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 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.
About The Author
Kate Zabriskie is the Founder of Business Training Works, Inc., specializing in business communication skills including Communication Skills Training and Business Etiquette Training. To learn more, visit http://www.businesstrainingworks.com. katezabriskie@announceaway.com
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What Phone System Does My Meridian Telephone Work On?
What Phone System Does My Meridian Telephone Work On?
by: Bob Mrozinski
Nortel Networks, Northern Telecom and Meridian are terms that many end users have said to me when describing what phone system they have. It's easy to get confused here, but we can sort some of this out.
Northern Telecom became Nortel some years ago. More recently, they have taken the name of Nortel Networks. This company has been and remains one of the largest phone system manufacturers in the world. They have made everything from the Central Office phone switches that provide phone lines, Centrex, T-1's, and PRI's to Norstar and Meridian phone systems for business offices to single line phones for residential use.
Finding the model number for your phone is one of the first things you need to do in order expand your system or replace bad phones.
If you order the wrong phone model, it won't have the same features and may not work at all on your phone system...
Razr phone > What Phone System Does My Meridian Telephone Work On?
The History of Voice over Internet Protocol
The History of Voice over Internet Protocol
by: Van Theodorou
The History of Voice over Internet Protocol By the end of 2006,
Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) may account for as much as
25 - 40% of international voice traffic. This prediction is
impressive, but it is even more amazing when you consider the
relatively short history of voice over internet protocol. It
began as a hobby for some people in Israel who were only able to
communicate by computer.
Later that year, in 1995, the first company in the history of
voice over internet protocol to put a product on the market was
Vocaltec. They released Internet Phone Software, which in
combination with a home computer, sound card, speakers,
microphone and modem allowed users to make a phone call over the
internet. However, the people on both ends had to have the same
setup, and sound quality was much less than on a normal phone.
In 1998,...
The History of Voice over Internet Protocol
Razr phone > The History of Voice over Internet Protocol
Homecall Broadband
Homecall Broadband
by: Neil Shevlin
Caudwell Communications, telephony business from the Caudwell Group and owners of mobile phone company Phones4u announced in October their new phone line and broadband internet package. The broadband home service is known as Homecall.
The main advantage of Homecall over other services is that they can combine all your needs. A single bill every month includes your phone bill and internet bill. Because of their ties with Phones4u they often provide mobile phone promotions and their standard package includes free international and local calls, and cheap mobile phone calls!
Homecall don?t provide their ADSL themselves though, they do it through Tiscali Broadband. Although they offer they own services and support, Tiscali have a bad reputation when it comes to customer experience and also use the unpopular Datastream method of connection as opposed to IPstream.
With BT being forced to open up their...
Homecall Broadband
Razr phone > Homecall Broadband
Winning Customers Over the Phone
Winning Customers Over the Phone
by: Lydia Ramsey
Do you sometimes wonder where your customers have gone? In a study by the International Customer Research Institute, individuals gave the following reasons for becoming "non-repeat" customers:
* 1 percent died (makes you wonder how they responded)
* 3 percent moved
* 5 percent said friendships
* 9 percent said competition
* 14 percent were dissatisfied with the product
* 68 percent cited an attitude of indifference by employees
How many times do you think that employee attitude is communicated by phone? Very often the telephone is the first and only contact that people have with your organization. Make sure that this experience is the best you and your employees have to offer so that first-time callers become repeat customers.
Smile when you answer the phone. Even if your hair is on fire or the last caller chewed you out, pause for a moment to put...
Winning Customers Over the Phone
Razr phone > Winning Customers Over the Phone
Four Common Sense Tips for the Telephone Interview
Four Common Sense Tips for the Telephone Interview
by: Heather Eagar
Here?s a phone interview tip worth considering:
smile.
A smile is a magic thing, and in addition to being seen in person it can be felt from a distance.
When doing a phone interview, don?t think that because the person on the other end of the phone can?t see you that smiling and other positive body gestures are not important.
The best interview tip that anyone was ever given was to smile and make positive gestures.
In fact, many people talk with their hands.
If you do, consider a telephone head set to free your hands up.
Another tip that will be worth its weight in gold is to have a good quality telephone.
It may seem silly to even mention it, but the better quality phone you use, the better your voice will sound.
Years ago everyone rented his or her telephones from the local utility phone company.
...
Razr phone > Four Common Sense Tips for the Telephone Interview
Giving your Kids a Cellular Child Phone
Giving your Kids a Cellular Child Phone
by: Jay Moncliff
In today?s hectic world, more and more parents are concerned about their children?s safety, and rightly so.
