Office drones, I have a question

[Barrister]

The trigger was one too many episodes of 2) from the guy I'm supervising.  The same guy also on occasion takes cell phone calls from home while we're talking, but I assumed that was clearly inappropriate, and didn't need to be discussed. 

Calls from home are more important then at least half of the conversations I'm involved in at the office.  Plus sometimes it's just faster and easier to say "excuse me this'll just take a minute... yes honey, I'll pick up some chicken for supper... sorry, I have to go I'm in the middle of something" then anything else.

[Barrister]

That all goes for conversations with people within my 20 person office.

If someone high up from headquarters (Ottawa) is in my office, they have my undivided attention.

[garbon]

How often does your CEO come into your cube.

edit: ok pathetic play on words.  But seriously, every firm has an "open door" policy but really if the CEO actually came to talk to you would you seriously tell him to chill?

Fairly often, actually (depending on what I'm working on, sometimes I work directly under him)...and thus why I've had the occasion where I've had to take a call when he was present.

[crazy canuck]

How often does your CEO come into your cube.

edit: ok pathetic play on words.  But seriously, every firm has an "open door" policy but really if the CEO actually came to talk to you would you seriously tell him to chill?

Fairly often, actually (depending on what I'm working on, sometimes I work directly under him)...and thus why I've had the occasion where I've had to take a call when he was present.

Ok so this is more the buddy buddy kind of working atmosphere where all are equal Berkut says he is used to.

[garbon]

Ok so this is more the buddy buddy kind of working atmosphere where all are equal Berkut says he is used to.

Somewhat yeah. The CEO did call me a friend once, when on the phone with his boyfriend.

[Jaron]

Under the CEO?

[Berkut]

CC, so if you are go into your employees office to chat about something job related, but not terribly time critical or important, and their phone rings, they glance at it and then ignore it in favor of chatting with you...and you later find out that was a critical client who had time sensitive imformation that needed to be addressed ASAP, and them blowing them off in favor of not offending their boss who is known to be a bit think skinned about such things results in a serious loss of revenue...

You would be all "Good job subordinate! I am just that important, that was properly handled! Screw the client, *I* come first always!"???

Really?

Thats not the scenario we were discussing but nice try..  The scenario you stated was after a mix up there were some non IT guys (outside your everyone is equal culture) who were now in charge.  I said I highly doubted that if one of those guys, your new bosses who you dont know and rarely see, came into your office to tell you something, you would interupt them by taking a call.  I further advised you that you had better not take the call but should in fact listen to what they have to say.

If you think what you are doing is more important in those circumstances - you had better be damn sure about that.

Fair enough - I misunderstood then, I did not realize we were talking about that particular scenario, but more in general.

You are right - if a boss who I did not know well came in to have a chat with me, it would take a pretty damn important call for me to take it, and then I would most certainly make it a point to stress that the call was very important, etc., etc.

[garbon]

You are right - if a boss who I did not know well came in to have a chat with me, it would take a pretty damn important call for me to take it, and then I would most certainly make it a point to stress that the call was very important, etc., etc.

If you don't know him, how would you know he's a boss?

[Jacob]

If you don't know him, how would you know he's a boss?

Immediate boss, earlier in the day: Big Shot VP in charge of funding our unit is on the premises today.

Later:

Person not recognized: Who are you and what exactly is it you do?

Berkut (ignoring the ringing phone): I'm Berkut, you must be Big Shot VP.

... end the scenario as appropriate.

[Monoriu]

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) I always pick up the phone, regardless of the rank of the person in front of me.  Because maybe the person calling me is my boss.  Even if my boss is in front of me, I'll still pick up the phone, because maybe HIS boss is the one calling me.   Of course, what I say after I pick up the phone will depend on the situation.  If my boss calls me, I'll ask whoever is in front of me to leave.  If my boss is in front of me, I'll say I'll call back later (unless it is his boss). 

2) I don't use my cell phone in the office.  I just use silent mode and ignore every call.

[Caliga]

2) I don't use my cell phone in the office.  I just use silent mode and ignore every call.

Same. 

[Monoriu]

Another thing is, I can't continue my person-to-person conversation if the phone is ringing.  It is disturbing as hell. 

[grumbler]

You would be all "Good job subordinate! I am just that important, that was properly handled! Screw the client, *I* come first always!"???

Really?

In your hypothetical, how much does the client charge per hour?

[grumbler]

Thats not the scenario we were discussing but nice try..  The scenario you stated was after a mix up there were some non IT guys (outside your everyone is equal culture) who were now in charge.  I said I highly doubted that if one of those guys, your new bosses who you dont know and rarely see, came into your office to tell you something, you would interupt them by taking a call.  I further advised you that you had better not take the call but should in fact listen to what they have to say.

If you think what you are doing is more important in those circumstances - you had better be damn sure about that.

Maybe I am conflating two near-identical statements by you, but aren't you the boss in your scenario?  After all, you noted that a fellow employee better not take a phone call in your presence.

[grumbler]

If you don't know him, how would you know he's a boss?