The appropriate spelling of e-mail, email, voice mail, voicemail, voice-mail appears to be an ongoing debate. Dictionaries disagree with each other. So, we apologize for inconsistency, and welcome your input on the subject.
-Anonymous Valley Guy
-Anonymous Valley Gal
1. Answering cell phones in meetings, while in another conversation, even during interviews! Even worse, interrupting the meeting to field a question from the caller.
2. E-Anything.
3. E-mail saturation. Especially: Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:Fwd
4. People who get their luggage from the overhead compartment while talking on their cell phone to tell the limo driver their flight just got in. "We all hope you drop your $700 piece of luggage on that lady's head while you rest the phone on your shoulder and chin."
5. Cell phones answered in the bathroom, under any circumstances.
6. People who feel they must speak louder on a cell phone. "We don't care about the deal, the dollars or anything you are talking about. Talk softer."
7. "When my cell phone service provider calls me on my cell phone to try and up sell me... when I'm paying for the minutes."
8. Programmed voice-mail solicitations period, especially if they are longer than 15 seconds max.
9. Weird, attention-getting rings cell phone rings that distract all listeners and remind them of watching "The Lone Ranger."
10. "You are never truly off of work anymore. I want to be off once in awhile."
Cell Phones:
in meetings, while driving,
in restaurants, golf courses, libraries, and airports
PDA's, Pagers, & Laptops
Email:
Saturation
Legal and Business Considerations
Humor Lists
Political
Etiquette
Voicemail:
Yours
Theirs
Phones in General
General Courtesy
(that never goes out of style)
Social ramifications
The New Valley 10 Commandments
Cell Phones at Work and in Meetings
(Most people responded to this strongly!)
"My question is this... Why is the person who just called on the cell phone more important than the conversation YOU WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF HAVING WITH ME!"
"We used to be taught that under most circumstances it was rude to answer your office phone while you were talking to someone. I guess people forgot about that now that we have `instant communications' via cell phone."
"In any other conversational mode, we typically don't interrupt each other, we don't jump into the middle of a discussion where we're not invited, but something about a call on the cell phone turns all the normal rules upside down."
Many were specifically appalled at cell phones being answered in meetings, even in interviews!
"If you are in a meeting and make a cell phone call, you shouldn't. If you are calling during a meeting at 11:40 in the morning and say `I don't care, where do you wanna go, we did Chinese yesterday' all people in the meeting listening to you should be allowed to go to lunch with you. You pay."
There's nothing worse than interrupting the meeting even further to field a question they received on the cell phone."
"A sales rep was trying to get my business - he was accompanied by a tech rep....the sales rep's cell phone rang 3 times in the 40 minutes, and he answered it each time, asking his tech rep to continue with the meeting."
Other things to consider: it embarrasses the caller as well when you answer in a meeting only to whisper back "I can't right now."
There is no excuse for your phone to actually ring, set it to vibe when in a meeting.
Cell phones in the cubicles/office:
Don't have "the cell phone play Beethoven's 5th - and letting it go all the way - on full volume."
"One day somebody left their phone at their desk and it rang a bunch of times and kept getting louder and louder. Take it with you... isn't that the point of having one?"
Watch out for confusion (soon to morph into annoyance) around talking with tiny earpieces, no one really knows if you are speaking to them.
In a restaurant, the only excuse for having your phone on is if you're the Lamaze coach for a women due any day now.
A ringing cell in a library, theater, museum, or concert is inexcusable.
And even worse, answering in the bathroom. At least 5 people commented on this! Frightening!"If you are in the bathroom and your phone rings, you are allowed to answer it, but you are required to tell the person on the other end what you are doing. They nor you are allowed to hang up."
Cell Phones While Driving
A total ban on cell phones came up quite a bit. A headset is probably going to be okay provided you do not have any lane changes or gear shifting to do. Hello Direct makes a good one.
Cell phones in Airports:
A surprising number of folks are annoyed most in the airport.
