Dear coworkers,

If you're going to leave your cell phone at your desk while you're not there, please disable that loud and annoying ringtone that you're so fond of. Consider using the "vibrate" feature or the silent profile. Or, better yet, take the phone with you.

Your ringtones do not impress me.

Thanks,

Jeremy

Posted by jzawodn at April 18, 2005 12:16 PM

Reader Comments
# Thomas said:

LOL - Can I use this as a template? ;) Have a good start back at work.

on April 18, 2005 12:52 PM
# Timboy said:

How disappointing --- a post from Jeremy to his coworkers that doesn't use the word "moronic" even once. :(

on April 18, 2005 01:19 PM
# Justin Lundy said:

I feel your pain. There is some guy that sits a few cubicles away from me that has the Night Rider theme as his ringtone, and some other person has Michael Jackson's Beat It. Why is it that these people with the obnoxious ringtones tend to turn their phone ALL THE WAY UP before they leave for a few hours and it rings off the hook? I swear I'm gonna throw them off the balcony.

on April 18, 2005 01:26 PM
# Kevin said:

Our policy is to remove the battery from any phone that engages in this behavior. (We remove the battery because it's usually easier to figure out how to do that than to figure out what the power button is on random phone.)

on April 18, 2005 01:30 PM
# Jeremy Zawodny said:

Hm, maybe remove and *hide* the battery? ;-)

on April 18, 2005 01:31 PM
# Jeremy C. Wright said:

Sorry.

on April 18, 2005 01:45 PM
# David B said:

And a sympathetic (and funny) reaction from another mobile phone victim:

http://2lmc.org/phone/

on April 18, 2005 01:49 PM
# ernie said:

Sorry. I thought you liked Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It." It's a catchy tune, you know.

on April 18, 2005 01:59 PM
# june said:

I dunno, I heard my manager was fairly amused by my choice of "Hava Nagila."

(fyi i keep it on vibrate but sometimes i forget to set it back that way.)

on April 18, 2005 02:07 PM
# Russ said:


Yes, but they seem to impress everyone else: 62% of US mobile consumers have downloaded a ringtone over the past month. The majority of ringtones were downloaded by subscribers age 13-24, but those over 25 accounted for 45% of all subscribers who downloaded ringtones.

http://mmetrics.com/press/PressRelease.aspx?article=20050307-benchmark

Though, amazingly, even though ringtones are a $4 billion market world wide which everyone includes in music sales, the most popular ringtone is the sound of an old phone ringing.

Just thought you'd want to know.

:-)

-Russ

on April 18, 2005 02:11 PM
# Terry Morgan said:

When the meteor hits ...this is all going to seem a lot funnier.

on April 18, 2005 02:33 PM
# Darrell said:

I have a standing policy to just put the phone in the refrigerator in such cases.

on April 18, 2005 02:42 PM
# Eddie Sowden said:

Weren't ringtones popular like 2 years ago when that was the main feature on the phone? Why are they still popular now?
Wait till you get stuck in a room with a 9 year old that has just got a new phone that has to show their friends all of the ringtones 3 times through just for fun.

on April 18, 2005 02:56 PM
# One Of Your Coworkers said:

Go F yourself...cry baby.

on April 18, 2005 03:05 PM
# Jeremy Zawodny said:

I wish more of my coworkers posted from 168-215-22-23.gen.twtelecom.net

on April 18, 2005 03:34 PM
# Kris Johnson said:

"Vibrate" should be the only setting for cell phones. Nobody else needs to hear it ring, and if it's not on your person, you don't need to hear it ring either.

I just spent the day in jury duty. A big room with 250 people waiting to be selected for a trial, and I heard at least two dozen different ring tones, over and over, for six hours. And I thought my cubicle mates were bad...

on April 18, 2005 06:16 PM
# Jeffrey McManus said:

I look at this as sort of an IQ test: what is your definition of 'mobile phone'? Would that be the kind of phone you take with you?

I guess I can admit this now that we're cow orkers, but at an old job I threatened to put this clown's phone in the trash after shutting it off if didn't take it with him or shut off the ringer. I followed through after the third or fourth time he left it ringing at his desk.

on April 18, 2005 07:16 PM
# pb said:

I think the phone manufacturers are partially to blame. It's criminal how few phones have dedicated ring volume controls on the outside. Most phones inexplicably make you go into the menus to set ring volume.

on April 18, 2005 09:00 PM
# mtm said:

loosely quoting a Dilbert comic: Your cellphone? Was it small, white and ... flushable?

on April 18, 2005 10:48 PM
# Lyndon Samson said:

There are two sorts of people in the world, those who understand that post and those that dont.

Can I interest you in one of these http://www.globalgadgetuk.com/Personal.htm :-)


on April 19, 2005 02:55 AM
# Bryan L. Fordham said:

I like the refrigerator idea. I've been known to find the offending phone and turn it off. Doesn't happen often, but has happened.

I figure, if they wanted to use the phone they would have taken it with them; otherwise they're just killing their batteries. Sure, they can recharge them, but that takes more energy from pollution-belching power plants... so I'M SAVING THE ENVIROMENT!'

on April 19, 2005 05:36 AM
# Erin said:

Addendum:

When your annoying ringtone does go off, please do not look in my direction with an half-impish, half-sheepish, kid-with-the-hand-in-the-cookie-jar smile, expecting me to compliment you on your clever choice of ringtone.

You'll get nothing more than mild disinterest (good mood) or an icy stare (bad mood).

on April 19, 2005 06:43 AM
# Pete Prodoehl said:

Aw, I thought for sure you were talking about Russ.

Just kidding Russ! ;)

on April 19, 2005 11:01 AM
# jasun said:

Mine is always on silent with vibrate active, regardless of where I am. Most of the time it's in my pocket so there is no need for any audio.

Why more people don't do that I don't know, maybe they just want to be annoying.

on April 21, 2005 03:22 AM
# Mark said:

What about us Motorola junkies? When I charge the phone, (which I frequently do at work) it "conveniently" switches the ring profile to "Loud", no matter what profile I had set it to.

If the motorola engineers all agree that "Loud" is the best setting, and are even so "helpful" as to make the change for me without consulting me, what right do I have to disagree? :-)

on April 21, 2005 07:23 AM
# Jennifer said:

I think vibrate and electrocution should be the only 2 options available on cell phones AND pagers
My coworkers know they will find their phone in pieces if they leave it at their desk > 1 time and it rings really loud
SOME of us are working here people

on April 21, 2005 12:54 PM
# Richard Rodger said:

This is the number one reason I quit my job and started my own company!

on April 25, 2005 02:09 AM
# Andrew Berry said:

If you can locate the annoying ringotne within a phone's menu, delete it. I did that once to someone and they didn't speak to me for weeks after that. ha-ha.

on May 13, 2005 04:17 AM
# Philip Tellis said:

can you please educate my boss about this?

on May 20, 2005 11:10 AM
# Stuff Hangin said:

Are you serious with this shit. You people need to quit being such fucking geeks.

on July 8, 2005 09:46 PM
# Jacy said:

Well there is this girl i work with ans she has that stupid "Shake your Money Maker" song as her ringtone. I really didn't mind the song at first but...ALL DAY LONG SHE WILL JUST Play it over and over to reasure herself that she is cool.

on January 25, 2007 10:16 AM
# kerravon said:

I bought a cell phone jammer from www.infostream.biz
awesome gadget, arrived in 3 days, I go everywhere with it and I have never had so much peace and fun!!!

on May 14, 2007 11:27 PM
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