Cell Phones & Draconian Policies: How to Ask In Advance? (employers, company)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What I'm saying is that the level of intensity and seriousness with which some bosses are anti-cell phone is way off the charts. It's common that when someone is too intensely against something to say they're being a "little Hitler about it" or to ask "what are you, the cell phone police?" or whatever. At least that's how I perceive it anyway.
Yes, to me, this is nothing new, I don't agree with punishing everyone for the actions of a few. Again, in high school they banned shorts completely just because about 2 or 3 out of the entire school wore shorts that were a bit too short. Then they blame it on them. I'm like--oh no, that's a cop-out, that's just an excuse. YOU'RE the one making the policy. When they've always said "one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel" my reply is "only if you choose to LET it." Make better choices.
It's not that I'm that ATTACHED to my phone, it's not at all unusual for me to go hours doing whatever while it's just in the background "there." The main point is the obsession of people who are preoccupied with them in the OTHER way, acting as if they're the plague & we've got to banish it, treating people who use one like they're lepers or scoundrels showing up at church nude or something. Thus me simply jotting down a quick note in my phone is seen as high treason.
It's also the inconsistency, so & so makes a personal call on his cell phone we all but want to burn him or her at the stake, meanwhile someone else is making a personal call on the company phone (which is a company resource being used on top of that) and yet that's just fine & dandy.
Or so & so is chit-chatting with so & so and they're exchanging business cards, that's fine. Oh wait, they're pulling out their cell phone. OH NO!!! BOMB THREAT!! ARGH!!!!
Someone is showing a person a picture of their child on their cell phone. PUT THAT AWAY!!!! FOCUS ON YOUR WORK!!! I DON'T PAY YOU TO CHIT-CHAT ON THE CLOCK!!!! Someone else shows them a photo via a physical print. "Oh, she's adorable."
I want to avoid that sort of stupid atmosphere at work, without having to really rattle on & on about it in a potential job inquiry, because everyone's heightened sensitivity sets off unnecessary alarms. THAT'S my point.
I want to avoid that sort of stupid atmosphere at work, without having to really rattle on & on about it in a potential job inquiry, because everyone's heightened sensitivity sets off unnecessary alarms. THAT'S my point.
LRH
That's great and all, but whether you're intending it or not, you're coming off as someone whose obsession about your own cell phone use seems more important than just getting the freaking job.
I'm anti-cell phone - I don't own one, I can't stand them, as a customer I can't stand seeing a customer service rep using one when I'm shopping, as an employee in customer service I can't stand when customers tell ME to "hold on a second" while they finish their phone call. I can't stand the volume switch when they're at the gym hogging a machine I want to use, because they're too busy on their cell phone to notice that they've stopped using the machine 10 minutes ago. I can't stand drivers who think the red light only applies to them when they're not too busy on their cell phone to notice that it's red. I can't stand the sound of them when I have to call my sister and she's "just slightly" out of range. I'd rather get her voice mail and have her call me back on her landline when it's convenient. Sadly, she doesn't own a landline anymore, so I'm stuck dealing with her "just slightly" out of range cell.
I used to work for a company where security was a HUGE deal - and so all employees were required to leave their cell phones in their lockers, or at the front desk if they didn't want to trust the locker room. They were not allowed to bring them past the breakroom door. It was one of the few jobs where I didn't feel constantly barraged by people who were only half-paying attention to their jobs.
If I were a potential employer, and a potential employee asked me about our cell phone policy, I'd tell them they're not allowed. If it's an emergency, they're welcome to have their relative call the business line but if it turns out to not be an emergency, they'll get -one- chance to explain to their relative never to do it again. I'd not only have that as my policy, but I'd put it in the employee handbook.
If I saw a raised brow from the potential employee after explaining our policy, a twitch of the lips, a slump of the shoulder, or if they had ANY response to it other than "okay" or "thanks," they wouldn't get the job.
Last edited by 7G9C4J2; 09-18-2013 at 08:44 PM..
Reason: Removed unnecessary and off-topic remark
I'm anti-cell phone - I don't own one, I can't stand them.
That says it all, doesn't it.
