Phone Problems

On the weekends I work for a beer distributor, carrying out cases to customers' cars. It's a job that provides me both good and bad interaction, and in some cases, just plain sad observation.

I found it ironic this past weekend when I observed two consecutive examples of societies ever imploding piss poor standards. Moreover on the degree of irony, the parent-to-child paradigm--explained in my forthcoming story--is inverted when the two examples are juxtaposed.

The first story occurred this past Friday. While heading inside from another carry-out, I caught an "exchange" between a grown man, in his mid-to-late 30s, and his daughter, no more than 6 years old, judging from how she looked and talked. She sounded cute and adorable like little girls at that age normally are. I overheard her father say something to the extent of "Okay, you can come in, but be quiet while you're in there." Then the daughter asked what he would think if she did something or wore something; the details of the question I failed to catch. The point is, it had all the charm and innocence that little girls tend to smother their actions and words with at that age. The little girl was interested in her daddy's attention.

Unfortunately, the father was more interested in his cell phone. I watched as he waded through his toy or sent a text message, barely noticing his daughter. He meekly validated her thoughts with a slight nod, eyes still glued to the device, and finished the painful compromise with an almost incomprehensible, "Yeah...uh huh."

The following day, an exchange between a father and a son, nearly sharing the same age difference as the father and daughter from the exchange the day before. On this occasion, the little boy, who may have been 7-8 years old, was mindlessly punching numbers on his cell phone (Why a 7-year-old needs a cell phone? I have no idea). The child wasn't even sending a text message or playing a game. He was merely bashing numbers on the phone as if to partake in some serious hands, fingers and muscles exercise.

His father was at the counter buying a case of beer. The little boy was near the entrance. His father commanded the little one to "come here." The boy responded disrespectfully, "No!"

As I carried out a case for another customer, myself and the customer caught the whole interaction as it took place only a few feet from our eyes and ears. I watched as the customer--no relation to the child or father--remarked to the little boy, "Bad answer," and walked out the door. As I trailed him out the door, I commented on the situation. "He should take his cell phone away from him."

"Yep..." and something I couldn't clearly hear followed his agreement. After I carried the case to his trunk, I walked back in to the store. Stocking some cases shortly after, I said to a coworker, "And I thought I was bad growing up..."