Irked blogger does a number on cellphone user

Amy Alkon said she was in the Rose Cafe in Venice “trying to listen to the classical music and enjoy my breakfast” when a loud woman at the next table called an eye doctor on a cellphone to make an appointment. It was too much for Alkon, an advice columnist concerned with what she calls “the disintegration of public manners.”

As the woman “shouted her information so anybody near her could (and, in fact, was forced to) hear it,” Alkon wrote, “I took notes (rather conspicuously) and then posted the information, including her phone number, on my blog.”

The cellphone user told the Wall Street Journal that she has since been receiving “weird and creepy” calls.

The Journal opined that Alkon’s revenge was part of a trend whereby “ordinary folks,” not just public figures, are being “outed online” for “the most trivial missteps.” Alkon concedes that she has heard from several people who “didn’t like what I did.” But apart from whether she was justified, a reader named Gregg e-mailed her about another aspect of the case. Whatever happened, he asked, “to good old fashioned paranoia? I won’t say anything personal or (about) business to anybody unless I’m behind closed doors and the room has been swept for bugs.”

*

Word imperfect: Howard Rosen of L.A. snapped a restroom sign that seemed to be thanking his company. (Incidentally, I’m especially indebted to any reader who would go to the trouble of taking a photo in a restroom for this column.)

I’m adding Rosen’s finding (see photo) to my collection of spell-check-type errors that seem to be everywhere (see accompanying), including:

* A disastrous attempt at “inconvenience” (from Andy Eaton)

* A phone that belongs to the vegetable family (from Judith Hart)

* An ad whose spelling was not commendable (from Beryl Arbit)

* And a headline in a mobile home newsletter calling on members to seek out questionable characters (from Lois Leuch).

*

“Duh!” item of the Week: Dixie Bliss of Laguna Woods noticed that a tag on her new pillow warned: “Do not iron.” Commented Bliss: “It’s never occurred to me to iron a pillow.”

*

“Duh!” (II): Judy Freedman of L.A., whose dog has diabetes, noticed that her pet’s medicine container advised: “Do not drink alcoholic beverages when taking this medication.” It will put a crimp in the pooch’s social life, but at least the creature won’t have one of those terrible mornings after which it has to seek out a “hair of the dog” drink.

*

miscelLAny: As for Donald Trump’s receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, comic David Letterman declared, “It’s official: Hollywood is finally out of stars.”

*

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.