Guess what, most people own one. That's how it is. No one owes you an explanation as to why they do or what they're using it for, and frankly I think that ought to go for the workplace as well somewhat. The current climate aside, it is my belief that in the long-term companies who don't have such an anti-phone attitude will do better than the ones that are so anal about it. It's not that people are not interested in working for the most part, it's that the cell phone has changed how a lot of people do things, and not just in terms of their availability, but with regards to things as I listed in terms of PDA functions. No more carrying around scraps of paper for appointments, notes or phone numbers etc, those days are--or should be--long dead and gone. To expect me to write things down on pieces of paper that will get lost simply over a fear or dislike of an electronic tool, when we've had PDA abilities for going on 15 years, is just mentally absurd & an absolute case of dinosaur thinking and being a total luddite.
Companies being so overly security conscious may think they're being vigilant, but to me, unless you're talking about a bank limiting access to the safe or places like the FBI or White House, they're being ridiculous and fostering an environment which basically says "I don't trust you as far as I can throw an elephant," and frankly it's insulting. If you trust me enough to work for you, then trust me to do the job & don't be hovering over every little thing I do like you think I'm up to no good. That isn't going to result in your best work from me, because I'm going to be insulted that you think so little of me even after hiring me & I'm not going to feel comfortable in such an environment. Either you trust me, or you don't--and if you don't, what did you hire me for in the first place?
I owe no one, and that includes my boss frankly, an explanation as to why I prefer entering the money I spend into my phone's app vs carrying around a bag full of receipts, or why I like logging things such as my child's social security number in my phone vs carrying around a paper calendar. That's my business. It has NOTHING to do with my work performance or even professional appearance in ways that things such as a dress code does. If I do the job you pay me to do, what do you care so much for?
And again, what's with it being okay for someone to call on a work phone vs someone calling on a cell phone, if both are personal calls? A personal call is a personal call. Period. Making a differentiation between such a call happening on a company landline vs happening on a personal cell is absolutely preposterous. Why would someone throw the mother of all fits if 2 co-workers looked at pictures on each other's phones, yet 2 other co-workers could check out each other's wallet photos & it's okay? That's just ridiculous. Companies that respond that way are burying their heads in the sand & failing to get it through their head that doing such activities on the device that is always with you, the phone, is the most normal thing in the world to do, and telling people to instead carry around separate wallet photos, separate paper calendars, separate spending receipts, and using a separate company line with another number for others to keep up with, all because we don't trust you and all because we just don't get this cell phone or PDA thing or we hate them, is just flat-out warped and schizophrenic thinking.
1. Any business you have to conduct on your cell phone is personal and should be done on your time, including entering money spent, receipts, and your child's soc sec number (??).
2. If there is an emergency regarding your children, you can get a call at your job. No job is not going to allow emergency calls (NOT PERSONAL CALLS).
3. If your kids' school is closing early for whatever reason, the school can call your job. My old job always took calls from various schools and sent out mass emails to all employees letting everyone know ______ is closing early due to snow or _____ has cancelled all afterschool activities. We had over 300 employees from all different school districts so whenever a call came in, they would email about it.
4. Don't ask about cell phone use in an interview. Just a bad question to ask.
5. Turn your phone OFF before entering your work site. There is no reason and nothing that important that your phone has to be on. Refer to 2 and 3 above.
(amisi) I appreciate the honesty in #4 (don't ask in an interview), THAT is the main thing I was getting at, how one goes about inquiring, if one even does at all. You'd hope that there would be a way to ask without flags flying up like crazy, but if it's not possible, then there you have it.
As for the others (I am REALLY going to try & keep this short):
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amisi
1. Any business you have to conduct on your cell phone is personal and should be done on your time, including entering money spent, receipts, and your child's soc sec number (??).
I can live with that, although I'd prefer a place that was more relaxed than that, I can live with that. What I was saying is that I use PDA notes vs scraps of paper or a paper notepad for that sort of thing, and as such, if in the flow of work, a co-worker & I were chit-chatting & I mentioned how a couple of electrical outlets at our house had stopped working & how expensive it would be to have an electrician come out, and this co-worker says "oh I have a friend who does that, he's good, competent, safe & his rates are great, let me give you his number" that it not freak out the higher-ups if he (a) pulls out his cell phone to find & give me the number and (b) that it not freak them out when I pull out my phone to enter this number, vs writing it down on a scrap of paper that's as good as gone minutes later no matter how hard I try. If they were fine with me writing it on scrap paper but threw a fit over me entering it in the PDA notes on my phone, THAT sort of thing is what troubles me, that inconsistency & singling out the phone vs the chit-chatting.
