Who hasn’t been tempted do pull a Bill Murray? The issue of cell phone usage in restaurants (and movie theaters and live performances and other public places) continues to bedevil those who run those venues.
Locally, The Brunch Club at the "Y" intersection of South Main Street and South Patterson Boulevard in downtown Dayton entered the fray back in 2012 by posting a notice that advised diners, "Out of respect for other patrons please make sure your cell phone is turned to silent or vibrate, and please NO speaker phones."
The restaurant’s owner said the notice was designed to reduce the number of people having loud, annoying cell phone conversations or playing games on their smart phones with the volume at full blast.
According to the web story we published at the time, the move was popular with readers to commented on the story.
“… It’s about time we took a stand against the rude behavior that cell users show in restaurants, movie cinemas, elevators, etc.,” one reader wrote.
Another wrote, “There sure are a lot of people that assume that they rule the world and make the rest of us miserable. Wise up young people. They world was not made for you to abuse and that includes having manners.”
The owner of the restaurant in Carmel, California where the Bill Murray incident took place told police he’s considering banning cell phones altogether, a Carmel police department commander told UsMagazine.com
Meanwhile, Murray’s representatives say the actor is taking full responsibility for the damaged phones, the US Weekly web site reported.
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