A colleague at work has a new smartphone. I know this because I sat next to him for a meeting and his pocket was making constant pinging noises like a microwave oven at the AGM of the Ready-Meal Appreciation Society.

To his credit, though, he didn’t take the phone out to have a look who was pinging at him. Possibly because he’s of a generation that thinks it’s rude to start staring at your phone or, even worse, having a conversation when you’re supposed to be engaging with someone else.

Not so Jo Clarke, who while shopping at a supermarket in London took great exception to the checkout operator asking her not to carry on a conversation on her mobile phone while she was trying to serve her.

“I couldn’t believe how rude she was,” said Miss Clarke to a national newspaper.

Well, sorry, but it isn’t the checkout operator who was being rude, it was you. Now, I wasn’t there at the time and I can’t vouch for the tone of voice or the manner employed by the checkout person when asking Miss Clarke not to use her phone, but there is something topsy turvy about all this.

Maybe it doesn’t bother others, but it’s a pet hate when I see people on their phones while trying to pay for things at a shop or hand over their bus fare or anything which involves human interaction.

Because – and I know this might come as a shock to those who think their state-of-the-art smartphones are their best friends – the people you are quite rudely snubbing are just that: human beings.

And it is immensely rude and thoughtless to treat them as though they are robots whose only purpose is to process your shopping, take your money and issue you with a receipt while you bang on to your mate about nothing in particular.

If your phone call is so important, then make it before you start to interact with someone else. If it’s not, then tell them you’ll ring them back and give your attention to the human being who is sitting in front of you.

It’s a switched-on, over-connected world we live in. There are few bleaker sights than a bunch of people sitting around a pub or restaurant table all checking their phones for text messages, the latest Twitter updates, or to find out whether someone’s posted a funny picture of a cat on Facebook. If you like doing all those things, then don’t bother going out with your friends. Sit in a darkened room with only a Wi-Fi connection and a phone charger for company while all your mates are out enjoying themselves. Hey, at least you’re connected to the world!

But there’s something especially rude about using a phone while in a shop. You might as well say, “I and my need for digital contact are far more important than you and your little shop assistant job.”

Get a life, get some manners, and if you can’t put the phone down, use the self-service aisle.