If the climate at work is to where, paper or PDA, they'd rather us do that sort of chit-chat at break, so be it. Or if they say "we'd rather you not use the phone, but if you used a vintage Palm Pilot we'd be okay with it," then I'd probably be okay with getting a cheap one on eBay & using that to keep a hold of the info until I can get it into the phone later. (The Zire 21 is one I used before that works fine, very long battery life & doesn't even have any camera of any kind, in case phone cameras are what freak them out so much.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amisi
2. If there is an emergency regarding your children, you can get a call at your job. No job is not going to allow emergency calls (NOT PERSONAL CALLS).
Again, so be it, but what's the difference between a call to your job's landline phone vs a call to your cell phone? Again, the inconsistency & the singling out of cell phones like this is 14th Century Europe & they're a rat with bubonic plague.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amisi
3. If your kids' school is closing early for whatever reason, the school can call your job. My old job always took calls from various schools and sent out mass emails to all employees letting everyone know ______ is closing early due to snow or _____ has cancelled all afterschool activities. We had over 300 employees from all different school districts so whenever a call came in, they would email about it.
See above--also, in such cases, my response is going to be to text my mother-in-law "can you pick up our kids at 1 school out early" that text will probably take me 20 seconds to send. My mother-in-law can barely hear on the phone & if I call on a company phone it will eat up more time on account of that, & that especially goes if a bunch of employees have to use 1 phone to call for such arrangements, that will eat up a lot more time than then just calling/texting on their own phone being done with it. (Or, if I have a for-hire sitter, they're apt to be a young person who leans towards texting & that will be the best way to let them know.)
Again: trust your employees, don't treat them like children in elementary school, allow such a response rather than criminalizing it is the main thing I'm saying.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amisi
4. Don't ask about cell phone use in an interview. Just a bad question to ask.
Point taken, & this is the main thing I was asking about to start with, thanks for answering.
To close, this post & maybe the entire thread: no, I'm not THAT attached my phone, my last job was VERY VERY tolerant of phone activity & yet I observed many others who were on their phone FAR FAR more than I was, and they weren't teens either. I spent the great majority of my time working, and occasionally chit-chatting with someone for a quick bit while dropping off a purchase order or the like. What I am passionate about to where it inspires these long posts (besides the fact that I'm a fast typist & it makes it easy to type long posts regardless) is that smartphones are an integral & essential daily appliance for a good number of persons, for communicating and/or for organizing essential parts of their daily life. Such is how people communicate anymore, and as such it shouldn't be such a big deal if someone uses their phone once in a while, especially for such uses as I've mentioned. I totally understand & get the need for employees to be focused & not distracted & to not be making 8032 calls-texts-posts of the "wazup homie" nature, etc, I COMPLETELY AGREE.
I'm just saying that such NORMAL and APPROPRIATE and OCCASIONAL usage is nothing to be so uptight about & criminalized, and yes, you can use the company phone, but what's the big deal if someone wants to use their own? A personal call is a personal call, it matters not if you use the company phone, your phone, or you're yelling out the window, it's still a personal call. This hang-up some places of work have with cell phones to such an extent so as to totally abolish them is something I find silly & something that I know won't sit well with me, & so I'd like to be able to somehow know if a new job will be like my last one in that regard (wonderful) or like the one before (anal jerks). It doesn't mean I want to be on mine 80 million times a day trying to beat an Angry Birds high score. Heck, I can't even remember the last time I played any game on my phone whatsoever. Jobs are MOSTLY about your WORK and doing THAT, I AGREE.
What's the big deal if you have to use the corporate line vs. cell phone? Like you said, a personal call is a personal call. Maybe it's your preference for your cell, but their preference is to keep cells out of the office and keep distractions to a minimum. If the company is as laidback as your old one, great! That's a plus! If it's not, there are many ways to accommodate them that people have mentioned here. Get on with it and focus on getting an offer, not worrying about cell phone policies.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
