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Even through the din of voices from parent-teacher conference, I could hear the phone ringing in my pocket.

We were in the high school cafeteria where teachers sat at tables lining the entire room. Parents lined up for a chance to speak with the appropriate teachers. After several minutes of searching with my son’s schedule, I finally found his math teacher.

Now the phone was ringing. It was the middle school where I knew my wife was also attending parent-teacher conferences. I decided I better take it, in case something was wrong.

Big mistake. It wasn’t my wife, but the middle school principal.

Instantly I thought my son was in trouble. Several phone calls have conditioned me to think like this. I braced myself for the worse, only to realize today was a day off.

I motioned to the teacher waiting in front of me, letting her know that this would be short.

Except the principal kept talking, proceeding to give me some information about an after-school club for my other son.

I had to interrupt him and cut him off. Told him I had a teacher waiting for me and I couldn’t hear because of all the noise in the room.

I hung up and smiled ruefully at the teacher in front of me. Elapsed time: More than three minutes. I apologized and we finished our conference.

As I moved onto the next teacher, the heavy pit remained in my stomach. For the longest time, I had mocked those people who used their cellphones in line, at the counter or in the bathroom. They were so rude.

Now I had become one of them.

So I did the only thing I could do. I turned the phone off and went back to apologize again to the teacher.

Maybe next time, I will be a little smarter with my smartphone.