# Cell phone ringtone in an open office environment.... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 11, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-ringtone-in-an-open-office-environment/798579 "2017-10-11T15:56:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-ringtone-in-an-open-office-environment/798579/21 "2017-10-13T12:53:33Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Really? Every office I’ve ever worked in has a phone on every desk and the assumption has always been that that phone will audibly ring. Indeed, the stereotypical sound of an office is phones ringing. Why should that be any different for cell phones? A) There is a difference between a desk phone which cannot be set to vibrate and a cell phone, and B) See the next quote: > [@Ruken](#): > > Desk phones don’t sit in your pocket. > Ours light up. If you insist on it ringing you better have the volume set so it can only be heard within a few feet. There are few things more distracting than a ringing phone. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-ringtone-in-an-open-office-environment/798579/22 "2017-10-13T12:55:39Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > Desk phones don’t sit in your pocket. So what? It’s ringing for the same reason that a desk phone rings. > [@](#): > > Ours light up. If you insist on it ringing you better have the volume set so it can only be heard within a few feet. I’ve always been in workplaces where people want to know when they’re being called, even if they’re across the room talking to someone else or using the copier, etc. Clients, sources, doctors, children’s caregivers, etc., can be important calls. And these days, if someone is calling you rather than sending e-mail, that implies some degree of urgency. People talking while you’re trying to work is far more distracting than occasional bursts of music or beeping. In any case, I’ve never heard a cellphone ringtone that carries anywhere as far as a traditional telephone ring. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-ringtone-in-an-open-office-environment/798579/23 "2017-10-13T13:02:47Z")
Alerts that happen continuously are a different issue — text messages, e-mail alerts, twitter notifications, etc. Most people aren’t getting phone calls continuously. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-ringtone-in-an-open-office-environment/798579/24 "2017-10-13T13:17:54Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Really? Every office I’ve ever worked in has a phone on every desk and the assumption has always been that that phone will audibly ring. Indeed, the stereotypical sound of an office is phones ringing. Why should that be any different for cell phones? Well, if it’s something relatively benign, such as an actual _ring_, then there’s little problem. But I don’t wanna hear Meghan Trainor every time you get a call. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-ringtone-in-an-open-office-environment/798579/25 "2017-10-13T13:55:16Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > So what? It’s ringing for the same reason that a desk phone rings. No, it’s not ringing. It’s quietly vibrating. > [@Acsenray](#): > > I’ve always been in workplaces where people want to know when they’re being called, even if they’re across the room talking to someone else or using the copier, etc. Clients, sources, doctors, children’s caregivers, etc., can be important calls. Subjecting coworkers to interruption for your personal calls is never appropriate. If your work calls are so important that you can’t miss them during a piss break, then forward them to your cell. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-ringtone-in-an-open-office-environment/798579/26 "2017-10-13T14:18:40Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Who thinks an audible ringtone of ANY kind is appropriate for a cell phone in an office environment? Unfortunately, too much of the human race. I dream of working in a giant Faraday cage some days. ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-ringtone-in-an-open-office-environment/798579/27 "2017-10-13T14:22:05Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaJu23YZBpw)ringtone is available. It will make you sound important. Used that at one time. It was good in a noisy environment, which I wasn’t in most of the time. I am almost tempted to use that “teen buzz” sound when I’m at a noisy high school competition. When the kids start clutching their ears, I would know I had a phone call. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-ringtone-in-an-open-office-environment/798579/28 "2017-10-15T00:25:05Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I try and make ringtones for nearly everyone in my contact list; I have well over 100 hundred now. Many of them are culled from metal songs (natch) and cause heads to turn in small and/or quiet spaces. Most of them are so much fun to hear that I’m actively happy that the other person called even before I say “hello”. And all of them let me know who it is without my having to look. > Funny you should say that; I’ve been compiling my custom ringtones under the album title _Avalanche of Ringtones_. It’s about 40 minutes long now and makes a decent if ADD-like playlist. How can you possibly remember which noise is which person? I can certainly recognize many dozen (hundred?) snips from classical or popular music over the decades. But remembering that Sam Smith is a bit of classic Motown and Jane Jones is a bit from Beethoven? Fat chance. At least for me. My wife and my employer each have distinctive rings. All 800 other contacts are the default. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Also annoying when a co-worker leaves his cell phone on his desk, wanders off and it starts to ring (or play the text alert) repeatedly. I’ve been tempted to throw the phone out the window. I haven’t actually done that yet, but have turned off someone’s phone or stuck it in a drawer, just to muffle the noise. There’s a reason there’s a toilet on every floor. Phones fit just fine in one. As to the OP: I’ve written before about problems coexisting with cow-orkers in a cube farm back before the advent of cellphones. Back then I found that Chinese Opera is the ultimate nuclear weapon in cube wars. You can use it on your music player, for ringtones, computer alert noises, etc. Nowadays it’s trivial to rip snips out of a CD or an online source and embed it in your phone of computer. Like smoking a stogie in an elevator, you will not make friends. But you will influence people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-ringtone-in-an-open-office-environment/798579.md?page=1)