Week 14 Question 2: Long Post about Etiquettes

Sarah Trenholm provides a list of etiquettes, created by Letitia Baldridge, for the new era of technology and information.

Among the list are etiquettes for cellular phones. It states that people should not engage in a cellular phone conversation while in a restaurants, concert, movies, or at a church service. I agree with this rule and as a matter of fact, the movies now have short movie clips just to deliver the message of turning off your cell phones. I really like those short movie clips that shows how a cell phone can ruin a scene. I myself know not to be on the phone at a restaurant or if I happen to already be in a conversation prior to entering a Starbucks, I know not to laugh or talk really loud. I have experienced people who are fully pre-occupied with their cellular conversation that they forgot they're next in line and does not know what to order (which slows down the line even more). Things like that irritate me because there are occasions where I am in a hurry and it slows me down to have someone who is not fully paying attention to his/her surroundings.

Another etiquette refers to how people should not try to make jokes, play weird music, or be flip in recorded messages. It is also not good to have answering machines that does not leave room for long messages because it can be annoying to have to make repeat calls or messages. I do agree that people should leave professional recordings to make it easier on the person leaving the message. I will admit that I do have a song playing on my voicemail and I leave it there only because the song represents something sentimental. (it’s a recording of me playing the piano). I really like the recording so I leave it there for almost 4 years now. Over those years, I've gotten good and bad feedback. But overall, I know that it is unprofessional to have music playing during in the voicemail. It is definitely more professional to say the conventional message line. But I have been pranked by some of my friends who leave jokes as their message line. Sometimes it's funny but at most times, it's not. It's actually annoying and when people get fooled, they're left with not a good mood. When I'm fooled by those pranks messages, I feel embarrassed and it makes me not even want to leave a message or ever call back. So overall, I think music is fine dependent on what kind of music, but jokes is definitely out of the question for a message line.

In regards to call waiting, I actually think that it is one of the best thing ever created for phones because now I can be on the phone with one individual and not miss a call from someone else. Call waiting is so that you will not miss important calls. But I don't think it is right to put someone on hold for too long while you have a conversation on the other line. It is best to just tell the person you will call them back when you get the chance. For an example, it is important to talk directly to your boss and not make him wait while you talk to your boyfriend. That's why it is important to also have the ability to prioritize in life.

The third etiquette refers to how people should identify themselves before they speak during a conference call and to mute yourself or lower your voice when saying joking or sarcastic comments. I have been in several serious/business conference calls before and the one thing I always remember to do is mute myself. It is always embarrassing and not good business behavior to have loud background noise or to accidentally say something silly. To prevent it all from happening, I just mute myself and then unmute when I want to talk.

The fourth etiquette talks about how people should not fax long, unannounced or unwelcomed materials. And when we do fax, we should let the recipient know prior to sending it. I never dealt with situations where faxes were sent and it was long and unannounced. But every time I fax, I always let the person know that I'm faxing it, just to ensure its delivery.

The fifth etiquette suggest that we should time our communication by timing our calls and faxes so that we do not disturb our recipient at home or during a busy time at work. This is definitely important especially if the individual is trying to make an impression. When I call in for a job position, I always make sure I call in the morning or in the late evening when business is slow or die down. Or when I am calling a business colleague, I e-mail them first to make sure that calling at a specific time is good or not.

Finally, the sixth etiquette talks about how the screen names that we choose for any internet accounts or ring tones for our phone should be appropriate. When I was in high school, I would have ring tones if popular hip-hop or r&b songs that I listen to and that use to be cool. But in the business world, it is deemed as unprofessional and immature. Therefore as I got to college, I stopped using those ringtones and just assigned normal premade ring tones in my cell phone. Also now when I create new screen names for new e-mail addresses, I make sure that it is professional and doesn't look silly. Of course when we were all in high school or younger, we want to creative in a kiddish way, but now we need to be creative in a professional way.

I hope you enjoyed this reading.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer