Phone Snub

I don't want to talk to you. I 'll give you a sign,  because action speaks louder than words.

Therefore, reaching for your cellphone when somebody is talking to you sends one message.  I’m done with you.  I’m no longer listening to you.  I’m now ‘talking’ and listening to whatever I see on the screen, even if it is cartoons.

Some people just don’t get it.  They continue talking and the cellphone navigator continues to navigate.  Oh! She’s smiling.  The talker thinks that is a good sign, but the navigator is smiling at the cellphone. 

A person who values herself will stop talking as soon as the other person fishes out her cellphone.  She must stop talking right there and exit the conversation and the friendship, or remnants of it.  People navigate their cellphones because of manners.  It is not polite to say: ‘You are boring me.’  That is when they remember that action speaks louder than words.

You might not realize that you are devalued, but passers-by do, and don’t understand why you don’t get the message although the bus is flashing: downtown, downtown!

Eyes.  How about eyes?  Eye contact is part of conversation, and it ends once eye contact is lost.  Doesn’t the talker get it?  The cellphone navigator is now ‘talking and listening’ to what is on the screen. 

Talker listen up.  You have become redundant, laid off, divorced, expired, terminated and shut down like Sears and Toys “R” Us stores, so why don’t you shut up and say goodbye?

By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.