waiter, please turn off your cell phone!
 

The ultimate in why cell phones should be banned in restaurants;

A couple nights ago, as I was in the middle of giving our order to the waiter, his cell phone rang. He put up his hand toward me and said "I've got to take this call." He stepped over a few feet and answered the phone by saying "Now what do you want? You just left here 5 minutes ago!"

After about 5 minutes of conversation, he came back and finished taking our order, no apology offered.

Yes, I will name names: the restaurant was Sazon, in Philadelphia. No, we won't return there.

Utterly unacceptable! I would run away from this restaurant after witnessing that.

two questions;
1) Did you ask to speak with the manager (I think he would want to know of the incident)

2) did you leave a monitory tip or verbal one ;)

unacceptable :td:

I can only envision a couple of scenarios in which this might be acceptable:

1. Pregnant wife expecting any moment
2. Reservist in armed forces with special on-call status (I knew a Marine in this situation)
3. Lifeline for Who Wants to be a Millionaire

Generally unacceptable, but I'd add a fourth to the above.

4. Family member on death bed.

I would actually cut the first and the third, as well as the fourth suggested by PFKMan23.

For both the pregnant wife and the dying family member, it is probably better that the call go to the restaurant, who can then inform the waiter as well as arrange for someone to immediately take over their tables.

For the lifeline, tapings of game shows are scheduled in advance and for specific times - take the day off, if you are expecting to be a lifeline.

It is only in the case of the armed forces where you don't want to give a list of numbers where you can be reached, that the cell phone seems to be the most practical option given the competing demands.

It really isn't that long ago that most people didn't have cell phones. They still managed to be present for their childrens' births, to be notified of family tragedies, and even to respond to the needs of the armed forces.

Generally unacceptable, but I'd add a fifth to the above.

5. Special ring tone assigned for when Ashley Greene is calling :p

I am very easy to please, but I'd have walked out, that is unacceptable.