« How Do You Keep Up? | Main | The Compensation Question: What Is My Labor Worth? »
August 21, 2006
Top 5 Personal Cell Phone Etiquette Commandments for the Workplace
For years, I fought getting a cell phone. I didn’t think I needed one, and I couldn’t justify the expense. Besides, I didn’t want to be one of “those people” -- the ones who take calls no matter what the situation, blast an irritating ringtone every time they get a call and talk loud enough for everyone to notice they’re on a cell.
I finally got a cell phone, which has a pretty liberal minute plan, so I use it a lot, including while I’m at work. But there are workplace rules to using your cell. Here are my top five:
1) Thou Shalt Keep the Ringer Low and Put the Phone on Vibrate When in Meetings: Keep your volume at a reasonable decibel level in an office setting. You’ll still hear it when you need to. And if you’re heading to a meeting and expecting an urgent call, fine -- just put the phone where you can see or feel it when it rings, and let the meeting manager know you may have to take an urgent call.
2) Thou Shalt Use Thy Cell for Personal Calls: Before I got a cell, I had to do the doctor dash to a conference room to call my doc back when he rang my work line. Now I give my doctor my cell phone number and leave my cube when he calls. Trust me: Your coworkers will thank you on this one. Can we say TMI?
3) Thou Shalt Keep Thy Voice Down: In a cube farm, there are no sound barriers. Either take a walk when your best friend calls or lower your voice.
4) Thou Shalt Consider Thy Ringtone’s Office-Appropriateness: I highly doubt your coworkers want to hear the ringtone version of “Me So Horny” every time you get a call. At the same time...
5) Thou Shalt Differentiate from Thy Neighbor’s Ringtone: My cube neighbor Elizabeth uses the same standard ringtone I did. So I changed mine to avoid confusion whenever her phone rang. It helps my productivity, too.
Share this post: Digg, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Posted by Christine on August 21, 2006 at 12:12 PM in The Daily Grind | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/8850/5748979
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Top 5 Personal Cell Phone Etiquette Commandments for the Workplace:
Comments
When I teach workshops for college professors on classroom management, one of the biggest complaints is students not turning off their cell phones in class. I recently did a blogpost on how to get students to do so. If we could get our students used to being professional with their cell phones, companies would not have the issues you discuss here.
Posted by: Delaney J. Kirk | Aug 23, 2006 5:48:59 PM
Also remember:
Always turn the phone off before an interview.
Posted by: David Clemen | Aug 24, 2006 3:29:28 PM
Here's an article that our company put together that got a lot of press regarding cell phone abuse. It fits nicely with the advise offered in this posting.
Are You a Cell Phone Sinner?
Mobile Mistakes Could Wreck Your Career
In spite of their convenience and necessity, cell phones are now another means whereby we can irritate our fellow man. Theaters, restaurants, trains–even public restrooms–are no longer safe from the possibility of an untimely call. Two weeks ago I even heard someone having a cell conversation in a toilet stall. At that moment I knew that if ever there was a reason for voicemail I had found it.
Somehow cell phone ownership seems to affect common sense. And on a more serious note, poor cell phone etiquette can ruin a career. Are you committing any of the following sins?
Sin 1: Annoying or Cutesy Rings
The cha-cha, the latest pop single, your lover’s voice–I don’t want to hear any of these, and neither does anyone else. Have mercy on the general public when picking a cell phone ring. Your latest Romeo saying, “Ooh, baby, baby” may be funny to your friends, but it’s a credibility wrecker at the office. Believe it or not, that actually happened to a friend of mine. She went to a business meeting and forgot to turn off her ringer. Midway through the meeting, her purse started talking. She had a fancy ring that was a recording of his voice telling her how beautiful she was. Thank goodness he didn’t use her name, so like everyone else, she pretended she didn’t know the source of the mysterious voice.
Sin 2: Holding Court
“We just landed, and I’m waiting to get off the plane.” I must hear that from at least four or five people every time I take a flight. In the midst of all the benign information that follows, what these rude cell phone users don’t say is, “There is a short, homicidal looking woman standing next to me. I can tell that she is getting ready to beat me senseless for talking loudly about nothing on my phone.” People, please: if there is nowhere for the rest of us to go, think about whether you really need to have that conversation.
Sin 3: We Can Hear You
For whatever reason, many people talk at top volume when they are on a cell phone. Microphones are sensitive. The person you are calling can hear you. We don’t need to. Enough said.
Sin 4: Your Help Is Ruining My Conversation
In the last few months, I have seen signs in fast-food restaurants and retail stores that say something to the effect: “We will gladly help you when you are done with your cell phone call.” It doesn’t surprise me. Many times I have watched people talk on phones while in line (see Sin 2) and then not even address or acknowledge the employees whose assistance they need. Simple courtesy will go a long way toward getting you on your way.
