Cellular phone discipline

[almark]

I read recently that at A&M Galveston... and my memory is rusty so anyone with knowledge please chip in... anyway, as I remember it, at A&M Galveston a kid was walking home when he was robbed at gunpoint. He gave the guy his wallet, but his phone then went off. The ringer scared the gunman and he flinched, pulling the trigger! The kid's alright though, thank God.

I keep my phone on vibrate or silent when walking around at night. I figure if someone's going to rob me, I'd rather be able to deny I have a phone... if the POS goes off, it'd be hard to explain it away. "What? No, that was... uh... look over there!" *runs*

It is a valid idea, though. Provided you can actually feel the darn thing vibrating, then I see no problem keeping it on vibrate permanently. At the least, it makes you the most courteous cell phone user ever (now if I could just get people to stop having loud conversations while they're on the bus....)

[Wildalaska]

Maybe you're one of those "gun owners" who is just a hunter, has only a double-barreled shotgun, and does not feel a brotherhood with other gun owners; can't see why we "need an assault weapon"; and thinks we're paranoid if we CCW...

Or maybe hes like me and wonders about the mindset of folks who live their entire lives looking over their shoulder and just itchin for the chance to play "hero"

WildchecktheinadequateboxAlaska

[jsp98m3]

Curzon and Jadzia Glock* strike again.

*substitute the name of your symbiant here.

[xXStarScreamXx]

Thank you WildAlaska.

[USP45usp]

Or maybe hes like me and wonders about the mindset of folks who live their entire lives looking over their shoulder and just itchin for the chance to play "hero"

I haven't seen this .

Unless we're going back the the shower thing (and we don't mean IN the shower but in the bathroom itself).

If I may, direct your attention to The Armed Citizen in the October 2005 issue. Granted the man of the house wasn't in the shower or the bathroom at the time but the wife convinced the intruder to allow her husband to go into the bathroom to take some meds.

Luckily, the bedroom was attached to the bathroom, but we all don't have that in the floor plan of our home.

Yet, the intruder allowed him to go to the bathroom. So having or carrying a gun into the bathroom, really isn't such a stupid idea afterall.

If it's allowable, I can scan the page and post it if it doesn't break any copywrite laws. This way, you will see that I'm not lying to you.

Wayne

[jsp98m3]

I'm sorry, I read the title "Gun in the shower paranoid?" and just figured the word "in" meant IN.

Now I sometimes forget the difference in definition between cement and concrete. But I thought I was on pretty firm (concrete??) footing with the meaning of "IN".

And IN is goofy. Now, if you are a CCW man (or woman) and you need to take a shower, I figure you might occassionally drop trou, so to speak, in the bathroom and then a weapon in the bathroom as opposed to actually being IN the shower makes perfect sense. You carry IWB and you take your pants off in the bathroom, you pretty much have the weapon IN the bathroom. Now if you take your pants off in the shower, You are SILLY GOOFY.

But that's just me.

Jim <== So uppity, I don't even have a cell phone to get tactical and disciplined with. I have people your people can call to arrange for us to talk.

[Clinot]

I think you've hit the point of parnoid delusion.

[jsp98m3]

Let me guess, I don't have a cell phone so I'm nuts?

[blackmind]

You know what got me to get myself a cellular phone?

I was driving home from work one night, waiting at a RR crossing while the long train went by. A van was in front of me, cars on each side. In my rear-view mirror I saw a car coming up behind me -- slowing, but not stopping. I got bumped. Not hard enough to push me into the van in front, though.

So when the other vehicles crossed the tracks, I did as well, and signaled the idiot behind me to do the same.

When we stopped again, this time MY car was behind HERS. Two young women got out, OBVIOUSLY slightly inebriated.

There was no damage to the cars, but I was checking the hell out of my little crapbox Hyundai. I didn't want to involve police and insurance companies if I could avoid it, and so I was ready to tell the women to just get out of there if there was no damage.