Children today are involved in more and more activities and spend more time at home alone than any other generation.
Many parents are turning to cell phones as a way to keep in constant touch with their children.
As cellphone technology becomes more and more advanced and prices of phones drop further and further, many families are utilizing shared calling plans and prepaid phones to furnish their children with cell phones.
Most parents feel that children can be taught to be responsible with the devices, and the peace of mind that being able to contact your child at any time brings is more than worth the cost of the monthly billing.
Of course, a certain level of responsibility is necessary before a child should be given a cell phone.
Most...
Razr phone > Giving your Kids a Cellular Child Phone
How to Rid Yourself of Phone Charges with Internet Phone Service
How to Rid Yourself of Phone Charges with Internet Phone Service
by: Jim Sherman
Session Initiation Protocol and Short Message Service (SIP and SMS respectively) refer to frameworks that allow devices to communicate directly with one another without the need for a central routing computer. It seems rather surprising that a mere framework can so radically change the face of communication, but in the few years since their explosion onto the communications world, SIP and SMS have done just that.
The brilliance of SIP and SMS is that they are able to bypass the traditional telephony model whereby a line had to be routed through a telephone hub and maintained for the duration of a call to complete the conversation.
The process of routing and establishing connection as well as maintaining connectedness throughout the call in increasingly congested phone lines is quite an expensive venture.
And like all good for profit businesses...
Razr phone > How to Rid Yourself of Phone Charges with Internet Phone Service
Cell Phone Fashion: Personalizing Mass Production
Cell Phone Fashion: Personalizing Mass Production
by: Emily Sims
?Individuality: advanced features, precision engineering and couture style in a choice of elegant colors -- as individual as you are?. This is the blurb for the new Motorola Razr, one of the new breeds of mobile phone flying off the shelves. Where mobile were once marketed as an high-tech device, a tool packed with ingenious features, the new trend is for fashion phones. The major handset manufacturers are now offering seasonal collections, joint-venturing with well known fashion designers, and emphasizing aesthetic features when marketing their products. Indeed, some companies are scaling back the technical, yet utilitarian features, offering simpler but sleeker phones; form over function. Somewhere along the evolutionary path of the cell phone, the device has reached the point where it is no longer considered a gadget, available only to the privileged few with the money and/or technical...
Cell Phone Fashion: Personalizing Mass Production
Razr phone > Cell Phone Fashion: Personalizing Mass Production
Importance of High Fiber and Low Fat Foods
Importance of High Fiber and Low Fat Foods
by: Troy Francis
The easiest and most effective changes that you can make to your diet is to eat more fiber rich foods, and fewer foods rich in fat. Why boost fiber intake? There are many reasons to boost the intake of fiber while controlling fat, including increased exercise, decreased your weight and maintain a healthier lifestyle.
The fact of the matter is most people consume too much of the bad stuff? things...
Cell Phone Etiquette: Are You A Cell Phone Sinner? Mobile Mistakes Could Wreck Your Career Razr phone seeds Importance of High Fiber and Low Fat Foods
Razr phone > Importance of High Fiber and Low Fat Foods
Coupons - Increasing Popularity
Coupons - Increasing Popularity
by: James Brown
Online coupons codes are rapidly increasing in both popularity and their use. Why? The plain and simple fact is that the benefits that people derive from using online coupons are truly astronomical. With great savings in store for every consumer, the popularity of online coupons will continue to grow as people begin to realize the truly awesome benefits of using online coupons. Beyond the benefit one derives from...
cosmetics Cell Phone Etiquette: Are You A Cell Phone Sinner? Mobile Mistakes Could Wreck Your Career
Razr phone > Coupons - Increasing Popularity
Cell Phone Etiquette: Are You A Cell Phone Sinner? Mobile Mistakes Could Wreck Your Career
Cell Phone Etiquette: Are You A Cell Phone Sinner? Mobile Mistakes Could Wreck Your Career cruise
Watch Out For Allergies With Baby Laundry!
Watch Out For Allergies With Baby Laundry!
by: Kirsten Hawkins
So you're having a baby. You think you've thought of everything, but at the same time you're terrified that you've missed something. Here's one thing you may or may not have thought of: laundry. Yes, you know that you will have more, but have you considered the basic differences between your baby's laundering needs and yours? If you regularly use perfumed detergents, bleach, or fabric softener, your...
Cell Phone Etiquette: Are You A Cell Phone Sinner? Mobile Mistakes Could Wreck Your Career Watch Out For Allergies With Baby Laundry! perfume
Razr phone > Watch Out For Allergies With Baby Laundry!