Etiquette

Nowadays cell phones have become inevitable part of our life, but there are times when cell phone calls are the last things you want to anticipate. I completely agree that it is impolite and disrespectful to intrude on anyone’s privacy by talking on a cell phone in a restaurant, etc. Once I observed a man talking on a phone while church service. I completely understand that there might be emergency situation, but at the same time there are a lot of ways to respect my privacy during devotion time, and take that call outside.

“Call the would-be recipient’s office first and ask if it’s all right to transmit material during a certain period”?  REALLY? I really doubt that anyone does it in our days. In most cases we just send fax and then might confirm that recipient get it. But definitely NOTHING PERSONAL in fax!

Timing communication is very important as for me, especially during busy day, when you have 101 tasks to complete and 2 lines on hold, so on top of those you get some senseless phone call that keeps you out of your tasks. I even caught myself being tiring. I know how it feels when you are busy to spent time on phone without any sense. That is why I try to be as laconic as possible.

Screen names and ringtones? Very true, completely agree…

Answering machine etiquette is a strait forward thing. I deal with answering machine everyday and appreciate those who respect my time and don’t waste a second for silly messages.

I have never experienced conference calls on job level. However, I do use conference call when I drive long hauls. (Sometime I drive semi truck). Conference calls between drivers are way different from those rules that author are discussed in the chapter. For example, no one ever introduced himself before starting to talk. At the beginning it sound like mess to me, but after some time I got used to. If just to imagine that business conference calls would be like those among truck drivers, outcomes would be awful.

At my work I always do, I just have to put people on hold and take other calls. Today’s business world is so intense that it is just impossible to avoid putting people on hold. However, there should be some limits for length being on hold. I think nobody likes to call to customer service and spent 10 min just to get some live voice speak to you… It is not rude to put people on hold, it is rude when you put someone on hold and remember after 30 min that there should be someone waiting for you. I have noticed that people even do not expect you to hold for longer than 3-5 minutes. Few times after being on hold for 10 minutes or more people on the other end sound surprised still having me waiting…