Columnist Susan Snyder: Lack of etiquette a venti pain

Monday, Aug. 1, 2005 | 8:10 a.m.

The woman already was on her cell phone when I slipped into line behind her.

"Yeah, I'm at Starbucks," she said.

Her voice was audible, but barely, over the whir and whoosh of machinery now standard for creating a cup of coffee.

She stepped to the counter -- still on the phone -- and ordered a couple of venti (large) something-or-others, the notations for which trailed halfway down the sides of the cups.

"Yes, I'm there right now," the woman said to the phone. "And I'd like two $25 gift cards too," she said to the clerk before turning her attention back to the phone.

"What do you want -- is this Michelle?" the customer said. "Oh, OK. So what do you want?"

Pity the office coffee bearer. Been there. Done that. Sneak out unnoticed, now.

She ordered two or three more drinks, then turned around as the clerk rang up the order.

"I'm sorry to take so long," she said to me, adding that she never made a coffee stop without soliciting coworkers' java desires.

At least she noticed she wasn't the only one there, and that others were standing nearby. Other cell phone users aren't so considerate.

They yap in line at the post office, sandwich shop and grocery store.

They blab in the doctor's office waiting room, the department store and the restaurant.

No place, it seems, is off-limits for many cell phone talkers -- not even the bathroom.

How I wish I were making that up. But a woman taking a tinky in the ladies' room at a local Target store two weeks ago was actually carrying on her cell conversation while still in the stall and, obviously, tending to business.

At least she flushed. But what is the etiquette for flushing while still on the phone? Does one muffle the mouthpiece with an as-yet unwashed hand?

Increasingly, it seems the act of talking on a cell phone in public lures some into thinking they've stepped into an invisible phone booth. (Let's hope Clark Kent doesn't try to change clothes there.)

Most of us still don't like it. A recent University of Michigan survey showed 60 percent of cell phone users polled considered public cell conversations to be a "major irritation."

We can assume they were referring to one-sided rants such as the one I heard recently in a Summerlin Ross store. A woman cradled the phone between her chin and shoulder while raking through a clearance rack with such vengeance, you'd have thought all the hangers were made of wire.

"I don't know why she doesn't just dump the stupid (naughty word questioning the matrimonial status of one's parents)," she snapped so loudly the salesclerk at the front of the store turned to look.

It was as if the rest of us were clothing racks or otherwise inanimate objects not worthy of common courtesy and denied the privilege to not hear about her personal life.

Still, a few people get it. That woman taking cell phone orders at Starbucks quickly noted she wasn't standing in a universe of one and politely apologized.

"It's nice to have friends," the clerk said upon finishing the transaction.

Especially ones with good manners. Good coffee is a bonus.