"Of course the most obnoxious behavior is associated with the ear piece technology. You never know if that person is talking with you or is simply a wacko who skipped their medication."
"Carry a blow-up doll, it looks like you're talking to someone."
"I do not want to hear someone's sales talk while I'm waiting. In airports they talk loudly, pace the floor and generally get the whole damn gate involved in their business--like it or not."
"We don't care about the deal, the dollars or anything you are talking about. Talk softer."
"You are really not impressive when you order something to eat or drink or check in at a airport gate while talking with your hands free cell phone adapter. We know you are busy. We don't care."
And on the plane itself: Stop acting like the rules don't pertain to you just because you think you know the technology and potential danger (i.e. turn it OFF).
A number of folks responded that people in meetings are using that time to surf, respond to e-mail, work on other projects. Unless you're presenting, better close the laptop.
On public transportation: no matter how important your task is, if the train or bus is crowded, you do not have the right to elbow your neighbors to get laptop room. Read the paper like everyone else.
PAGERS
If you are in support, wear them!!
If you give people your pager number, plan to respond quickly. Regular voicemail can take a day or two to respond. A pager response should never take more than a few hours, unless you want to offend them.
If you are in a meeting, movie, restaurant, museum, set to vibrate please.
Conflict!!
"In any situation where it would be benign or acceptable to have a paper and pen, or a Dayrunner, it would be fine to use a PDA."
But others complain of people "sitting in a meeting, ignoring the goings on, playing with your PDA."
When in Rome, sometimes just take notes the old fashioned way.
PDAs ONE-ON-ONE
Having lunch with your boss, colleague, girlfriend? Take a quick note, fine. Get that quizzical "now I'm playing with my toy" look, you just lost points.
PDA RULE
It's the same as your aunt knitting or crocheting while she talks to you. If it's important, she puts her knitting down. If your conversation is anything but extremely casual, put the PDA down.
Saturation
By far, the biggest complaint is that there is too much e-mail (many folks claiming 100-300 per day).
Remember: professionals do not "bug" people electronically. They are busy. They are working.
"There is also a great myth floating around in corporate America that one can earn credibility in an organization by making people see their name several times a day. (Good work and participation aren't enough - now we need an email branding campaign). In my book, the only reputation that these people are earning is that of a professional with misguided priorities. This is not the way to prove your value - working is."
"Is anybody out there working? Look at me. I'm supposed to be working, but instead am pretending to work by answering this email."
"The worst thing that happens in my company is the frequent and broad reaching dissemination of entirely useless knowledge. For example, "the Singapore office will be closing early today" is not critical to my job performance. Should I happen to call the Singapore office today, I am likely to discover that on my own."
"Jokes and junk mail distributed to huge mailing lists: This IS NOT keeping in touch. It takes my energy to delete, delete, delete."
Don't forward "all those `save the world' and AOL/Intel merger, etc. emails without first authenticating them on a hoax site." Especially to business colleagues.
Business and Legal Considerations
Remember that:
"Use of email is like any other kind of formal communication which can be subpoenaed in a court of law; watch what you write and if you aren't willing to say this directly to others, why are you sending an email ??"
"Issues or topics which are personally sensitive should not be addressed via a one-way communications media such as e-mail; time pressure is no excuse."
"Unless an organization has established and enforces a very crisp policy concerning the manner in which folks will check and respond to e-mail, it is not appropriate to assign critical tasks or issue important orders via e-mail; it may be okay to use e-mail as a follow-up in some cases."
"If it's going around like a ping pong (more than 3 trailing emails) it should be considered time for a meeting."
Pay special attention to the proper use of bcc, cc, and reply to all.
Avoid manipulative tactics: i.e. "CC'ing your boss as a form of intimidation. (Although it is arguable that BCC is NEVER appropriate.)"
"Consider the necessity for all parties to read the traffic."
Unacceptable:
Forwarding a chain of replies and asking "Can you take care of this?"
Too many "cutsie" things at the end of an e-mail around your signature.
