What Teens Ought to Know About Cell Phones at Work

I was on the telephone with a college administrator when her student assistant showed up for her part time job. The administrator, asked me on hold, put the phone down and I could hear her giving work assignments for the afternoon to the student assistant.

While giving the student instructions, the student's cell phone rang. The student immediately answered her cell phone, jumped up and asked the administrator to wait for a while as she completed her call. The administrator took a few seconds to come back to me and chuckled as she said she needed to do a little professional development coaching and would get back to me.

I imagine I know what happened next. Quite likely the administrator spoke to the unprofessional behavior of her student staffer by answering her cell phone on the job.

We all know that cell phones are everywhere on college campuses and in the case of many students, considered to be an extension of an arm permanently fixed to the ear. College students talk to friends before classes, after classes, between classes, before lunch, during lunch, after lunch etc. To control the invasion of the cell phone into the classroom, faculty now post signs in classrooms, outside of classrooms and even add notes to syllabi about cell phone use and protocols.

The incident led me to think about a few points of cell phone etiquette for teens and college students at work. By the way, these rules are not meant to in any way diminish the ability of this generation to be flexible and multitask like no other group before.

1. You can't answer your cell phone every time it rings when you are on the job, especially when speaking with your boss.

2. You can't be sending text messages on your phone while ringing up a customer at the cash register.

3. You can't be speaking so loudly on your phone while in the store room of a major department store, that customers can hear you while they shop.

4. You can't put your cell phone on speaker, so that you can hear your friend while you continue to work. Other workers do not want to hear your conversation.

5. Your cell phone ringer should not be louder or more disruptive than the office phone ringer.