The article "CELL PHONE ETIQUETTE: Are You a Cell Phone Sinner? Mobile
Mistakes Could Wreck Your Career" talks about communications, it was released by Kate Zabriskie.
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 possibiilty of an untimely call. Two weeks ago I even
heard someone having a cell conversation in a toilet stlal. 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 seriuos 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 anoyne else.
Have
mercy on the general pulbic when picking a cell phone ring. Your
latest Romeo saying, "Ooh, baby, baby" may be funny to your
friends, but it's a credibility wrecekr at the office. Believe
it or not, that actulaly 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 takling. She had a fancy
ring that was a recording of his voice telling her how beautiful
she was.
Thank goodness he did not use her name, so like everyone
else, she preetnded she did not know the source of the mysterious
voice.
Sin 2: Holding Court
"We just landed, and I am waiting to get off the plane." I must
hear that from at least four or five persons eevry time I take a
flight.
In the midst of all the beingn information that follows,
what these rude cell phone users don't say is, "There is a
short, homicidal looking girl 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, guess about whether you really
need to have that conversation.
Sin 3: We Can Hear You
For whatever reason, many persons talk at top volume when they
are on a cell phone. Microphones are sensitive.
The person you
are calilng can hear you.
We don't need to. Eonugh 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're 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 towrad 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 etiuqette.
The message received by
those at the meeting is that they are less imoprtant 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 that person,
who is clearly having a psychtoic 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 auto.
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 quesitons and
eyebrows, take calls from those who probably have unpleasant,
upsetting, or incriminating information when you have total
privacy.
On a really serious note, too much information given over a cell
phone while others are in your presence could cost you dearly. A
friend yesterday shared with me his experience of standing behind
a girl talking on her cell to a repairman who was coming to her
home to do 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 lcoation 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 plcae before the repairman and
cleaned her out--or worse.
Go forth, and sin no more. Thsee tips just might save you your
credibility, image, job, belongings--even your life.
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