"Mass mailings: the company I work for, recently received an email in Hindu. It turned out to be a broadcast email from a recruiting company looking for programmers. I found this not only unprofessional, but offending since it came to MY inbox and in a language which I do not speak or understand."
Be aware that
"Outlook will inform me when `message has been deleted without being read' -- which means the recipient cleaned out their inbox without finding out what I had to say (which informs me that they perhaps don't care)."
"I consider it common courtesy to answer that email even if you don't have the answer or can not decide. Just to let the other person know you've read their email and will get back to them shortly."
Humor Lists
Care is needed.
Every list should be customized for the appropriate audience.
You should probably not be sending more than one per week, and less than that from your employer's server.
Watch for politics. Watch for taste. The old rules apply.
If your boss never sends you a joke, stop sending yours to him. If your client never sends you a joke, same.
Clean up and edit any "fwd fwd fwd" messages before distribution. PLEASE!
Attachments
Don't send huge files/photos by e-mail. We know the puppy's cute, but we don't need that resolution!
Form:
"Typos are okay - but spend enough time to put together a complete thought!"
"E-mail is quick and handy, but the message still needs to be comprehensible."
"I can read an email which has upper case or bold and !! all over the place and think the sender is a fool for not controlling their approach. Of course I hate the usual upper case, bold, and not including someone who is mentioned and then does not have the opportunity to respond due to not knowing."
No salutation means you are coming across more abrupt.
"I feel a lot more comfortable with an email that includes a salutation and a closing, no matter how informal. That may be old-fashioned, but it certainly adds to the sense I'm not receiving another mass mailing."
PLEASE STOP SHOUTING.
Proper Use, Excellent Use
E-mail is superb for scheduling, especially when using alternative choice, clear options. Answers in the Subject line when replying helps everyone involved.
Christmas cards by email are not the same, nor are thank you notes. But better than nothing.
"I think one reason that email is so popular is that telephoning has become almost impossible. Voice mail is usually a total abomination making it next to impossible to reach a person in a business or agency that you need to talk with. When I need to reach someone, I leave a voicemail message and also email, if I have an address. The other day I got an email from a person I had both called and emailed saying that his secty would be calling me. This is an improvement?"
Automated Customer Service (BIG response)
"Here goes (actual true example from yesterday) -- how not to mis-use the time you put your customer on hold forever:
You call up a business and reach the automated answering service.
You listen to LENGTHY instructions to tell you which button to push to get recorded answers, none of which address your question.
Finally they tell you which button to push to get to a real person.
Now you're on hold, not too long, there's music (not my favorite for sure...)
Someone gets on line and now has to transfer me to another person. They are friendly enough to hang out with me for about a minute, telling me that the other department is busy, and would I mind holding for a while. I agree to let the person go and stay on hold by myself.
NOW: I am exposed to cheesy advertisements for this company's service repeating every 3 minutes !
It took over 17 minutes to cancel a lost pager, one of many we carry with this company.
Nobody likes to wait, but I thought I'd never wish for elevator music....."
"Highly Emotional outbursts. Suggest they just leave phone number."
"Having OLD voice mail greetings. e.g. It's the 15th of the month. Greeting says `Hi! It's Wednesday the 10th and I'll be out of the office all day on business....'"
Trying to schedule meetings, lunches, etc. "It just goes on and on." Email is much better for communicating schedules.
Rambling: Listen to your messages and time-it. Listen for clarity. Keep messages to 30 seconds when possible.
"People who don't know how to be succinct on their outgoing voicemail message. The voicemail message should provide the caller with helpful information like how to skip the message at the beginning of the message rather than at the end where people say, For future reference you can skip this message by pressing #7."
A sales solicitation on voicemail is definitely impolite if it is automated, and/or lasts more than 15 seconds.
One can really avoid looking unprofessional by paying a little attention to spelling, punctuation, and form.
Some of the biggest mistakes include:
Misuse of commas, semi-colons, and colons.
