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Cell Phones

Here are the questions filed under this category. To read Ken's advice on any item, click on the link "Read Ken's Answer."


There is a new employee in our department who was spending huge amounts of time on personal calls. Our manager finally saw what she was up to and he told her to stop. Now she brings a cell phone and does the same thing, but claims it is her phone and she can make all the personal calls she wants. What do you think of this?
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I go with my manager to several meetings a month outside the office. He insists on driving to these meetings, and the problem is that he spends most of the time on his cell phone, and I can't tell you how many times we've almost been in accidents. I'm a nervous wreck when I drive with him, but he refuses to let me drive. Can you suggest anything?
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I've been using a hand-held cell phone for years and have had no problems while driving. The other day my boss told me that I should get rid of it and use a hands-free unit or else pull over when I talk on the phone. I'll switch phones, but I'm really annoyed. Are many companies doing this?
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Over a recent holiday weekend, according to my manager, I missed several pages. I assured him that my pager is always on and I would never ignore a page. He cursed at me and called me a liar. Meanwhile, he is notorious for ignoring pages, voicemail, and company e-mail. He has lied and threatened us with termination, and I've been told that his behavior is typical for this company. What should I do?
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I was meeting with one of the people who report to me when her cell phone rang. She answered it and had a five-minute personal conversation, and then wanted to continue as if nothing had happened. I told her that if she ever did that again in a meeting with me, I would put a reprimand in her file. She thinks I overreacted, but I don't think so. Do you?
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We have many vendors stopping by throughout the week, and almost every day, there will be one who has a loud cell phone conversation. This interferes with our receptionist's work, and it is disturbing to other people in the waiting area as well. What's the best way to handle this?
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One of my employees seems to have many personal calls, but I am not sure. Whenever I walk into her office, she quickly hangs up. Sometimes it's her cell phone. If I ask about a call, she says it was business and got off quickly so I wouldn't have to wait. What do you think I should do?
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My boss is not the most accessible person in the world, and he has canceled many appointments with me. I got the bright idea to ask him to lunch, and he accepted. When we got to the restaurant, his cell phone rang and he took the call and several others after it. We probably had about five minutes of conversation the whole time. How do you deal with a boss like this?
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One of my employees leaves extremely long voice mail messages for me on my cell phone and land-line. These messages can last up to five minutes and cover details that are simply not necessary. I have told her to keep her messages brief, and she says she will try, but this happens almost every day. How do I get it to stop?
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I cannot get my manager’s attention. When I meet in his office, he is on his Bluetooth and using his computer. If it’s not that, he is taking phone calls and even talking with people who drop by his office. What can I do to have an actual conversation with him?
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I have a situation that I would appreciate your assistance. My current manager is a major micromanager with a well know temper. It is also well know that he has a major chip on his shoulder concerning woman that stems back to his divorce (way before my time) and lucky me, I happen to be the only women in my department. I have worked mainly with men during my career (not at this Company) and have never had any problems. My other male colleagues and I get along well and have never had problems, aside from their occasional “testosterone syndromes”. I am several years older (51) than they are, so I do work with a bunch of immature “boys” (ages 22-36) and do a fairly good job of ignoring their boyish behaviors. My boss was in a foul mood last Tuesday when we return from the Labor Day weekend and we (he and I) were of differing opinions on how to resolve various comments and corrections to a report. We don’t always see eye to eye and out of professional courtesy, I informed him that I bid on a position in another department within our firm. He became a bit miffed and started his “you’re the problem” lecture. Before he became manager, he was our Geo-hydrologist and had the worst attitude of any person I had ever worked with. Once he became boss (about 3.5 – 4 years ago), he became “Mr. Perfect”, but is starting to revert to his former ways. Given his attitude on Tuesday and the fact that I was not feeling well, I chose to take PTO on Wednesday and Thursday. Of course I called in on both days. When I spoke with him on Thursday to tell him I was taking the day off (but would return on Friday), he was very defensive, accusatory and basically hung up on me. Jump forward to 9:00 pm Thursday night and I was on my way to bed when he sent the following text message to my personal phone: “We have POD (plan of the day) covered in A.M. I don’t want you dealing with it given your attitude toward the company and job. We will talk on the morning first thing.” I was stunned by this message and responded “Fine”. I was suppose to read a Conduct of Operations message at the Facility’s morning POD (which I volunteered). The message was written by a fellow colleague (65 year old PhD) who was out on Friday and that was all I was going to do – read the message. Note that my absent colleague is our department’s representative and is the only one to attend this morning meeting – the rest of our staff does not. Everyone at works talks poorly about the Company, including the boss, and the stress level out there is so obvious and is present in every department. The men in our department can make any comment (about the job, Company, Gov’t, etc) they want and it’s okay. But let me say something and the boss is on my case. By the way, our Company is a major contractor to the US Government (DOE). I feel that this late-night text message to my personnel phone outside of working hours was a bit threatening and totally inappropriate conduct on my manager’s part. I went to work Friday expecting a showdown and the man never even said hello; in fact he went out of his way to avoid me (which is fine). I would approach his manager, but I’m afraid that isn’t a good idea as there will be a tremendous amount of retaliation taking that avenue. I would like to speak with our HR Representative, who is located in another town, but who has very little contact with anyone in our department. My thought is to just get this inappropriate text on record and then go about business as usual. I have already blocked my boss from contacting me on personal cell phone and have been looking for another position for quite some time. Any advice or input you could provided me would be greatly appreciated as I have never encountered anything like this in my 25+ year in the working world.
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