Mobile phones… and not picking them up
Not picking up mobile phones and letting them ring out is something that is guaranteed to annoy the %$#@ out of me. This is especially so if it’s somewhat urgent.
Some people (funnily enough, all are female…) are consistently away from their mobile phones. Pretty much, whenever I try ringing these people up, more often than not I’ll just be at the other end of the connection ringtone and nobody will pick it up. I can try again a few minutes/hours/whatever later, and they still won’t pick up. The only time that they happen to check the mobile phone is if they want to make a call themselves and realise there are all these missed calls on their phone.
Note: a mobile phone can be used to receive calls as well as make them too!
If you’re the type of person that is consistently away from your mobile phone, whether it’s because you leave it on silent and then forget about it, or you’re just physically away from your phone, do us all a favour – turn it off. Having it on and then not picking it up makes us think that you might be there, and if we just wait one more ring, you may actually pick up. It also gives us the somewhat false impression that you’re actually contactable. You’ll also save yourself money from having to call back the dozen or so people who tried to contact you whilst you were blissfully unaware that your phone’s been ringing somewhere else.
Personally, the only time I use silent is if I have the phone on me and I’m in a place where I can’t be interrupted. This may be at church, or in a meeting, you get the idea. I’ll let it ring a few times, and then reject the call. This will at least tell the other person that I’ve acknowledged the call, but I can’t take it at the moment. If I’m at home, I often switch my mobile off. Those who need to contact me at home know how. If I’m at work, I leave the mobile on silent but vibrate so I don’t end up disturbing other people around me. If I’m not at home nor at work, then the mobile is with me at all times on loud/silent depending on the situation.
Is this correct mobile phone etiquette? No idea, but I welcome any comments.
hey hey~~
im looking into buying one 
sam told me you work at canon and can get cheap deals for 350D?
can you tell me about prices?
Yeah, I work at Canon (sorta… more accurately CiSRA) and I get staff discounts on Canon products. The thing is that it’s restricted to only immediate family members otherwise I’d violate the code of conduct…
The staff price is about the same as what you’d get in HK, so if you know anybody heading over there soon, ask them to get one for you
Oh, and the 350D has been replaced by the 400D.
I would imagine that the etiquette would encourage mobile phone calls be redirected to voicemail after about 4-5 rings, just like the office.
cool thanks for that
sam told me that 350Ds are now sold out 
no more cheap cameras hehe
Unfortunately I have to admit that I (although not female) suffer from this.
There’s only 1 reason why I don’t do the “mobile off at home” - and that is because most people call me at night, when everyone else in the house is asleep.
As for leaving a phone on silent, sometimes I just plain forget (eg. after a church service I would leave the phone on silent until I next get my phone out etc).
Voicemail is expensive++. I’m passionately against using voicemail unless all my friends pay me $2 a month to activate it (I don’t have many friends…)