Take Your Phone Off The Table

March 9th, 2012

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Do you keep your cell phone on the table at a business meeting or do you keep your cell phone on the table over lunch?

Here’s a tip: Take it off the table and put it in your pocket.

You look like a fool and you’re signaling to me that you value your cell phone more than me.

And while that may very well be true (damn that sounds really pathetic), it’s one of the easiest ways to piss someone off who you’re about to have a conversation with.

After asking 30 people over the past two days to list out their pet peves, this is one that 15 of the 30 vocalized.

Ya. Ya. We live in a digital age. I get it. Having your cell phone on in case of emergencies is important. You’re mother may have a heart attack. You’re girlfriend may die in a freak automobile accident. You’re brother’s head may fall off walking down the street. I get it. Throw that cell phone on vibrate and stick it in your pocket. And if Mom is calling you at 2 PM on a Wednesday afternoon, pick up, because she probably either just got impaled with a sharp object or she needs help finding out how to “get that Google website thing back as her homepage.” I get it.

Just take your cell phone off the damn table. Put it in your pocket. Focus your attention on who you’re speaking to. And LISTEN to the other person. You may just find that what you can learn from a living breathing human being in real time is more valuable than the data you can pick up in real time news feeds.

Or maybe I’m just old fashioned.

Either way. Take your phone off the table.