I work in a typical office/cube farm. I have several co-workers who leave their cell phones on during the day (like I do) and if they happen to be away from their desk I get to listen to their phones ring and ring and ring and ring (one of them has a ring tone that sounds like part of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, that one I hate most of all).
After being really annoyed about this I realized that I do exactly the same thing. Leave my phone on to ring and ring and ring when I walk away from my desk.
So, I’ve started setting my phone to silent/vibrate when I’m at work so I don’t annoy anyone.
Oh, my co-worker still has her phone on with the stupid ring tone but I am smug and self-righteous in the fact that I have gotten a clue and I’m not as annoying as her. (which isn’t difficult because she’s pretty annoying in general)
Thus I am a better person. No kittens died in the making of this OP.
[sub]P. S. I’ve also stopped using the cell phone while driving but that’s a whole 'nother rant[/sub]
Geez, that would be annoying. Do you have any trouble remembering to reset to a ring tone when you get back to your desk? I know I’d forget.
I used to do this, but the phone was always in my purse, so the William Tell Overture was somewhat muted.
I’ve stopped my annoying habit of wearing cologne to work, after being exposed to my boss’s wretched patchouli. My Ysatis probably isn’t appreciated either.
In my office, we’re not always in the office. Instead of having to tell my daycare provider every day what number to try me at, I just have her call my cell if she needs me. My employer does not mind at all if people have their cells on, as long as no one’s chatting away ona personal call just for the hell of it.
I have my personal cell phone at work because I must be available to everyone, all the time. I’m that important! I also have a company pager.
Seriously though, some of my coworkers have company cell phones in addition to their phone on their desk because they travel often. Because they travel they give out their cell rather than their office phone because that’s the easiest way to reach them. Somehow the phone their desk ringing isn’t nearly as annoying as the stupid ring tones.
Me, I keep my phone on because I have lots of downtime at work and during this inactive period I spend time on my cell phone trying to book my band. This is not specifically prohibited where I work as long as I get my work done.
BTW I just figured it out. The annoying ring tone is none other than the opening of “Stayin Alive” by the BeeGees and no, that’s not a company cell phone, it’s her personal phone. Sometimes she answers and leaves it on speaker so I can hear her talk to her husband about what’s for dinner.
Any abandoned cellphones ringing unanswered within 50 yards of me get tossed into the toilet. I nearly had my lights punched out once, but no one does it any more.
I once sat next to a person who spent an entire 1 1/2 hour long lecture systematically nibbling his nails down to the quick.
I had no idea how disgusting it is. The sound of teeth clicking together, of bits of nail being spit out, the nauseating smacking and slurping… YUCK! I can’t beleive I ever did that in front of other people! (File under: 800 Reasons Podkayne was a Clueless Social Outcast for a Good Fraction of her Life.)
I’ve tried for years to quite biting my nails, but after that, I was instantly cured.[sup][/sup] Like former smokers who can’t stand the smell of cigarette smoke, I now get the screaming heebie jeebies whenever I see somebody with their fingers in their mouth, gnawing away. And they’re everywhere.
[sup][/sup]Okay, 95% cured. I don’t have any defense against a little rough spot that keeps snagging on things. If I don’t have a clippers and a nail file handy, that nail is destined to be nibbled down to nothing. I try very hard to resist the urge to do it in public, but in private I am unable to restrain myself. I apologize to anyone who happens to be in the viscinity when a tiny tear in my nail drives me over the edge.
My company is fairly lax about having your mobile with you. Hell, I’ve interrupted my boss to take a call as it was from “Nana”.
I too loathe my co-workers endless rings when they are in the loo or whatever. Yes the themesong from _________ was amusing the first 482 times but get a new fucking ring tone!
I have my ringer on fairly low so only the 2 closest co-workers can hear, and my ring tone itself is fairly quiet. I sometimes don’t even hear it!
Am I the only person left in the world whose phone just…rings? Nothing cutesy or melodic. I just chose one of the 5 different alerts that came standard with the phone.
I have a coworker with a Hawaiian-type ringtone that he keeps so loud the boss, who is all the way across the room and in her own office, can hear it. I feel your pain.
The ringers that came with my phone were kind of annoying. Buzzy-sounding or lame songs like “La Cucharacha.”
I downloaded 3 songs from… some place associated with Verizon. They were three for $5, I think. I have snippets of “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Brown-Eyed Girl” and Pachelbel’s Canon.
I keep it on vibrate most of the time, anyway.
Yes AHunter3 but you’re from NY. You can get away with that up there.
Stayin Alive should be against the law Bibliocat I don’t think anyone would disagree with me. Maybe when she’s away from her desk I can just sneak over and accidentally knock it on the floor and smash it with the heel of my shoe. Accidentally of course. Oops. Sorry! My bad!
My daughter has an annoying ring tone. It’s some pop song with a zippy beat. Sometimes Mr. Jones and I start doing a little dance when the song comes on. Sometimes this happens in a public place or when her friends are over. This has been enough to convince her to keep it on vibrate unless she’s in her room with the door shut. I don’t know why. We were just having fun.
[sub]I like my phone to ring, like, you know, a phone. I don’t want it to sing, talk, bark, chirp or whistle dixie. Just a plain old ring will do nicely thankyouverymuch.[/sub]
Hey, maybe that’s all I need to do with my coworker, start dancing like John Travolta! On second thought, I really like this job and my company’s stock just went up so maybe I should just sit quietly in my corner cubie like a good little Dilbert.
Podkayne Purchase an emery board or two. Keep one in your purse and one at your desk. Then you can file those rough edges instead of nibbling them. It works much better.
You could always use the abandoned phone to make a call to one of those 900-number dial-a-porn lines and leave the connection running. I’ve noticed that cell phones occupied by a call-in-progress don’t tend to ring audibly. Could be wrong about that but seems like it would be worth a try.
Sitting near my husband in the cubicle farm are many consultants who annoy him by this habit of abandoning their cell phones, which ring endlessly and drive him crazy. His solution is to go and turn their cell phones completely off. So far he hasn’t gotten in trouble . . .
Are you my coworker? If you are, you should know that I love you, I really do, but if I have to hear the William Tell Overture as performed by cell phone one more time, I’m going to smash that phone with a hammer. Purse does not help.
But I don’t think we’re in the same area, so I’ll just have to bear it from the REAL culprit. I swear I’m going to wrap it up in duct tape until I can’t hear it anymore. She’s always away from her desk; she won’t notice.
I also have a company pager.