Kids and them damn phones!

[Rick]

Last night my youngest sons friend, a bloody good kid always well spoken and polite, sent me a message and asked could he come around to my work shop, that he is doing automotive class this year at college, and is keen to land an apprenticeship to train as a mechanic, fantastic A 16 year old that actually has a goal in his life, so I gladly told him to come around and that I would go through a few tools and test his knowledge, anyway not even 2 minutes into me asking the name of some tools I had laid out, his bloody mobile phone was message after message, and he was responding to them as I was trying to talk to him, now i'm a very patient man when it comes to helping youngens out, so I said mate, do you want to learn? he said yes! I said ok put the phone away, to which he did, anyway 1 minute later still going through tools and a quick question, the phone was going hot again, and yep you guessed it straight out of the pocket to view and reply, by this time I had cracked the shits, I said look young man you asked to come here and get some pointers, ive given up my evening to help you and give some advise and all you have concentrated on is that bloody mobile phone, he looked horrified when I said if you were actually working for me you would be sacked instantly, I told him the biggest important thing to be a good mechanic is to stay focused and not get distracted and concentrate on the job your doing, so I sent him home, yea the poor kid had his tail between his legs, and I felt terrible for sending him on his way. I have given him a second chance to come back to the workshop in a weeks time, ive made it clear that the mobile phone is to be turned off, I think i was hard and firm on him,but fair!, i'm looking forward to next week to see if what I said has sunken in, i'm 100% sure I will see a positive attitude

[ol' boy]

Mate, you just gave him a good life lesson!
And the type of lesson he cant get off his parents (because he would tell them to get rooted at home)
I can understand you feeling bad... No one wants to be "The Bad Guy".
But, you've just started his journey from being well mannered kid, to a well mannered adult.

And knowing you Rick, i can imagine the words that were actually going through your head
Surprised you didn't fire the Oxy set up and show him what 2 halves of a smartphone look like

My missus daughter (21), is a wonderful girl.
But its the phone etiquette that gets under my skin.
I'll cook the whole house dinner, set the table and call her up from her room.
We all sit, for the one part of the day we can chat, have a drink, discuss things or just peacefully enjoy our food.
Only there is an iPhone6 right next to her plate, going off ever 20seconds, then followed by her responding.
No doubt its multiple conversations and Facebook and Snapchat.
But seriously.... cant you just put it down for 15minutes... FFS.

So i know the feeling Rick, talking to someone who is only partly there, because the other half is in the phone.

You've been fair mate, cos i would have told him not to even bring his phone next time, off or not, just don't even bring it.
spook would have thrown the kid in jail and fined the parents $100,000

[gulliver]

Yes,when I worked with my mate he told everybody"When you work for me,switch of the phone.I'm not paying you for having private calls,"

[ol' boy]

Its a bit of generational thing too.
In our day, something like that is totally disrespectful.
So for it to happen to us, its disrespectful.

I honestly don't think these kids have the slightest idea they are even doing something offensive or disrespectful.
They just don't get it, they are from a different world.

When we grew up, there wasn't even an Internet, let alone a mobile phone.
At 16, its quite likely the first word he could ever spell was "Facebook".

[Rick]

Your right OB, as we are older and as teenagers we never had the luxury of a mobile phone, hell they didnt exist LOL, but the mobile phone appears to be the be all to end all for teenagers now and is the acceptable thing among most people, but us older generation don't see it that way, well I dont really and find it a form of lack of respect when trying to talk to a half zombie that finds their phone more important than what your talking about face to face, but I do keep an open mind and try not to let it bug me.The thing that most kids dont realize is a mobile phone is a destructive weapon, the amount of kids now that use them purely for bullying has astounded me, and so many kids have taken their lives due to text bullying . the pic below was my first mobile device LOL, gee we had so much fun with them as a kid, a whopping 3 channels and I was the coolest kid on the block, and yes I still have my walkie talkies

[ol' boy]

Mate, its electronic devices in general these days.
Tonight i went to my Uncles to see my little cousin and her daughter.
We were all in the lounge/dinning room and sadly, everyone one of us at one point were all on our electronic devices.
Uncle was in his tablet, i was on my smartphone, cousin was on her smartphone, her 2yr old was watching a movie on the laptop and Nan was helping her watch.
FFS, we were all in the same 2 square meters and we could not have been further apart

[SpankedHam]

If only it was just kids doing it. It wouldn't be the first place I've seen an office manager have to read the riot act at the 20yr+ office girls because all they do all day every day is click click click hee hee click click on their friggen mobiles.

[eeprommemory]

setup a mobile phone jammer just before he gets there.

[aa23]

Excellent response Rick. You did the right thing. He may judge it as harsh, but in the real workplace he'd be out of a job by lunchtime. I have nothing against kids/even adults living on the phone, but there's a time and a place for it. When someone like yourself is giving up your own time to help someone, that's the time to turn the phone off.

