Work colleagues

[Adam]

There’s someone at my work who is like this. Used to ring people at 8.01 to make sure they were in the office and not a minute later. Rang me up at one point early doors of WFH, and I left it a few hours and called him back. First thing he says is “I called 2 hours ago and it rang out...” and then an awkward silence as he expects me to explain what I’ve been doing for the past couple of hours. When I said “Yes I’m aware, and what do you want?” I could almost hear the blood vessels exploding in his eyeballs through the phone.

This does my tits in. For a start, I’d never consider phoning calling someone on Skype/Teams unless I’d messaged them first to make sure they are free to talk, doesn’t need to be long winded, just a quick “Hi, have you got 2 mins for a quick call?”. But there are a few arseholes that do just ring, thinking that they’re important enough for you to drop everything to talk to them, regardless of what you’re working on.

[Honest_Man#1]

2 minutes ago, Adam said:

 

This does my tits in. For a start, I’d never consider phoning calling someone on Skype/Teams unless I’d messaged them first to make sure they are free to talk, doesn’t need to be long winded, just a quick “Hi, have you got 2 mins for a quick call?”. But there are a few arseholes that do just ring, thinking that they’re important enough for you to drop everything to talk to them, regardless of what you’re working on.

 

I usually decline any out of the blue teams call, regardless of if I’m busy or not, out of principle. Then wait a while to phone back.

[Sergeant Wilson]

My manager has been fine throughout, but in the earlier days before teams we had a couple of colleagues who would send group emails at 7.00am for spurious reasons, usually about stuff they should know. They might as well have read "look at me up and working at this time". 

Fortunately they got slapped down by a few pointed replies.

Edited March 27, 2021 by Sergeant Wilson

[Adam]

I usually decline any out of the blue teams call, regardless of if I’m busy or not, out of principle. Then wait a while to phone back.

Yeah, I tend to do the same, then message back and ask them to send a bit of info prior to phoning me, or ask them to put a meeting in.

Suppose it’s different if it’s a team member asking for advice or needing something, but typically it’s someone I’ve provided a piece of data analysis for and need to discuss it. Give me notice to pull the file up and have a swatch first FFS.

[Rugster]

7 minutes ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

I usually decline any out of the blue teams call, regardless of if I’m busy or not, out of principle. Then wait a while to phone back.

If you were working in the office and your phone rang would you just ignore it?

[Sergeant Wilson]

Just now, Rugster said:

If you were working in the office and your phone rang would you just ignore it?

The good thing about teams is you can see who it is, our old phones only had a number. I can predict if it's something valid by who is calling.

[Adam]

If you were working in the office and your phone rang would you just ignore it?

I know the question wasn’t aimed at me, but depending on what I was working on, or who was calling, absolutely.

[coprolite]

33 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

My manager has been fine throughout, but in the earlier days before teams we had a couple of colleagues who would send group emails at 7.00am for spurious reasons, usually about stuff they should know. They might as well have read "look at me up and working at this time". 

Fortunately they got slapped down by a few pointed replies.

Options> delay delivery

At it. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

2 minutes ago, coprolite said:

Options> delay delivery

At it. 

I got quite bored of the pointed reply and took the immediate deletion option.

In the old days a rubber/eraser placed on the receiver rest raised the handset just enough to keep the phone constantly engaged, but appear normal to the casual observer.

So I've been told.

[TheScarf]

1 hour ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

I usually decline any out of the blue teams call, regardless of if I’m busy or not, out of principle. Then wait a while to phone back.

I do that too. If you want to talk to me message me first to see if I’m free to chat. Don’t just assume I’ll stop what I’m going to talk to you.

Edit - in the office then yep, If I can’t take the call I mute the ringer. Just because you’re in work doesn’t mean you’re contractually obligated to answer the phone every time it rings.

Edited March 27, 2021 by TheScarf

[Honest_Man#1]

52 minutes ago, Rugster said:

If you were working in the office and your phone rang would you just ignore it?

