posted August 07, 2007 04:44 PM
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.
posted August 07, 2007 04:59 PM
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!!!!
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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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.'
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted August 07, 2007 06:20 PM
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.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted August 08, 2007 07:27 AM
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.
-------------------- Bruce Williams Lexington KY Posts: 945 | From: Lexington, KY, USA | Registered: Mar 1999
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posted August 08, 2007 07:56 AM
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
Posts: 405 | From: Malta, NY | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted August 08, 2007 08:03 AM
I think I just might make myself one of those NO CELL PHONES signs. People are so rude! Love....Jill
Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted August 08, 2007 03:51 PM
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......
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted August 08, 2007 04:35 PM
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.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted August 08, 2007 05:37 PM
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....
-------------------- Frank Magoo, Magoo's-Las Vegas; fmagoo@netzero.com "the only easy day was yesterday" Posts: 2365 | From: Las Vegas, Nv. | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted August 09, 2007 07:02 AM
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.
-------------------- Carper's Signs 594 Union School Rd. Mount Joy, PA 17552 carpersign@earthlink.net Posts: 157 | From: Lancaster, PA, USA | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted August 09, 2007 12:07 PM
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.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted August 09, 2007 12:51 PM
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!
-------------------- Si Allen #562 La Mirada, CA. USA
(714) 521-4810
si.allen on Skype
siallen@dslextreme.com
"SignPainters do It with Longer Strokes!"
Never mess with your profile while in a drunken stupor!!!
Brushasaurus on Chat Posts: 8831 | From: La Mirada, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted August 10, 2007 10:59 AM
Responded to your new thread Michael but hey, if Staples can have the "Easy Button", we can have the "Inflate-o-button"
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted August 25, 2007 07:58 PM
One or two shocks with a cattle prod should work..........
oh wait, you said TACTFUL.
-------------------- Ryan Culbertson The Sign Shop at Quick Copies Greenwood, SC
Rock and Roll means well, but it can’t help tellin’ young boys lies. Mike Cooley - Drive By Truckers Posts: 453 | From: Greenwood, South Carolina | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted August 26, 2007 09:38 AM
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"
-------------------- Harris Kohen K-Man Pinstriping and Graphix Trenton, NJ "Showing the world that even I can strategically place the pigment where its got to go." Posts: 1739 | From: Trenton, NJ, USA | Registered: Jun 2001
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