Oh, gee, we're all just so interested in your bank accounts and all that stuff, so why don't you just tell us all about it and disturb everybody in the store while you're at it, and blah blah blah ..." He was talking really loud, right in my face, making it impossible to continue my conversation with my brother, though I could hear him on the other end laughing hysterically.
Finally, I managed to end the conversation with my brother. The guy meanwhile drifted away to the center of the store, and was examining a table of books. I went up to him and said, "You know, I'm sorry if my call disturbed you. But it was my brother, and he was calling to tell me some things about our mother, who is dying, so --" And he interrupted, "Oh, isn't that too bad? Well, gee, I have my problems too, but that doesn't mean I can just go into a bookstore and bother everybody in the place and blah blah blah ..."
I just looked at him and said, "You know what? You're a jerk," then turned and walked away.
So he literally YELLS after me, "Oh, isn't it nice to just walk away when you can't think of anything more to say blah blah blah ..." his voice echoing throughout the store.
I was kind of shaken, but afterward I had to agree with my brother that it was funny and ironic, especially the part about him shouting after me at the end. I'm sure the guy had been waiting for years for that kind of opportunity. And I have no doubt he wound up much more frustrated by the encounter than I was.
I haven't had a cell-phone conversation in a book store since then. But oddly, I have on at least two occasions heard other people talking on their cell phones in book stores -- including right among the book shelves. In both cases, I'm pretty sure I would have hardly noticed them at all if not for my previous experience, and neither one particularly bothered me. When I heard them, I just smiled.
