Glass Houses

There is an old, yet very true saying:

"People in glass houses should not walk around naked."

By the same token, people with hands-free phones should not use them.

At best, they look like crazy people. More often that not, though, they look like they're talking to someone - someone standing near them. However, not only are they not talking to anyone in the vicinity, they don't particularly want anyone in the vicinity to listen or react to them. So, the people standing nearby justifiably turn to look at the person who could very well be talking to them, only to have said person give them that look.

You know the look I'm talking about - the one that basically says "Well, of course I'm not talking to you. Duh!"

It's rude and obnoxious, but the crazy people seem to think that they are perfectly in the right, and the people who dare look at them while they're talking on the phone are the rude and obnoxious ones.

Normal, polite human society depends on outward signals to give your fellow man a heads-up as to what is happening in a given social situation. If you are talking to someone on the phone, it is only polite to look like you're talking on a phone. You shouldn't look like you're talking to someone standing next to you. It just annoys the people standing next to you.