Excuse me while I take this call…

By Denise Altman, MBA, CPA, CPBA

In today’s world, it seems that staying connected has become all-important.  We have office phones, home phones, cell phones, pagers, instant messaging, and so on.  We seem to feel the need to be accessible at all hours in all venues.  Our determination to “never miss a call” distracts us from the most important person in the world.  Who is that person, you ask?  It’s the person who is in front of you—the very person you are ignoring to take that call.

For some reason, it seems to be acceptable to ignore present company to take a call.  That’s a shame.  One thing most people want more than anything else is to feel important.  How important do we make them feel when we immediately cut into our conversation with them to answer the phone?  Whether its our employee, our co-worker, a vendor or a family member, we send a clear message when we choose to blow them off for the incoming call.  The message is:  you don’t really matter.

Technology has given us the means to stay connected.  It has also caused us to forget some of our basic manners.  If you want to treat people with respect and make them feel like they matter, here are a few pieces of etiquette you might want to consider. 

1.                  If you’re talking to someone face-to-face and your phone rings, don’t interrupt your conversation to answer the phone.  If you are expecting an important call and you must take it when it comes, explain that to your guest before the call comes in.  Let him or her know that you will ONLY answer that call, and apologize for the possible interruption.

2.                  When you’re in a restaurant, turn off your cell phone.  People trying to enjoy a meal don’t want or need to hear your ring tone.  Those sitting with you also don’t want the discomfort of listening in on your telephone conversation, but they have little choice if you take a call during the meal.  Surely being away from the phone for one hour, in most cases, is possible.

3.                  “Call waiting” is another problem.  Unless you’re in a situation where you share a personal and business line (for instance, with your children), don’t use call waiting.  Again, you’re cutting off the person who is present (even if not face to face) for the one who isn’t.  Sure, playing phone tag isn’t fun, but neither is sitting on the other end of the phone, waiting for your conversation partner to finish talking to the person who interrupted your call.  Let those calls go to voicemail and return them as soon as you’re free.

The rule of thumb is – think first about the person in your presence and take care of him or her.  The incoming phone call will wait.

(Denise Altman is President of Altman Initiative Group, Inc.  She works with companies to help them improve hiring, teamwork, and performance.  Learn more at www.altmaninitiative.com.)