Shut off your God-damned cell phone

I'm not sure what people's problems are nowadays, but for the love of God, please turn off your cellphone if you're in a meeting. I've never seen so many people in meetings (important meetings, too) where their cellphone will suddenly erupt with some cheezy ringtone from hell. They will then pick up the phone, look at the screen (while the second verse of said cheezy ringtone is playing) and proceed to answer it. What the hell is wrong with you people? Just about every phone I've ever used has a silence button, and most, if not all, cell phone services support some form of rudimentary voice mail, even if the phone is off. Better still, my phone supports a silent profile, so it will respectfully buzz when I have a call (assuming I have my phone with me in any of these important meetings.)
So, to review: if I'm in a meeting, I will do one of the following:

  • Turn off my phone
  • Put my phone into a silent mode
  • Hit the "silence" button, and let the other party hit my voice mail if I forget to do the above and I receive a call.

I will not:

  • Answer the phone
  • Answer the phone and carry on a conversation
  • Answer the phone after my obnoxious ringtone has looped twice.

Thank you.


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