Mobile phones

[londonpa]

My boss has just come out of a presentation spitting mad.  Apparently the potential clients he was pitching had several phone calls during his meeting and he thinks one was from the main client’s wife!   He’s mad because it took him (and me) days to put the presentation together.  People can be so rude.  My boss is always very sensitive to mobile phone calls and prefers me to text him even if he’s on a train so as not to disturb other people.   In meetings he has it on siilent. What’s your take on mobile manners – do you have any rules that you follow?

[suis]

We had this one person who would show up for meetings about 10 minutes early and pull out the cell phone and play games.  First it is rude to pull out your cell phone at all at a meeting, second playing games is a waste of company time.  This guy went to a few meetings a day, so if he was 10 minutes early playing Tetris or what ever the game was for each meeting that is a waste of at least 30 or more minutes!  That is one of my many rules. Don't play games on your phone, before during or after a meeting!

[raindance]

In my company, mobiles have to be switched off or on "silent" during meetings.  

There are occasions when calls are extremely urgent, but these are the exception.  I think it is incredibly rude to go into a meeting with a mobile switched on and to take calls, particularly without saying that the person is expecting an urgent call during the meeting.  I feel the same about mobile phones at lunch and dinner tables!  But then, I also think that many people these days simply don't know how to behave.

I'm getting old .

R.

[officeguru]

 

I don't take my phone to meeting unless it's near time for school to let out or if kidlet is home sick.  There have been several instances where I've been in a meeting and kidlet has missed the bus or gotten on the bus when she was actually being picked up and then the school, after school, and everyone else (it seems) starts calling my phones to make me aware.  It's a little unnerving to come out of a meeting with 3 urgent messages on my work phone and 12 missed calls on my cell.  In the time it calls to find out what is going on and that kidlet is indeed safe - 'mom' mode kicks in and all sorts of scenerios run though my head!  LOL

But I digress... Even when phones are on vibrate - they can still cause a disruption, I know I can hear my phone when it's on vibrate even when it's sitting in my purse on the floor.  Luckily as an admin, I'm rarely in meetings.

Our biggest 'problem' during meetings is people being on their Blackberry.  We have several that will sit throughout meetings working on their emails, etc.  It seems extremely rude to me.

[diamondlady]

I agree with you raindance.  It's just common curtesy that people are forgetting to use and especially when it comes to cell phones.  My boss always puts his on vibrate when he's in a meeting, and he KNOWS I'll only call him when its an emergency, or he's asked me to if a certain person calls that he's expecting.

I agree in reasturaunts it's very rude to be on the phone chatting away and the phones are ringing all over the place, and everyone looks around to check their own phone.  Sheesh, what did we do before cell phones.  

Our priest has a strict rule for the one hour your with him, turn it of, leave it out in the car or if you HAVE to have it put it on vibrate.  He doesn't want to hear them ring at all!  I can't blame him there, how annoying, for one hour during service you can't be without it?  He's a good guy and boy does he give a look when he hears those phones ring during service.  

OK off my soap box now.  There has to be rules and ettiqute especially in an office, nothing more annoying when your in a meeting with your boss, and your cell phone rings.  Amazing how many people jump to answer them, most of the time it's the significant other or wife/husband calling.  My hubby won't call unless it's an emergency, even then your more likely to get a text message from him asking me to call him.  

Diamondlady
Peer Moderator

Edited by diamondlady on 19/03/07 05:41 PM.

[gee4]

I have to agree that is so rude - they obv were wasting your time huh?

[cassie15]

Our rule is that phones are off during meetings, not even on silent or vibrate, unless important calls are expected, in which case everyone is pre-warned. And for business lunches, my boss is trying to get everyone to leave their phones with the maitre d, so he or she can alert us if calls come in. But no-one wants to leave their phones at the desk - I must say I can't blame them. I wouldn't want to leave my phone at a busy restaurant reception desk! But beat this for extraordinary bad mobile manners....  A friend of mine who works for a large blue chip was in a board presentation the other day, and the FD who was giving the budget presentation not only left his phone on, but answered it during his own talk!! Beat that!!