Run-on sentences and incomplete sentences.
They're, Their, and There.
Two, to, and too.
Your and you're.
Whether and weather.
Acquisitioned versus acquired.
Dear and deer.
Right, write, and wright.
No caps.
No salutation.(At least use a capital first initial and a dash.)
Best advice: use spell check!
They hate it when...
You are "taking a second call just because there is a 2nd line on the phone".
"If you say that you will return calls by the end of business, then do it, don't leave voicemails at 9PM."
"When a business phone is not answered in a way that allows me to determine if I've reached the correct person. I still want to know who I've reached, and the company name, as I make so many outgoing calls a day."
"If call waiting beeps, I don't mind being put on hold, but I do mind being told, when the person resumes the call, that they have to take the other call."
"I really find it offensive when I get a call from an account rep. of a consulting firm, one who I don't have much history with, and they talk to me like we're old time pals having a beer at the pub. You know, `Hey, how's it going, you're actually answering your phone today!'"
Chewing gum in a team situation is not going to make you look professional.
Keep a toothbrush at your desk for after lunch.
Know how to shake hands properly.
Know how to look people in the eye, but not stare.
Be where you say you will be. On time.
Conference call promptness: "Being late for conference calls (is) just as rude as being late for an in-person meeting, but for some reason, people don't seem to have any qualms about it. The worst recent case I experienced was a meeting in Chicago that I was told to dial into--9:00 a.m. CST, 7:00 a.m. PST--and the only people on the call at 7:00 a.m. PST were a woman in The Netherlands, another woman in California, and me. At 7:17 a.m. CST someone from Chicago dialed in and said, `Everyone's getting breakfast, I just thought I'd open up the call' and we listened to them bustling around getting their food until the actual meeting started at 7:35 a.m. Nice waste of my time (and their money)."
-anonymous hourly paid expensive consultant
Open cubicle sensitivity: "We have a guy who has hour long conversations with his wife, or sometimes I think it's his girlfriend, very loud... everyone can hear him. Totally annoying and unprofessional."
A joke in 2000. A good idea in 2002.
All the latest gadgets are not going to impress anyone. In fact, since 2001, and specifically since 9/11, you are more likely to be praised for the inexpensive yet practical solution shown here.
Manners counts. Rudeness hurts you professionally.
"There is no substitute for face-to-face conversation, where people can not only verbalize, but share facial expressions and other very important ways of really communicating; it's hard to read a person's tone of voice over e-mail."
If you must answer a call or page during a meeting, at least apologize for it, and warn them in advance if possible.
"All this new communications capability is not always necessary and can take over your life, you can become a slave to communications and not perform any productive work. Just because something just came in doesn't mean it should have your first priority."
"Man was not meant to be wired 24x7, the human body can only take so much communications. You need periods of no communications to rejuvenate your spiritual side and do some things that you enjoy without interruption."
Has technology "truly increased the quality of our lives and given us more free time to pursue what makes us happy ? I doubt it. Also, I think while technology is generally the wave of the future, have we lost our own humanity over it ? There has and will be a huge price to pay for all of this success." March, 2001
A Confession:
While presenting this information at a conference in March 2001, Linda Tuerk's cell phone rang loudly.
A Conclusion:
Sometimes we teach what we want to learn.
2. Thou shalt mimic thy master's style, and respond with voice mail when the person appears to loathe e-mail, etc.
3.Thou shalt avoid the temptation to cc everyone who could conceivably have some interest in an e-mail message; many of us are drowning in well-intended e-mails.
4. Thou shalt not let technology replace all face to face communications.
5. Thou shalt not engage in "hit and run" sabotage and political manipulation via e-mail.
6 Thou shalt never answer a cell phone in the bathroom.
7. Thou shalt not call pagers or cell phones at unreasonable times.
8. Thou shalt never take a call in an interview.
9. Thou shalt not ramble on voice mail.
10.Thou shalt appear interested and focused in meetings, avoiding the appearance of "playing" with any new toy.