Office drones, I have a question

[DGuller]

The question is about phone etiquette at work, in two different situations.

1)  Someone comes over to your cube/office, and you talk about work.  In the middle of talking, your work phone rings.  What do you do?

2)  You're talking on your cell phone, and someone comes over to your cube/office to talk work.  What do you do?

Does the answer to either question depend on the rank of someone talking to you?

[Grey Fox]

The behavior I have observed is this :

1) Answer the phone.
2) Finish the phone conversation. It's not because it's not work related that it isn't important.

Personally, while I have a phone at work, I rarely use it. It's the 21st century, send me an email.

I guess they would act differently if VPs & higher were waiting for them.

[Berkut]

The question is about phone etiquette at work, in two different situations.

1)  Someone comes over to your cube/office, and you talk about work.  In the middle of talking, your work phone rings.  What do you do?

2)  You're talking on your cell phone, and someone comes over to your cube/office to talk work.  What do you do?

Does the answer to either question depend on the rank of someone talking to you?

1. Answer it. See if it is important. If so, tell person you are talking with you need to take the call, will catch up with you later. If not, tell person on phone you are tied up at the moment, and you will get back to them later.

2. Depends on who you are talking to, what it is about, and who comes over. Basically the same thing as #1, with the same outcome.

Lastly, of course it matters. If my boss is talking to me about something important, I am sure as hell not likely to tell him I will get back to him in favor of a phone call from a friend who is asking me if I want to meet for lunch.

[Caliga]

1) I never answer the phone, because that's just plain rude... unless it happens to be my SVP or the COO.

2) I never talk on my cell phone in the office (and my work Blackberry is data only).

[Admiral Yi]

What Throbby said.  Say excuse me, take the call, say you can't talk now and will call back.

[PRC]

Call display... if I recognize the number as one I need to take I say "I need to take this" and answer it.  If I don't recognize the number... I don't answer.

[Ed Anger]

I want the TPS reports.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Unless I am expecting an important call or the caller ID is from someone important I let it ring out.  I hate it when someone ignores me to grab a phone call to talk about something that oculd wait and don't wanna do it to someone else.

For 2, I usually tell whomever I"m on the phone with that I'll call them back, unless it is something important.  I only use my cell phone for the occasional personal call. Maybe once a week or every few weeks, and I have my students turn theirs to vibrate.

[The Larch]

1) I'd ask the person I'm talking with to wait until I answer the phone and know who is calling. Then, depending on the call, I'd ask the one with the lower priority to wait until I deal with the other.

2) Is it a work or a personall call the one on the phone? If it's personal, I'd hold the call until I get the point that the person who came over wanted to say.

Regarding the rank, yes, it affects my decision making. I'm not making my boss wait in any of those scenarios, unless the other thing is urgent.

[Syt]

1) Will depend on who is in my office and who's calling. If my supervisor is in the office and a colleague I know will just have a short query is calling I'll finish with my supervisor and call the colleague back. Vice versa I'd be more likely to pick up the phone if my supervisor or his supervisor is showing in the display and a fellow underling is in the office.

2) If it's a private call I'll end that one and turn to work issues.

[crazy canuck]

Does the answer to either question depend on the rank of someone talking to you?

Yep, if I want to talk to someone enough to go to their office/cubical and they are on the phone I will understand if they put me off because it is an important call but it better be an important call.

And if they take a call while I am talking to them......

[Berkut]

Does the answer to either question depend on the rank of someone talking to you?

Yep, if I want to talk to someone enough to go to their office/cubical and they are on the phone I will understand if they put me off because it is an important call but it better be an important call.

And if they take a call while I am talking to them......

That would suck to work in an environment where people were that uptight and anal.

If I am talking to someone and their phone rings, and they take it, what do I care? My ego is not tied up in whether or not they want to take a call while I am talking to them. If it is something important, they will get back to me. If it isn't they will get back to them. Either way...so what?

[crazy canuck]

If I am talking to someone and their phone rings, and they take it, what do I care?

You are not billing at the same rate obviously.

[grumbler]

If I am talking to someone and their phone rings, and they take it, what do I care?

You are not billing at the same rate obviously.

Nor is his ego tied up with an ability to punish someone for taking a call when he is visiting.

[DGuller]

If I am talking to someone and their phone rings, and they take it, what do I care? My ego is not tied up in whether or not they want to take a call while I am talking to them. If it is something important, they will get back to me. If it isn't they will get back to them. Either way...so what?

There is certainly an ego component to this.  No one likes to be put on hold without an obviously good reason.  However, there is also just plain inconvenience.  You don't want to compete for someone's attention just to discuss work.