Quiet! A rant, probably not directed at you | 10:23 am | 15 June 2005
Stop it with the ringtones already! How loud does your phone have to be to hear it, when it’s sitting on your desk not two feet from you? I don’t want to hear the Nokia song every five minutes, I don’t want to hear Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” announcing your wife calling you ten times daily, I don’t want to hear crap MIDIs of pop songs at top volume, I just don’t want to hear any of it. Those things have vibrate modes for a reason, learn to enjoy it. Bah! The only one that isn’t driving me crazy at work is a discreet “click-pock” from someone’s Nokia.
At least I’m not alone in this: Googling “annoying ringtone” brings up this Fark thread. Seriously, workplaces ought to start setting some policies. If you can say that my (clean, pressed, ivory-colored) trousers with cargo pockets are “too jeansy” and therefore offensive and banned, you should ban the ringtones already.
June 15th, 2005 at 11:47 am
Sing it, sister!
Most annoying: The people with the the ringtone volumes set to stadium levels who, despite sitting 2 feet from their phone, refuse to answer them, which means you then get to sit through the missed call sounds. People, if you’re not going to answer your phones, TURN THEM OFF. If you’re screening, can you not turn them down or switch to vibrate??
I’m about two seconds away from yelling “I’ll get it!” and then running over to beat the phones in question with a hammer.
June 15th, 2005 at 12:39 pm
Oof. I’m so tempted to do that today, there is someone across the cube farm whose Nokia Song is chiming, like, EVERY FIVE MINUTES, and my iPod battery just pooped out with the charger at home.
I used to work with a woman whose “babysitter ring” was this piercing, crazy-loud DOOT!….. DOOT! doodlededodoot! When it would ring, blaring, she’d hunt for it in her purse, then give this (she thought) Meg-Ryan-ish oops! look, pick it up, and leave. Leave the (work!) MEETINGS. She never seemed to figure out that a) there’s a volume control and b) if your babysitter calls you every hour, maybe you need a new babysitter or to not be working. Not like she did a lick of work anyway…
June 15th, 2005 at 9:02 pm
But are ringtones more annoying than a vibrate-only phone moving around on a cubicle desk, while the owner is off in a meeting or at the water cooler?
Clearly, people need to give out their work numbers more often.
June 16th, 2005 at 8:46 am
I admit, I love my ringtones (primarily because they’re MP3s and not MIDIs — Smash the Tones will make any MP3 into a ringtone for you), but I don’t assume that everyone will love them just because I do, so I don’t make others listen to them. My volume is set to low, even at home, and I always make sure I can get to that IGNORE button at light freaking speed when I’m out in public.
I think the cell phone/ringtone problem is just down to courtesy/etiquette. Which, unfortunately, most people just don’t have anymore.
June 16th, 2005 at 12:59 pm
Patti: oh god, yes! Bzzzt, while lame, is way, way, way better than hearing a loud and crappy song snippet over and over again.
Reecie: ah, that more people were as cool as you. Love that low volume setting :)
June 20th, 2005 at 4:28 pm
A word about your mobile phone.
Brilliant!