Ask anyone these days, and they’ll tell you that basic cellphone manners seem to have disappeared. People read texts during dinner, walk into traffic while looking at their phones, and in this recent case, abuse the speakerphone function in public places.
A woman who goes by Celena on social media highlighted one speakerphone offender in a recent viral video. But the internet is divided on how Celena handled the situation, with many saying she took her grievance too far by exposing the woman’s job.
An argument broke out between Celena and a healthcare worker who stood behind her on a public bus in Chicago, yapping away.
Under CTA rules, using sound-producing devices, including speakerphone calls, is prohibited on buses unless the sound is inaudible to others.
The Argument
According to the Instagram Reel’s July 6 caption, Celena asked the woman to stop “yelling on the phone” and intruding in her personal space.
The woman allegedly responded by threatening to fight her. It was at that moment Celena started recording.
The healthcare worker notices she is being filmed and, ironically, yells, “Mind your f—- business,” which Celena was trying to do the whole time. But what happened next led some viewers to call Celena out.
She zoomed in on the woman’s employment badge, with identifying information, and then tagged the woman’s place of work.
Celena felt justified. “There were several seats available and space for her to step back, so I didn’t realize I was asking for a lot by asking her to move,” she wrote in the caption, “but I stood my ground and stayed in my seat because she threatened me.”
The Debate
She then asked her viewers: “What would you do in this situation?”
Celena didn’t get the unconditional support she may have been hoping for.
One top comment read: “As a healthcare worker, I’m trying to correlate what this isolated incident has to do with her job? This economy is too unstable to play with people’s livelihood over something so insignificant.”
Another wrote, “You can’t police what folks do. If she touched you or verbally assaulted you, that’s different, but she’s just existing on a bus. Nobody has to make you feel comfortable on public transportation.”
Many others sided with Celena, deeming the woman’s behavior unacceptably “rude and disrespectful.”
One comment with 10,000 likes on The Neighborhood Talk’s Instagram read, “I can guarantee HR will definitely be chatting with her expeditiously. You can’t behave like that in uniform.”
Another advised: “Common courtesy is to use your headphones, hold the phone to your ear, or to call them back when you get off the bus; it’s really as simple as that.”
With a smartphone glued to everyone’s hands, there are always new ways to trip up.
Judging by this video, the debate over “common courtesy” seems far from settled.
