I bought one of the Aliph Jawbone blue tooth headsets a little while ago. It is totally badass. Now I’m one of those losers that walks around with a piece of technology hangin on his ear. Honestly tho I only wear it when I’m talking on it. At all other times it resides in my coat pocket. Sure I’m a dork but I’m not a total tard.
A couple evenings ago I was in Home Depot getting some light bulbs and other domestic type stuff and I happened to be talking to a very good friend of mine while I was shopping. At the end of my 4 mile hike around Home Depot I decided to dod the self check out thing. I’ve never done it before and the voice in my ear goaded me into trying it out. So I did.
It is less intuitive than I hoped and so I was commenting on that as part of our conversation. I provided a very editorialized step by step and critique of the process. It was actually pretty fun. It turns out tho that there is a worker there that moniters the whole area and is ready to help out. Here’s the good part. He was standing to my right well within earshot. I wear the Jawbone on my left ear…
yep… you guessed it. When I looked his way he was clearly sizing me up and trying to determine if I was high, drunk or if I had a 14 IQ. Either way he was clearly not headed over to help me. He looked rather scared actually.
There are not a lot of headset users here on my tiny technologically backward island so it’s not something we’re used to seeing and accepting.
I’m at the point now where I love having it on cuz people just get so confused. Am I talking them? Maybe. Maybe not. I’m never going to see these people again what do I care? I’ll take the humor.
Rick Galan
November 4th, 2007 at 12:05 amI heard a really good name for the people that wear those headsets all the time, especially when they are not on the phone: bluetool. Says it all, huh?
Jack @ The Tech Teapot
November 4th, 2007 at 10:39 amI’ve actually answered when somebody was on their blootooth headset when they were walking past on the street. It was really embarrassing! How the heck are you supposed to know that they aren’t talking to you when you can’t see the phone?
gage
November 8th, 2007 at 2:53 pmI don’t read long blog posts like this, but I can tell you that people that wear bluetooth headsets that are out of their vehicles are dbags. I am ok with the little earbud type (usually still wired), but the big flashing blue ones are quite annoying and just makes you look like a douche.
at any rate — hope all is well //g
Dana Mark
November 9th, 2007 at 7:17 amWhile working in a restaurant, I responded to a man looking right at me who said “How are you?” One of the other people at the table said, “He’s not talking to you. He’s on his phone.” I wanted to say, “Then shut-up!” I guess I wasn’t used to Star Trek people eating at my restaurant. Now I sell those blasted things. Go figure!
POOPeGIFTS
November 13th, 2007 at 11:38 amtry getting the blue tooth Oakley sunglasses. You can leave the ear buds along side of the sunglasses arm, so you cant really tell they’re there, and the reflective lenses prevent people from knowing where you’re looking, which totally screws with them.
Nick Aron
November 19th, 2007 at 2:14 pmI must admit this post made me laugh as I could fully relate. When I first got my motorola bluetooth headset I thought it was the coolest gadget on the planet. Sure I had a few people looking at me weird but meh this was a cool piece of technology and it was their fault for not getting with the program, but I realized later those weird looks were because people simply thought I was insaine! Once I was driving down the road (Government St. actually) and noticed someone in the car next to us talking to himself. I was with my giddy sister who thought he could truely benefit from serious couselling. I mentioned that it looked like he was on the phone but that fact didn’t seem to matter! Eventually 2-3 weeks later it grew old trying to find it, charge it and remember it. But I think now with internet telephony and the right computer integration this is quite practical.
Anyway with all these new fancy bluetooth decks and even directly integrated with your car, probably make it easier at least for someone like me that really had a problem remembering to plug it in and charge it up every day or so.
Ami Ohayon
July 10th, 2008 at 8:01 amBluetooth headsets are becoming more and more common where I live. In fact, when we bought a new car last summer, the salesman looked at me as if I was an idiot when I asked about installing a “cradle” adapter for a cell phone. “Everyone uses Bluetooth now” he said, politely omitting the “Idiot” from the end of his sentence.
Mike Canon
August 16th, 2008 at 3:03 pmYeah, I like my Bluetooth too, and I’ve had the same situationw where people think Im talking to myself. I do have to be careful though, as sometimes I forget I am in a public place and I can really annoy people because I have a tendency to speak loudly.
BTW-I like your 4 mile walk around Homedepot! LOL!
Tom
October 14th, 2008 at 4:37 amJack, I’ve done the same thing a few times. I can never tell when someone is wearing one of those things or not. Oh well, I still dont look like as much of a fool as the bluetool, LOL.
Jeff
November 12th, 2008 at 9:14 amGod I hate those things. Why is it whenever anyone wears one they feel the need to scream their conversation at the top of their lungs? Whenever I see someone doing that I just want to rip it out of their ear and stomp on it
Satin Lingerie
January 18th, 2009 at 8:06 pmI cannot say anything b/c I am probabely guilty of doing it. I will be more aware in the future.
HardwareStoresGuy
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:56 pmWell nobody ever accused the checkout guy at Home Depot of being the smartest person on the planet.