WTF Friday
Recently, I have been trying to help a couple of guys at work and been constantly interrupted when they excuse themselves to take calls on their cell phone. I don’t mind an occasional call, especially if it seems to be something important; but, judging from what I overheard, the conversations could have waited. It’s very frustrating. I don’t expect them to completely ignore their phones; however, they should value my time as much as whomever they are talking too; especially when I am trying to assist them. I haven’t said anything to them; but I may start being less helpful, particularly on Fridays when I’m trying to leave work at a reasonable time.
P.S. I hope that this will not become a regular Friday feature.
Do we control our phones or do they control us? I think that the more instant communication devices we get the less considerate of other people we become – simple politeness goes by the board.
Communication expands to fill the minutes available for it’s use. (Apologies to Parkinson.)
yondan
With all the communicationg and gameing going on where I work, not to even mention web surfing I do not know how anything gets accomplished anymore. Inconcideratness abounds. I have herd discriptions of her yeast infection in a returaunt, cussing love spats and sexual encounters. Please lets hope that the FAA will not permit cell usage in flight as they are concidering doing. Yes I have one and I hate it.
This may be of interest to CG and I know we are 85mm users too. Read this blog http://sbquotidian.blogspot.com/2008/07/stalking-elusive-diaphragm.html
I always hated the way incoming phone calls always took presidence over in-the-flesh conversations. The invention of cell-phones has made it infinitely worse. We need a universally accepted protocol. Like, let it ring!
I hate that as well, especially if you’re trying to teach them something. Bugs the very loving crap out of me. If I’m helping someone and my phone rings, I immediately push the call to voice mail. It’s the polite thing to do. It gets worse when their texting. UGH, pay fucking attention! Oh, and don’t call me back for help if you’re having the same problem and couldn’t bother to let your phone go and pay attention. ARGH!
Alfie: I always let it ring. And usually I’m pretty good about enforcing my rule of only helping people in my cubicle; but cell phones have made it worse, especially with people who cant resist the urge to pick it up. I’m getting pretty good finding something else to do and getting busy; but with the sometimes, you’re in too deep and that’s not possible.
Mr. Manic Depressive: I know it’s unrealistic to expect everyone to be single-focused; but much of the time, they’ve completely lost the train of OUR conversation and I have to start all over. from the beginning. It’s gotten so bad that I’ve started saying. “Why don’t you come back when you have some uninterrupted time to spend?” That wastes even more of my time since the initial session is a complete loss; but make the point.
Some buildings have one inch thick, grounded, copper plates as external walls to block the passage of RF into or out of them.
Those shields are called Faraday cages, and they render cell phones, as well as other RF devices, inoperable. It’s possible to build lighter weight Faraday cages using well grounded, conductive, wire mesh, and it’s legal in the US to install them.
Read about Limor Fried’s “Wave Bubble” in her Master’s thesis, http://www.ladyada.net/media/pub/thesis.pdf , and be sure to look at her wiring diagrams, parts list, and assembly language code.
Also, Google “cell phone jammer”.
Although it’s illegal to operate a “virtual” Faraday cage in the US, in practice, it would be difficult to get caught operating a camouflaged, mobile device. Read about the fines in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_phone_jammer .
Wave Bubble: I’d love to have a device like that with an effective radius about of 2 meters so my cube would be a dead zone. I could certainly get a lot of work done that way.