A cellular chorus

Ok. Here's the truth.

I'm really tired of the whole silence-the-cell-phone-while-in-the-library thing.

Never mind trying to figure out where the annoying ring tone is coming from. Never mind dirty-eyeing the patron trying to dash out the door while conversing at full volume. Never mind ferreting out the sneaky talkers hiding in the stacks. It's all a losing game anyway.

I'm tired of feeling guilty while shushing moms with toddlers - are they yakking with a pal? Or trouble-shooting problems with another child? Do they have to drag their kids out to the lobby while they talk, or is it better to abandon one child in the library while they scoot out the door to calm down the one at the other end of the line? I don't know. Why do I have to?

Let's call the whole thing off! Let's experiment! Let's have a cellular chorus and just ignore the phone question altogether. So what if it's noisy in the library! It's already noisy anyway. It might be amusing - there is such a variety of ring tones, and I see a fair amount of smirking going on at particular rings. It might be cacophonous. Well, so be it. If folks don't care enough to turn their phones off already, maybe they won't care.

After all, who is the quiet for? Us? Probably not, we already have to talk at volume with hard-of-hearing patrons on the phone, and in front of us. For other patrons? Well, perhaps, but they stand and chatter with each other for long periods of time, or call to each other across the library, so I'm not sure who we are trying to fool. There are still some people who seem to respect the traditional quiet rules of the library, but they are so few! What do they matter!

I say, let's give in and enjoy the chaos.

And that's my rant for this morning. Please feel free to participate in my poll!