The driver started getting agitated, saying, "Oh, come on, there's nothing wrong, what, you want to call the cops, go ahead, here's my cell phone, call the cops, blah blah blah." (Apparently a sloppy attempt to use reverse psychology.)

I got assertive (more so) and told her, "LOOK, I'm gonna check to see that my car is undamaged before I tell you to blow, but not before then. And IF there's no damage, then all will be fine. So just CHILL for a minute, and chances are there'll be nothing to have to bother with." <words to that effect>

But it made me realize that after the fact, these women could have called a cop to claim that I had hit them!. After all, the cars were now rearranged in that order.

Beyond that, I've found that cellular phones are almost infinitely convenient. Get lost on the way to somewhere, call them. Won't make it in time, call them. Need the movie times? Call them. Call-ahead seating? Call them. Getting picked up at the airport, and your plane just landed, and they can't wait at the curb for long periods? Call them. See a crime in progress? Call the police.

Apart from the discourtesy of using phones loudly in places where people never used to be able to use a phone, I can't think of a reason not to have one. I can directly control how courteous I am when I have a phone; the simple fact of having it does not mean I have to be a discourteous boor with it.

-blackmind

[jsp98m3]

I've had cellular phones forever. 5 of them at the same time for all of the different countries and systems I have to work in, here and abroad. Recently Cingular screwed up my rate plan and refused to correct the billing. I paid the bill, cancelled the service and after 2 weeks still have not found another service that I will tolerate. My Cingular service used a Motorola GSM V3 Razor. No other service uses GSM except T-Mobile. Verizon and others use other service types. All of the phones are HUGE. I'm waiting and the longer I wait the more I realize that I like being off-line sometimes.

I don't need a gun in the bathroom and I don't need a phone in there either. If I don't answer the phone at the office or at home, call me tomorrow

But I still have 4 foreign phones and will likely get another US provider when they get a phone that compares to the V3 Razor, which is about as large as I will tolerate.

[orionengnr]

of throwing it against the wall.
At least once a week I want to offer to do that with someone else's phone....

No, I no longer own one.

[blackmind]

I don't need a gun in the bathroom and I don't need a phone in there either.

How do you KNOW you will never need to use either of those from the bathroom?

You might step out of the shower and hear breaking glass, or a door being forced. Without a means of defending yourself OR summoning police help, what would you do?

-blackmind

[dave_in_delaware]

Your post is a good one. I've never thought about that scenario.

I personally hate when my phone beeps every time I push a button, so I turn that annoying feature off right away! So, if I'm dialing 911, that won't be an issue.

But as far as ringing vs. vibrate... I've had mine set to vibrate before, and rarely can tell it's "ringing." On the other hand, my speaker is on the front of the phone, and I keep it in the coin/watch pocket above my main pocket in my jeans, so I have to keep the volume up more to hear it ringing through my jeans. Not a good thing if I'm trying to hide from a BG robbing the store I'm in. I guess for my own safety, setting it to vibrate when out in public would keep me the safest.

[tsavo]

I think I'll just keep my phone on whatever ring I want, and not worry about a bg hearing it lol, that's a little exsessive if you ask me. You might as well wear full camo everyday incase you have to hide.

[USP45usp]

Having a phone in the bathroom saved my Grandmothers life. She slipped in the tub and broke her hip. She couldn't get out of the tub but luckily (or paranoidaly?) she had a phone in the bathroom and called my Mom, who then went over and made her decent and then called the EMT's.

Yup, if my ol' Grandma wasn't so paranoid, she could have died in her non paranoid state .

Geez.

Okay, I ask you this, what makes you think that calling others names and second-guessing their mental health is justifiable by you? Give us your credentials that give you the right or the medical background to pass judgment on others.

Until then, it is you that I firmly believe have a mental illness, not the others that you have projected your true self upon IMHO that is.

Wayne

[jsp98m3]

Ah yes, turned into a troll. All too easy.