Sin 5: Taking a Call When in a Meeting
As the old saying goes, just because something can be done doesn’t mean that it should be done. Whether you have called it yourself or are merely attending at someone’s request, invitation, or order, a scheduled meeting is not the time for cell phone calls. The rings alone are intrusive; answering them is an even worse breach of etiquette. The message received by those at the meeting is that they are less important than the disembodied voice coming through the cell. Unless your intention is to make others feel insignificant (definitely not a cool move if your boss is waiting for you to get off the phone), then don’t answer, turn it off, and get it out of sight.
Sin 6: Are You Talking to Me?
With the invention of hand-free cell phones came the double-edged sword of convenience and mistaken identity. Who among us has not been taken aback by the presence of another human trawling the aisles of Wal-Mart while actively engaged in what, on initial inspection, would seem to be an animated discussion with himself or herself? After giving this person, who is clearly having a psychotic episode, a wide berth, we realize there is actually a streamlined headset attached to the person’s skull yet well hidden underneath a hat. At the risk of being mistaken for a pop singer or air traffic controller who has wandered away from work, leave the headset in the car.
Sin 7: Too Much Information
Discussing anything of a private nature that others within earshot might be able to hear is unwise on a number of counts. Think about it: do you want your coworkers to know the results of your latest lab tests your doctor’s office has just called to share with you? or see your “dark side” when your contractor calls to tell you his work will take two months longer and $2,000 more than he had originally stated? or hear your travel agent has booked you on that cruise to Nassau for the same week you’d requested to have off for surgery you so desperately needed? Unless you want to raise a lot of questions and eyebrows, take calls from those who probably have unpleasant, upsetting, or incriminating information when you have total privacy.
On a very serious note, too much information given over a cell phone while others are in your presence could cost you dearly. A friend recently shared with me his experience of standing behind a woman talking on her cell to a repairman who was coming to her home to do some work while she wasn’t going to be there. By the end of the call, my friend had learned the woman’s name, address, neighborhood (complete with directions on how to get there), and the location of the spare key she had left for the repairman to gain entry to her house. Had he been so inclined, he could have reached the woman’s place before the repairman and cleaned her out—or worse.
Go forth, and sin no more. These tips just might save you your credibility, image, job, belongings—even your life.
Kate Zabriskie – Founder of Business Training Works, Inc., a soft skills training company specializing in business communication skills. Find out more at www.businesstrainingworks.com.
Posted by: Kate Zabriskie | Aug 25, 2006 7:23:32 PM
I have to admit, I find 'Sin 7' to be a little ridiculous. Even though I grew up in NYC, where Lily Tomlin once opined "wouldn't it be great if paired up all the people who wander around talking to themselves so it wouldn't look so bad?", I don't have a problem with someone (notably myself) having a hands-free conversation.
Perhaps its because I obey the 'we can hear you rule' and do not speak loud, perhaps its because I don't own a BlueTooth, so the line cord is obvious.
But if people get put-off merely because I am speaking hands-free - provided I am not speaking loud, or about overly personal matters, etc., it would seem to me they are the ones with a problem, not me.
Posted by: Charlie on the Pennsylvania Turnpike | Aug 28, 2006 3:17:27 PM
Thank you very much your way of explaining is very nice. it will help every one.
Posted by: Deepa Negi | Sep 8, 2006 2:18:38 AM
I am a business student and my professor says we are not allowed to answer calls during other student presentations. My husband says this is a dumb rule and I better answer my phone when he calls because he is calling to give me a ride home (my class ends at 10:30pm) ANn suggestions?
Posted by: tay | Oct 28, 2006 12:21:02 PM
LOL! That happen to me when i was in college. Our professor told us to turn off our phone but i have a call coming from my sister which is very important. Well, i decided to go out of the classroom and aswer the call and did not come back at my class. Well, i say that all important call should be an exceptions to the rules right? We should also turn the vibration alarm so that we can detect all incoming calls, so bad that my phone doesn't have one, good thing my sister bought me a new phone from http://www.bestcellularphoneserviceplans.com, which has a vibrator. Btw nice post!
Posted by: Shannon | Aug 9, 2007 9:58:39 PM
My husband is always complaining about me not answering the phone. He wants me to answer it anytime he desires to call me. I have told him I sometimes won't take the phone with me because I go to the restroom or downstairs to heat my meal. He still gets mad and tells me I have to answer. I think this is too much. Has anyone had this problem? And if you did, what did you do?
Posted by: Al | Nov 21, 2007 3:06:45 PM
I usually just keep mine on vibrate.
Posted by: Fred | Jan 16, 2008 12:34:23 AM
One of my co workers sits in the middle of the room and has as many personal cell calls as she pleases, at the top of her lungs. Doesn't care a bit how disruptive it is and she is the bosses favorite. Always gets whatever she wants no matter who or how many have to suffer for her to have it. If discipline is not enforced from the top level, what next? I've been told to wear headphones. I'd have to jack the music to an earsplitting level to drown that much noise out, and then I still wouldn't be able to think straight because of THAT. Now what???
Posted by: I don't care about your life! | Apr 15, 2008 8:25:38 PM
