Remember when people thought it was cool to wear a blue light in their ear and talk to someone on a phone in loud voice that everyone in the room could hear?

These rude people have taken it to a new level. Now they are using speakerphone to carry out those conversations. So now they get to share both ends of the conversation with everyone else in the area.

AND.....I've had the honor of listening to 3 conversations in parking garages where the offender connected his/her phone to the car stereo system, rolled down the windows, and cranked up the volume where the whole parking level could hear "can you hear me", "guess where I am", and other low level useless dribble.

I remember the good old days when you could just step away from people who wore too much perfume or were waving their hands while they talked on the phone.

JMT - things just get worse and worse as far as rudeness goes but the person hooking it up to their car stereo system is a new low. I see a lot of movies and it really annoys me everytime a phone goes off during a film - and even worse when they answer it! The new annoyance at the movies is when people feel the need to text someone during the show and you can see the glow of the phone ahead of you. It's really distracting and annoying.

Sorry, JMT, but I have to respectfully object! (Maybe I should say, "Partially object!")

"What happens in parking garages, should stay in parking garages!"

I would likewise object if "what happens in parking garages" was to occur in dining areas, elevators, or other more formal areas within Las Vegas, but I must defend anything and everything that happens within the confines of any Las Vegas parking structure.

It just might be that those "culprits" you mentioned above were polite enough to leave the confines of the casino, the dining area, or possibly even the elevator to make that call you found so objectionable.

In fact .... It could have been ME!

If and whenever I ever win a bit of cash at one of the casinos, I want to tell the world and often hold back from doing so by having the courtesy of waiting until I reached the parking lot to pass the news.

In fact - It probably was ME!

I do that a lot when I feel I'm not disturbing others and still consider my self to be a courtious type of individual.

From a public safety point of view, it is probably better for people driving around talking on the phone be doing it via speakers rather than holding the phone to their ear.

I understand the opposition points. OTOH, until you've heard a few conversations out of 10 speakers at 200 watts per channel from a car where the audio amp is the most expensive part of the car, you probably can't imagine how bizarre it is. If it were loud enough for them to hear plus an extra boost to drown out external sounds, I probably wouldn't have mentioned it. I have reason to believe these were cranked up to extreme levels in attempt to show how cool they are. I didn't mention it the first time, but all 3 cases involved a car that was still in the parking space...not being driven. I know that 2 of them didn't have the engines running. Not sure about #3.

Bottom line for me is that their business is not my business.

Mike, I was at a comedy club last week at the Palace Station and there were three guys sitting near me with 5 cell phones in constant use. The guys were texting, talking, and taking calls the whole time. I was really hoping for an insult comic that would set them straight but it never happened.

A few years ago I noticed "cell phone free" zones in many places in Japan - at airports, in hotels, and in other public places. I kept waiting for that to happen in the States, I haven't seen any, with the exception of the American Airlines Admiral's Club at the Los Angeles airport where in fact they DO have cell phone free zones.

I read that live theaters and movie theaters are starting to install cell phone "blockers" inside the theaters since the problem of people talking and texting has gotten so out of hand. I CAN'T WAIT for that to happen.

JMT - 3 guys and 5 cell phones??!!?? How obnoxious!

I'd love to have a cell phone blocker in my car. They are available but illegal.

Do you think the "general public" would follow the rules for cell free zones?

How would a cell phone blocker in your car work, JMT - would it block cell phone calls just in your car, or in your general vicinity?

Much as I hate seeing the driver ahead of me holding the phone with one hand and gesturing with the other, it would be worse if my blocker cut him of and he was suddenly punching in numbers to try and re-connect, rather than driving the heck out of my way.

(and this in a state with a hands free phone law, probably the least obeyed law in NY)

hands free use only in washington,but not enforced.

The sad part is that most will not admit that they are bad drivers using a cell phone. Most claim to be a better driver. Keeping a nearby auto in your peripheral vision is not the definition of safe.

my fav is the steer with the elbows while texting.crash!!