The ringing phones

It is now more than a month in India. As a principle I never write about my work in my blog but today I will mention few generic things related to office environment without being too specific. I have spent three-fourth of my professional life working outside India and now when I have worked for a month continuously, I can see the difference.

First things first, the most annoying thing ever in office here is the constant ringing telephones. Every cube has a desk phone and one or the other phone will keep ringing. Even the cubes which are empty will keep getting calls. This is not only irritating but does not allow you to concentrate on your work. There is no question of waiting out for the call to end; cause immediately after some other phone will start ringing. It seems like I am working out from a telephone exchange. It is due to this reason that many offices abroad don’t allow any desk phone and everyone is supposed to be connected through cell phone. Will that help here?

Almost every cell phone today supports the feature of those funky ring tones, mp3 and what not? It is okay to have a Bollywood song as your ring tone but it is not okay to keep your phone ringing just because you are enjoying it. Everyone might not like those latest ring tones. I don’t understand why people can’t follow the simple courtesy to keep your cell phones in silent mode or may be with soft volume? I don’t think this is a problem in most of the offices, but it certainly it is in this office where I am working. No, this is actually not my office but I have to work from here none the less.

The other thing to notice is how rudely people answer those tele-marketing calls. I agree they are unnecessary, unsolicited phone calls, trying to sell something, which one might not need. Also those calls might come at the most inopportune time, may be when you are in some serious discussion or in a meeting. Still, it does not merit such rude response. There is a person on the other end, who is just doing a job. It could be anyone doing that job. It is not required to buy whatever the other person is selling but a polite reply won’t hurt?

There are many other instances but may be I should end this rant.