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:
There are few things more distracting than a ringing phone.
So what? It’s ringing for the same reason that a desk phone rings.
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.
Alerts that happen continuously are a different issue — text messages, e-mail alerts, twitter notifications, etc. Most people aren’t getting phone calls continuously.
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.
No, it’s not ringing. It’s quietly vibrating.
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.
Unfortunately, too much of the human race. I dream of working in a giant Faraday cage some days.
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.
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.
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.