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20-Somethings Think It's OK To Text and Answer Calls In Business Meetings
RichDiesal writes "In an upcoming article in Business Communication Quarterly, researchers found that more than half of 20-somethings believe it appropriate to read texts during formal business meetings, whereas only 16% of workers 40+ believe the same thing. 34% of 20-somethings believe it appropriate to answer the phone in the middle of a meeting (i.e., not excusing yourself to answer the phone — answering and talking mid-meeting!). It is unclear if this is happening because more younger workers grew up with mobile technology, or if it's because older workers have the experience to know that answering a call in the middle of a meeting is a terrible idea. So if you're a younger worker, consider leaving your phone alone in meetings to avoid annoying your coworkers. And if you're an older worker annoyed at what you believe to be rude behavior, just remember, it's not you – it's them!"
Then people can answer calls/check facebook/play minesweeper during meetings without being noticed.
Kids today got respect!
Oh and GET OFF MY LAWN!
Hey wait, can you come back and show me how this new phone works?
Warning: Teh poster of this messaeg is lysdexic
Most of upper management is on their crackberry when anything remotely technical pops up in a meeting.
Maybe the young kids have just figured out what the older generations haven't, which is that meetings are often a life-draining waste of time? They could be answering their phones in passive-aggressive protest of being locked up wasting their time in a conference room. </snark>
Who does this? 27 year old here. If one of my employees did this during a meeting with me I would say something like, "Excuse me, was my meeting interrupting your important phone conversation? Perhaps we can reschedule the meeting around your social life. Would 8PM suit you?" (sarcastically)
It's rude to answer a call in class or a meeting, you are supposed to step outside.
But, texting - yeah, that's normal.
(I'm not a 20-something, but I attend classes and meetings where most people are 20-somethings)
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Texting, (and e-mailing, and web surfing, and just letting your thoughts drift) is ok if the meeting is boring enough :-) At our place of work lots of people do this, even older ones, if the meeting's dullness justifies it... (and can be construed as a discrete way of letting the chairperson know..., hehe)
Most 50- and 60-somethings I know think it's OK, too.
I'm a mid-20s developer and the various 40-something year old project managers at my company are constantly staring at their phones during meetings. It sounds like an arcade with all the text alerts and ring tones constantly going off in big meetings.Tryin to get them to concentrate on something for more than 10 seconds is basically impossible.
Ignoring any potential objective effects, wouldn't it make more sense to state, "if you're an older worker, remember that they aren't trying to be rude?" And then, maybe to say something, instead of judging silently?
Basically the assumptions that the "correct" standard of behavior belongs solely to a certain group, and that others should be expected to be a priori aware of others opinions absent communication, are critically flawed.
.: Semper Absurda
Part of the list of things I go over with my new hires is basic business etiquette. I spend at least an hour per employee on it. The most annoying thing I find is people who have a mother/father/significant other who expect them to always answer the cell phone when they call it. My experience is that a lot of people we hire have never worked in a professional atmosphere before... I'm not sure if this is because of our hiring practices, or is because of the general habits of today's younger workforce. If I am in a meeting I scheduled, and someone my rank or lower answers their phone, I almost always immediately end the meeting, to be rescheduled later. I run meetings so as to waste the minimum amount of time required for everyone; I expect the same from others. The public shaming seems to work well at my current workplace.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Today, you usually know who's calling before you answer. It may be appropriate to take a call if it's more important than the meeting. If you're in sales, a call from a major customer is probably more important than a meeting. If you're responsible for something operational, a call from someone reporting trouble is probably more important than the meeting.
As for reading texts, if you're in a meeting and the current meeting activity doesn't involve you, it's an effective use of your time. This is more of a large-meeting thing. Large meetings are generally nonproductive anyway.
I can imagine really young people in a chaotic startup texting and messaging in a meeting because it's how the meeting works.
Think "war room" more than "board room."
Just skip them. They are not listening, so they don't have all information needed.
Go on talking. Ask them about their opinion on what was said while being on the
phone. Expose them to their behavior till it gets ridiculous. At least that's what works
for us.
I work in a fairly large technical sales environment, and we exercise a zero tolerance rule for our younger team members when we are out with clients - if you touch your mobile device for any reason beyond presenting content or sharing contacts relevant to the meeting, you will be reprimanded. Don't leave the device on the table, and don't even think about taking notes on your phone - anything that distracts you and forces you to break eye contact with your customer is a bad thing and makes you look like you're only half-interested in the people in the room.
We will occasionally experience some belligerence after they have been reprimanded, but we always remind them that the best, most seasoned sales team members only need four things to close a multi-million dollar sale - pen, paper, whiteboard, and business cards.
This doesn't seem to have been accounted for. Younger people tend to be junior staffers and mostly privy to larger, all-hands meetings where, honestly, you can pretty much ignore what is going on in the meeting since you're receiving orders from your manager as needed anyway.
Older people are more frequently part of smaller, higher-level meetings where they actually have to pay attention because they're the ones who are supposed to keep their departments in line with upper level management goals.
Businesses think it's okay to call employees when they are with their family, they have no respect for private time so why should employees have respect for business time ?
I didn't read the linked article, but as an almost-40-something corporate employee I can say that there are as many types of meetings as there are varieties of TPS report jokes. Some meetings have a dozen or more people on laptops, some are broad round table discussions, some are con calls where you know at least a few people on mute are watching tv (or worse). Check your texts, answer emails, possibly talk on your phones in these meetings.