Depending on the situation (which is the exact same position I’m taking now) then yes absolutely. If it’s someone who genuinely need help/support or would be asking a quick question etc then no problem, I’ll always answer if I’m not busy. If it’s someone known to be trying to check up on whether I’m sitting at my desk or not, then it would be getting ignored regardless if I’m in the office or not. I’m currently in the office 3 days a week and act the exact same way whether there or at home.

[Bairnardo]

Depending on the situation (which is the exact same position I’m taking now) then yes absolutely. If it’s someone who genuinely need help/support or would be asking a quick question etc then no problem, I’ll always answer if I’m not busy. If it’s someone known to be trying to check up on whether I’m sitting at my desk or not, then it would be getting ignored regardless if I’m in the office or not. I’m currently in the office 3 days a week and act the exact same way whether there or at home.

There are studies showing how long it takes the brain to regain the level of concentration it had before interruption.

Its something mental like 35 minutes.

Pointless phone calls affect productivity and stuff like this is good to seed into the general consciousness of those around you

[Rugster]

I get not answering if you are busy or having a conversation. I do that too. What I don’t get is just blatantly ignoring a call because it’s coming through on teams or Skype just because no one has tipped you off they’re calling. You wouldn’t expect an email, I would have thought, every time before someone calls your extension in work, would you? 

[Honest_Man#1]

10 minutes ago, Rugster said:

I get not answering if you are busy or having a conversation. I do that too. What I don’t get is just blatantly ignoring a call because it’s coming through on teams or Skype just because no one has tipped you off they’re calling. You wouldn’t expect an email, I would have thought, every time before someone calls your extension in work, would you? 

As I say, if it’s e.g. an external contractor or someone internal who I know isn’t a pisstaker/jobsworth that genuinely might need help then I will happily answer the phone if not busy.

For the w****r checking up on you, it’s a point of principle to ignore them for me to get the message across. It’s worked well for me as I haven’t had a call from the guy I mentioned in months after I ignored his calls regularly early doors of WFH.

[Adam]

I get not answering if you are busy or having a conversation. I do that too. What I don’t get is just blatantly ignoring a call because it’s coming through on teams or Skype just because no one has tipped you off they’re calling. You wouldn’t expect an email, I would have thought, every time before someone calls your extension in work, would you? 

If I’m in the middle of writing code or segmenting a piece of work it is much easier to skim through an email, and get back to the task in hand, than it is to stop and have a conversation with someone about something completely different to what I’m working on and go back to my work.

Maybe it’s just my workplace, but I just see it as general etiquette to send a quick message to see if they’re free, regardless of their status on Teams, than just call straight away.

[tamthebam]

3 hours ago, superbigal said:

Instead of that you c***s should maybe occasionally answer a phone, and when you do not read of a fucking script.
Oh and stop the fake Indian accent.

It's Welsh, honest, bach

[tamthebam]

1 hour ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

I got quite bored of the pointed reply and took the immediate deletion option.

In the old days a rubber/eraser placed on the receiver rest raised the handset just enough to keep the phone constantly engaged, but appear normal to the casual observer.

So I've been told.

I notice that's a German phone, Serge- or should I say Private Schultz.. 

[GordonD]

2 hours ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

I usually decline any out of the blue teams call, regardless of if I’m busy or not, out of principle. Then wait a while to phone back.

^^^ Big team found

2 hours ago, Pato said:

I used to ignore my phone ringing in the before times quite a lot tbh. In the middle of a conversation with someone at my desk, or just generally busy. Mute the ringer and call back when its convenient to me.

That sounds like a line from a post-apocalypse science fiction novel, the people referring to the world before the nuclear war.

[Eednud]

28 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

It's Welsh, honest, bach

Pan fydd gwylanod yn dilyn y treilliwr mae hyn oherwydd eu bod yn credu y bydd sardinau yn cael eu taflu i'r môr

[Miguel Sanchez]

The phone is quite a rude invention, when you think about it. A little machine that goes TALK TO ME TALK TO ME TALK TO ME and won't shut up until you answer it. In a world of computers and working from home there's no need for that when you can pop up a little message somewhere asking "I need to talk to you if you have time"