I like texting. It’s a neat, techie way to communicate with someone without talking to them. I don’t like to talk a lot on the phone, so texting is a convenient alternative. But now, thanks to idiot teens and tweens – whatever the hell those are – it’s getting more and more annoying.
 
The other day, I’m standing in line at the ColdStone. It’s not busy; I’m the third person in line. I’m not actually buying anything. I’m on break at the movie theater where I get free soda and lemonade, so long as I have my own cup. So, all I’m waiting for is a free cup. Nine times out of 10, the teen behind the counter recognizes my uniform, and gives me a cup. I don’t even have to ask. But, on this day, the girl behind the counter isn’t looking at me. She’s standing there, with her eyes seemingly on the floor.
 
The first person is being helped by one guy, and the second person is being helped by a second guy. But, the girl is still looking down. There’s some other guy rounding up the trash, but he only pops out for a second, so he can’t get me a cup. So, I just wait, staring at the girl hoping she looks at me. Finally after about 30 seconds she looks up. I ask her for a cup, and she gladly gets it for me. But, as she turns to walk away, I see that she’s holding her phone in her hand.

When she hands me the cup, I guess her phone vibrated, because she looked at it, held it below the counter, opened it and giggled. She just got a text. Sigh.
 
It didn’t bother me that I had to wait. I mean, I was only waiting for a minute. But, it’s getting annoying because high school kids are texting too damn much.

At the theater, we’re not supposed to carry our phones, but everyone does – except maybe the managers. And every chance these kids get, they’re texting someone. On a given night, one of the guys says he probably sends about 200 texts. 200 texts! I probably send 200 texts in a week, on a busy week. And, I probably text more than most people, since I don’t like to talk.
 
What’s worse is that these kids have it down to a science. They’ve pinpointed not only the security camera locations, but where those cameras are pointed, and where they need to stand to avoid being seen by the cameras. They even know where each specific wireless provider will get the best signal out of a camera’s line of sight. That’s crazy.

The more they text while on the clock without getting caught, the more brazen they become. Some have texted in front of customers, which I imagine will get you fired. Some have texted in the movie theaters while the movie is running… These are employees on the clock, in uniform, checking a theater! What could be so important that they would risk their job for it?

I decided to ask a couple of my coworkers. One said:

This freshman just texted me and told me that she heard that I like her.

WHAT?!?!?! How dumb is that?
 
Another said:

I was just checking to see what my boy was doing now because I’m bored.

I swear…

All of the answers I received were in this vein. The texts weren’t anything important. They were just pointless nonsense to pass the time. Yet, a lot of these kids actually have work they could be doing, but they choose to stand around and text.

One employee was in a car accident last week. What happened? Well, she said:

I was driving to work and I was texting, and I went to pick up my Starbucks to take a drink and I rear-ended some guy.

What the hell is wrong with these people?!?!?! Texting and driving and drinking Starbucks. How many hands do we have? Two. She’s one short, you do the math.

Gin Rummy said it best:

Why would anyone in their right mind spend 15 minutes trying to type some s#!t they could’ve called and said in 5 seconds? Plus, it involves typing with your thumbs, which I just don’t approve of. … Fun fact: Nothing typed by someone’s thumbs has ever been important.

If you want to know where that quote came from, check out the clip on YouTube. (Clip contains potentially offensive language. You’ve been warned!)