Cell Phone Ettiquette in the businessplace
based on a workshop by John Marshall, DePauw '93

Mr. Marshall has given me permission to use his ideas for educational purposes. Aside from this he does not have an affiliation with mattplln.chaosnet.org or the Cell Phone Jammer program.
John Marshall is in the real estate business. He uses his cell phone 90% for business purposes. On 1/11/03 he gave a workshop at his alma mater DePauw on Cell Phone Ettiquette. While Cell Phone Ettiquette is not as important to college students, it is extremely important in the business world, I learned. Here are some of Mr. Marshalls' ideas.

There are three reasons people use cell phones.

  • Multitasking makes them feel important. It is part of their ego trip to always be in contact with someone.
  • A Cell Phone is convienient for personal and business use.
  • A Cell Phone is there when one needs it, for safety. [Note: having a cell phone did save my family once, when the car burst a hose somewhere in central Illinois -mp]

The best conveinience of a mobile phone is that they all come with Caller ID. There needs to be a reason for the person calling you to interrupt what you are doing at that moment. In fact, the ultimate insult to a person is to interrupt a one to one interaction with that person to answer your cell phone. Always use the cell phone for your convienience, not for somebody else's.

A good system is to never call a cell phone unless you are instructed to do so. When the receiver of the call has invited the caller to reach them at their mobile phone, is the only appropriate time to talk.

Most people use very little common sense when it comes to cell phone use. Cell phones are very irritating when they go off in public. One time someone's cell phone went off in the Vatican - which is a place of strict silence - and it was very insulting. Of course movie theatres are also very bad places for cell phones to go off. [A conductor giving a classical music concert at Pick-Steiger Hall at Northwestern: I'd like everyone to turn off their cell phones now. ... Now, look at your cell phone. See that red light? That means IT'S ON. -mp] You should turn the ringer off while in those settings, or at least put it on vibrate.

And if you do have to take a call, be sure to remove yourself from your company when doing so. Talking on a cell phone while at a table is extremely poor form. [Note: A person yelling into their cellular phone walking down the street is audibly identical to a schizophrenic panhandler -mp]

There you have it. The most important points are: 1) Do not let your cell phone be more important than the possiblily to physically interact with an actual person, and 2) Always make the phone for your convienience, not for somebody elses.