Jim <== pee'd at least 4 times today with the door unlocked and my back to the door. Slowly going mad trying to figure out how to live in a house with 14 rooms and 7 outside doors. But I try to never pee in the same bathroom twice in a row. Luckily my offices also have 4 bathrooms. But wait, counting the shipping docks there are 5 outside entrances and two overhead dock doors. How to cover them all? Oh my God, what to do? WHAT TO DO????????????????????????????????


Aiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I haven't EVER felt the need to carry a gun. And despite having a **** load of money, lots of possesions, a killer wife half my age and conspicuous consumption. Did I mention my retiring personality? And yet, STILL no need to play army at home.

But I'm comforted knowing I've made so many rational friends. Truly, I don't care if you carry a gun in the bathroom. But some of us, you know, the normal people, think you might be a weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee bit too worried.

[Aikibiker]

Fun cell phone facts:

-On some cell phones when you dial 911 the phone gives off a very loud siren noise before completing the call alerting everyone in the area that you just called the cavalry. It is also fun to not know about this feature and have the siren go off just as the phone arives at your ear.

-If you press and hold the 9 button for a few seconds any cell phone in the United States will automatically dial 911. No need to add 911 to your speed dial list it is already there.

-the key tones, ring tones, and voice generally all come out of the same speaker on the phone. You can cover this speaker with your hand to mute any sound coming from your dialing.

-It will take a few minutes for the cops to arrive after you call 911. It is safer tactically (I am begining to hate that word) to deal with the problem at hand before calling the cavalry. Remember the cops come to pick up the pieces not save the day.

[pax]

-If you press and hold the 9 button for a few seconds any cell phone in the United States will automatically dial 911. No need to add 911 to your speed dial list it is already there.

Funny. On mine, pressing and holding 9 dials my mother's house.

OTOH, pressing & holding 1 on my phone dials 911.

Now for the real question: if you have to press & hold one key for three seconds, how is that faster than hitting three keys, one second at a time? Anyone?

pax

[MicroBalrog]

One is reminded of Takeshi Kitano's shooting his cellular phone at the end of Battle Royale.

[MicroBalrog]

Now for the real question: if you have to press & hold one key for three seconds, how is that faster than hitting three keys, one second at a time? Anyone?

It may not be faster, but it's a mechanically simple motion than hitting three keys, then hitting dial.

Under stress, or when you're injured [which you might be], you want all the motions you need to go through to use emergency equipment - guns, cellphones, doesn't matter - to be as simple as possible.

[Russ538]

"Now for the real question: if you have to press & hold one key for three seconds, how is that faster than hitting three keys, one second at a time? Anyone?"

Might be useful if you've just been robbed and shot and are laying on the ground, and you can barely find the strength to pull out your cell phone, and just use what strength is left to hold a single button until the thing starts ringing. Under any other circumstance, yes, it would most likely be faster to just dial 9-1-1.

[ShootCraps]

The ringing cellphone screwed me up royally last week. Just as I was about to do an easy putt - ring, ring. Aaaaaaargh!!

[SAXD9]

As a LEO, when I go on duty I keep my phone on vibrate only. Ain't nothing worse than trying to sneak around and do something and the friggin' phone rings!

For those of you programming 911 into your phone, PLEASE, PLEASE, keep your key pad locked! I don't know how many calls we've received in 911 where you can tell someone has their phone in their pocket and has accidentally dialed 911, tying up emergency lines.

[IZinterrogator]

You might as well wear full camo everyday incase you have to hide.

Hey! I do that! Matter of fact, I'm wearing it right now at 11:40 PM, mainly because I don't bother changing for changing's sake when I get home like most of my co-workers. Then again, I work in a town that starts with "Fort"and does not end in "Worth", so I am hardly unique in this aspect.

[SAXD9]

Starscream: I'd rather him drive off and our police do their jobs. They get paid good money out here i'd rather it be put to use then lose 25 bucks and my phone.

<laughing hysterically!> My starting pay as a rookie cop was $17,000 a year, and I know places that pay less!