This is topic Looking for a tactful way to tell customers to turn their cellphones off. in forum Letterhead/Pinstriper Talk at The Letterville BullBoard.
Client's cellphones are really starting to annoy me.
Because of time constraints and the need to be able to manage my time better, I'm now available by appointment only.
And what should be no more than a 15 to 30 minute meeting often ends up taking over an hour because the client keeps answering his cell leaving me twiddling my thumbs.
I'm looking for some tactful wording suggestions for a sign asking people to turn off their cellphones and that time (theirs and mine) are important.
Any ideas?
.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
PUT A SIGN UP!!!!!!!! know any sign people?????)))))) just like in the theaters.... NOTICE! CELL PHONE IN THE OFF MODE WHILE IN THIS OFFICE....IT MIGHT EXPLODE MY PACEMAKER!!!!
Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
Glenn, we had a thread going a couple months back about that...
Since then I was in the county courthouse to record some papers and noticed a neat little thing on their counter. It was a pretty little clay ern with lettering on the side of it that read 'Rude Cellphone User's Ashes.'
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Was in the chiropractor's office today and they have a sign on their counter "Please respect your fellow patients and turn cell phones off."
Now, I'm a bit more blunt than that so I'd recommend something along the lines of "To spare my sanity and your life, please turn your cell phone off."
Or if you want to have some real fun: "Warning: Explosives in use. No Cell Phones or Two Way Radios"
Guess I just don't see what's so wrong with a sign that simply reads "NO CELL PHONES".. circle, slash, phone.. the regular drill.
If they don't realize everyone's time is valuable on their own, a sign to tell them so isn't going to help cause they're not gonna read it anyway.
Put a clock on your counter, make up a new label that calls the clock a "Bill-O-Meter".. add dollar signs to each of the numbers on the clock or better yet, make your own clock face with different numbers.. when they start yackin' start that clock and wag your finger to direct their attention to it. If that doesn't give them the hint, nothing will.
Posted by Bruce Williams (Member # 691) on :
Make a sign, as Old Paint said. A good one. Hang it right by the office door. You can be only so tactful when you're up against something as tactless as this cellphone behavior. I think that anyone who approaches me, and then talks to somebody else who's not there, is nuts. And fundamentally rude.
Depressingly, the cellphone is only another stage in a long tradition of bad phone behavior. For 60 years that I know, most people will drop everything and run when the phone goes off. I think it's an annoyance, but most seem to take it as conditioning, as in lab rats. What fun company they make.
I'll bet Miss Manners (Judith Martin) has some choice remarks about this. I'd send a link, but MM seems to be vigilant about giving too much away on the web. But it would be worth a trip to the library, if only for overwhelming moral support.
Posted by E. Balch (Member # 3545) on :
If someone answers a phone while I am talking with them I walk away and get busy doing something else. They can come find me and wait for me to finish what I am doing if they want to talk again.
ernie
Posted by Jillbeans (Member # 1912) on :
I think I just might make myself one of those NO CELL PHONES signs. People are so rude! Love....Jill
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
JUST AN OBSERVATION: last eveing we went to a mexican eatery. we sat in a booth and right in my view was a young couple, 18-21 yrs old. sittin next to each other at a table as most young couples do. odd thing was.....as we ate our dinner, and iam watchin these 2.....very little interaction between them. some playfulness, kissy face, BUT you know what the y did most?????? when he wasnt on HIS CELL PHONE TALKIN.....SHE WAS ON HERS TALKIN.....no joke....then this other lady comes in a sits with them....SHES ON HER CELL PHONE.....i just wonder if they knew each other)))))))))))))) or WHO WAS THE PEOPLE THEY WAS TALKIN TO......
Posted by Ricky Jackson (Member # 5082) on :
I do exactly the same thing as Ernie; I just turn around and go back to what I was doing while they finish their call. I know when they are finished but I let them call me back to the counter.
Posted by Frank Magoo (Member # 3950) on :
As I'm semi-retired(hahahahahahahahahaha-ya right), it hasn't been a problem w/me as of late, but in the days when I was in a shop, I'd simply take phone away from them, throw it out into the street and inform them to come back when they had corrected their manners, and if they took offence, I'd go Todd on them, it only happened a couple of times, news like that spreads like wildfire it seems.... Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Mine is much easier, they answer the phone, I say "Go ahead, you clock is already running !"
Makes for very short phone calls!
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Frank !!
Man, keep that up and I'll be handing my title to you..hehehe.
One question for the OP: Are you saying you spent your dinner out ignoring your wife watching these two young kids ignoring each other? Hehehe.
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
No, Todd. OP was on the phone with me the whole time giving the play by play.
Posted by Ron Carper (Member # 999) on :
What do you do when you are in the shop talking to a customer and your phone rings? since I'm a one man shop, I usually answer it, tackfully saying excuse me, I have to get this call. If it's a big job, I might let the answering machine get it.
Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
Well now, Ron... that's a different story. MY calls are usually important.
[ August 09, 2007, 11:25 AM: Message edited by: Jon Jantz ]
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
If I'm face to face with a customer, I let the phone ring. I have voicemail and I can always call them back. That face to face interaction is the single most important thing happening at that moment. The look on the other person's face is usually a good surprised look though, like "You're not going to take that call? WOW!"
That's just the way I feel about it. We have all this technology to keep us connected yet people are more disconnected from each other than ever. The bodies are present but the minds are lost in space.
Anyway, sensible customers realize you can not always answer the phone every time there's a call. A prompt return phone call says more about you than not taking a call because you're already busy with someone else.
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
I agree with Mike! The other one that gets me is Call Waiting!
You are talking , then the other person says "I oops got a call waiting, be right back!" Then they gab for 10 minutes or so. If they take longer than what is required to get the person's name and phone number, I hang up!
Posted by Michael R. Bendel (Member # 5847) on :
Bill-o-Meter
It'd be fun to have a cartooney one that the hand turns FAST when you hit the HUGE red button next to it...
Great way to break the ice & get your point across MP!
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Responded to your new thread Michael but hey, if Staples can have the "Easy Button", we can have the "Inflate-o-button" Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
I saw the best one that I have seen was this morning at the Dentist's Office!
[ August 10, 2007, 01:40 PM: Message edited by: Si Allen ]
Posted by ScooterX (Member # 2023) on :
Or,
you can call them on their celphone and continue the conversation.
Posted by Craig Sjoquist (Member # 4684) on :
Please do not answer your phone during consulting
yup just plain rude
13 folds
Posted by Michael R. Bendel (Member # 5847) on :
I saw one today I thought was really good that read, "We're here to wait on you... NOT your cell phone!" Posted by Ryan Culbertson (Member # 7560) on :
One or two shocks with a cattle prod should work..........
oh wait, you said TACTFUL.
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
No problem. Cell phone signals are virtually impossible to get here.
Location, location,location.... Rapid
Posted by Harris Kohen (Member # 2139) on :
I guess they didnt tell Ray that the struggling sign shop up the street just signed a contract to have a cell tower put up in their back yard to help defray overhead costs.
I like the Bill-O-Meter.
how about a sign that says, "I dont answer my phone while your here so dont answer yours. You can call them back when were done spending OUR money"
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