[abigails]

Mobile phone calls in our open plan office drive me mad!  I'm a Team secretary for the sales department (8 people) and not only do their mobiles ring constantly, so do their landlines.  I find it so distruptive and sometimes  just cannot concerntrate, particularly when I'm working with numbers.  I also get annoyed when I have to contact someone on their mobile and it turns out that they're on holiday abroad and they get cross because I've interupted their break.  If they're on holiday why don't they turn off their mobiles!  Grrr.

[potofgold]

We had a big issue with this at management team - not just with mobiles, but they all have blackberrys as well and seemed to spend more time reading their email than participating in the meeting.

So, I took an empty cardboard box, labelled it "mobiles here" and plonked it on my desk.  As they arrived for the next meeting, I took all their phones/blackberrys from them, labelled them with their names, and put them in the box advising them that all their secretaries knew where they were and would call my office in an emergency, and if any mobile rang I would personally answer it and take a message (unless it was urgent, then I would fetch them from the meeting).

I don't like treating senior managers like children, but when my boss has to repeat himself when asking questions because they're too busy reading their mail to be listening, it just makes my blood boil.

After a lot of whinging from some, they all finally complied!!  It was even better when the Chief Exec was attending the meeting the following week and arrived with the "worst grumblers", saw the box, commented "I must tell my staff to try that" and handed her phone over to me on the way in to the meeting.  SUCCESS!!  

It's not quite so easy with external visitors, but I started with the "I'm terribly sorry but we don't permit mobiles into meetings so if you would kindly switch it off, or perhaps leave it with me and I can take your messages for you...." the word soon got round that we won't condone unnecessary interruptions.

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[gee4]

Simple answer - ban them!  Have everyone put their mobiles, blackberry's, palm tops in a container, not to be retrieved until the end of the meeting.  Surely anyone can wait until a meeting is over to make a phone call?

[diamondlady]

Yes but, if they HAVE to have them there are proper ettiqute to having them.  If you put it on vibrate, it won't disturb anything, or even better, as my boss does lots of times, turn it off.  He's just not available.  Simple easy that way and it's his phone and his responisbility to be respectful in a meeting to not have the thing on especially if they have been specifically told not to.  Did your boss say NO phones or blackberry's allowed?  He shouldn't have to, but, if an emergency came up and if you weren't at your desk you would have never heard the end of it.

I don't like phones going off all over the place either, but sometimes they are a neccesity.  There has to be a proper protocol to follow.  Each place is different, but to ban them, is not the answer.

Diamondlady
Peer Moderator

[misslynn]

I've had times where I've NEEDED to get ahold of my boss or one of my Directors during a meeting. What works best for us is a simple text message. I know they won't answer the phone, sometimes I don't even need them to, a quick text generally does the trick.

I can tell when my boss is very bored in a meeting though because I'll see that he starts reading his e-mail on his BlackJack.

[abigails]

I feel like a dinasaur!  I remember the days when (said with old croaky voice, leaning on my knarled stick, wagging bony finger) , there were no mobiles, no blackberries and my typewriter had a golf ball that made a sound every time I typed a document!

If there was an emergency I either contacted my boss through the company he was visiting or interupted a meeting at the office.  I could always get hold of him one way or another or, where possible, dealt with it myself or got someone else to deal with it.  

I hate mobiles and my kids are always berating me for leaving mine at home.  Mobiles are not the b all and end all!  People can live very fruitful lives without being in contact  24/7.  

[itsme_calista]

Don't feel like a dinosaur, I left school less than 15 years ago and I learned on a golfball typewriter, remember telex before email, and no such thing as mobiles then unles syou dragged a battery the size of a brick around too!

My boss is really good with his mobile, he always has it on silent, unless he's in the office and it's on vibrate.  He oftens suggests that other staff redirect their mobiles to me during meetings etc.

I miss call most people I need to speak to. They know I want them if I've called them and so they can call me back at their convenience.

C

[diamondlady]

I can't tell you how many times those have saved a whole lot of hassle, and especially in an airport, or after hours when you had to get a hold of someone and they are on the road.  It's so nice to be able to do that instead of paging someone in an airport, and maybe they would hear it and answer you.

They are just very convenient, and there is a proper protocol and each company is different.

Diamondlady
Peer Moderator