[Al Bundy]

Mate, its electronic devices in general these days.
Tonight i went to my Uncles to see my little cousin and her daughter.
We were all in the lounge/dinning room and sadly, everyone one of us at one point were all on our electronic devices.
Uncle was in his tablet, i was on my smartphone, cousin was on her smartphone, her 2yr old was watching a movie on the laptop and Nan was helping her watch.
FFS, we were all in the same 2 square meters and we could not have been further apart

Should have farted, see if anybody noticed....

[ol' boy]

Its almost become a medical condition, like so many other things that have had a "label" attached to them.
ADD, ADHD, Aspergers.... what ever some shrink will end up naming it, there is no doubt, that there is some kind of addictive nature with a Smartphone, FB or Messaging for the younger generation.

You've hit it on the head aa23, when you are giving up your personal time to help another, and they cant help but touch there phone while you are engaging with them.
Is it just bad form or is it a learned and/or impulsive instinct?
Well considering the kid has never had a job, then i'd say he just doesn't know any better, as its never become apparent to him.

Once again Rick, well done.
If you end up taking this kid on at some point in the future, then you have already started off on the right foot.
Actions have consequences.

[enf]

In Sweden....

[Antennaman]

And in NYC:



I remember in the 60's & 70's we organised happenings by cards, letters & telephone trees.

[lsemmens]

And in NYC:



I remember in the 60's & 70's we organised happenings by cards, letters & telephone trees.

How did we ever survive???? [/sarcasm]

[mtv]

Excellent call (pun intended) Rick!

Lack of concentration on the job... or just walking across the road or driving, causes a lot of injury and death... all of which is totally avoidable.

More workplaces should ban mobile phone and other personal electronic devices.

[gordon_s1942]

In the Signaling Control Centres in NSW, employee's are not permitted to take numerous devises into the workplace and that includes UAV's believe it or not.
While you could see this ban being implemented a mile off in time, the death of a worker attributed to a 'Controller' being distracted using a personal devise gave them no option but to implement the Ban immediately and make it a dismissable offense anyone who flouts it.

[ol' boy]

Speaking of kids and smartphones
Is there a 16 to 22 year old that doesn't have a phone with a smashed screen?
They are hopeless.

[gordon_s1942]

Just putting things in relevance, back in my Teen Days, the big thing was a portable radio (Transistor) and tuned into any station available that played Rock and Roll.
Unfortunately, the Radio cost more than a fortnights pay, they ate batteries faster than you could afford to buy them and even in Sydney back then, you were lucky to hear more than one station play more than 3 records a day with the exception the Hit Parade of 30 minutes once a week.
Live in the Country and it was it musically dead for Teens.
Of course there was Countdown and 6 o'clock Rock but its not very easy to lug a 17 inch Astor down the street.
While I totally agree there is a time and place for these things, if they had been available in 'My Day', would I have had one, OF COURSE I BLOODY WOULD HAVE and I defy those who turn their noses up to deny they too would have been as bad as those using them today !!!
Remember the BOOM BOX, the Walkman etc............

[enf]

Just putting things in relevance, back in my Teen Days, the big thing was a portable radio (Transistor) and tuned into any station available that played Rock and Roll.
Unfortunately, the Radio cost more than a fortnights pay, they ate batteries faster than you could afford to buy them and even in Sydney back then, you were lucky to hear more than one station play more than 3 records a day with the exception the Hit Parade of 30 minutes once a week.
Live in the Country and it was it musically dead for Teens.
Of course there was Countdown and 6 o'clock Rock but its not very easy to lug a 17 inch Astor down the street.
While I totally agree there is a time and place for these things, if they had been available in 'My Day', would I have had one, OF COURSE I BLOODY WOULD HAVE and I defy those who turn their noses up to deny they too would have been as bad as those using them today !!!
Remember the BOOM BOX, the Walkman etc............

I wouldn't have unless I worked for it. My old man would NOT have paid for one.

He didn't buy my first surfboard either. I had to get a job (while still at school) and save for it, buy the accessories like wax for it, and fix it myself.

[Rick]

OB is right, I think its natural for people now no matter what they are doing they hear that phone ding or vibrate they instantly stop whatever they are doing to view a message without really giving any thought to what they were doing in the first place. When I owned my cafe i employed 2 women who had school aged children, but their mobile phone was in there pockets and were sneaking off to view and text friends/facebook either by saying taking out the rubbish or going to the toilet, anyway I had had enough of the texting, they were employed by me and I wasnt paying wages so they could text! so I built them each a personal locker, and fair warned them a week in advance, that as soon as they entered the shop the phones were to be switched off and placed in their lockers, one had the cheek to say what if her daughter needed her in an emergency or the school was trying to contact here, So I handed her the business card with the shops phone number and said simple they ring this number, she quit after a week as she thought texting on my time was right and that I was wrong, certainly wasnt any skin off my nose.