Young folks know that business meetings are usually not actually important. Most of the meeting is spent addressing other people's concerns or bragging about some piece of information that the presenter feels is important, but is only trivia to most of the audience. If there's anything else, like a text message, that is perceived as a better use of one's time, they're likely to pay attention to that, rather than the meeting.
Older folks would previously have just dozed off in meetings, or doodled on notebooks looking like they were paying attention. Now that older folks are likely to be the ones leading the meeting*, of course they feel slighted when their subordinates are devoting attention elsewhere.
Another contributing factor is that young folks are more often the expendable workforce. They're the ones who are getting the longer hours and heavier workloads, being taught through their short careers that handling two problems at once is a minimum. There's a good chance that text message is work-related, and not responding would be the greater offense.
* From TFA:
People with higher incomes are more judgmental about mobile phone use than people with lower incomes
...which indicates to me that the older ones are the managers. On a wider study, this assumption may be invalid, as different industries have more youth at the top, but it appears this study covered 200 employees at a beverage distributor for its initial phase, and it doesn't reveal how many were used for the second phase. Not much hope for demographic diversity.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
That's all.
It's outrageous that a writer in modern times would so blatantly try to induce outrage in his readers. PEOPLE ARE TEXTING IN MEETINGS, THE HORROR!
They'll learn when the 20-somethings get a poor review, smaller bonuses, passed over on promotions because their superiors are 30, 40, 50 and 60 somethings...
I wonder how many of them would do this at a fancy dinner with their significant other... It's a good way to end up sleeping on the couch...
I purposefully sought out an employer who has a no personal cell phone on the premises policy. Not having to around with constantly distracted people who lack the self discipline to put their pacifiers down is incredibly satisfying. It's just like the good old days when people didn't feel like they were entitled to bring their personal lives to work showed up at work to, well, you know, work.
It's probably because we now live in a world of instantaneous response, where the younger guys understand that if you don't respond, then the next guy will. They are probably meeting weary as well, they sit around listening to people banging on about their own self importance, trying to fill the booked out hour.
I was in a 2 hour meeting that had covered it's content in 60 minutes this week, the chair gleefully asked what we could use the remaining hour for - I decided to go and get some work done.
I've started weighting my calendar with Red and Green entries. Red is an internal meeting, Green is an external supplier or customer meeting. It's interesting to get a visual snapshot of where you spend time.
Why pick on 20-somethings? It seems as if people with so-called smart phones pay more attention to their portable toys than to the people around them. Went to an opera last weekend and sat in the balcony with a view over the orchestra section. When the house lights went up for intermission, I looked down on a sea of blue light emanating from little 3" LCDs all over the audience. It struck me that I preferred the rosy, golden hue of audiences 35 years ago, who used those little plastic butane lighters to salute the performers, to the cold, blue indifference of intermission emailers.
ip, therefore im. -- sorry Rene, with love, IP. P.S. Love that thing with all the coordinates.
People sitting around looking at projected images correcting spelling... What an annoying practice.
Since 90% of what goes on in those meetings involves passive aggressive posturing and yammering, it doesn't surprise me at all. Now, if only these in charge of these meetings would graduate highschool already by letting go of idiotic things like strict dress codes.
I don't think so, stop lying about me.
If you're on call, it's appropriate to receive a notification in any situation. That's what it means to be on call, and a lot of young professionals are.
If the notification requires response, it's then appropriate to excuse yourself from the meeting. Just like you'd excuse yourself to hold a person to person side conversation while someone else was presenting.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
"kthxbye"
Some settling may occur during posting.
As a 20 something I'm eagerly waiting for these baby boomers to just retire so we don't have to deal with thier nonsense. There is nothing wrong with answering a text message in a meeting if your are not involved in the conversation and you don't disturb anyone else.
Here is my list of stuff that is rude that over 40s do that I wish would stop:
The actual paper, in PDF format, can be found here.
Oh, wait, we're already there:
Selfies at funerals
Seriously, people, learn some respect and manners. It won't kill you.
No, I'm reading e-books on Safari so that this meeting isn't a total waste
Meetings? Check. Texting/modern devices in the workplace? Check. "Get Off My Lawn"-type generalization? Check. This article's author included practically every white-collar-environment cause of rage. And judging by the butthurt-ness of most of the comments so far, the troll was eminently successful. The only thing that could have improved it would have been to specify American 20-somethings, to get cross-ocean flaming as well.
Everything is better with chainsaws.
Blame those young whippersnappers! They are all dumb! They ruined my 401k! They don't know how anything works! The worlds problems are THEIR fault..... I have never seen more terrible "me me me" behavior than from the current 40-50 year olds blaming all their problems on their CHILDREN. When the generation before figures out how to stop kicking the debt can to me to figure out, can stop passing laws to take my money and give it to them (obamacare), or really do anything that is productive instead of raping the future generations chance at a decent lifestyle, then maybe I'll care if they think I shouldn't text when being droned at about something that isn't even in my department.
Meetings exist to not get work done.
The amount of work that gets done is the square of the number of participants minus 5.
Thus, a meeting of 2-3 people gets work done, a meeting of 4-5 is ok, and a meeting of 6 or more is usually not a great idea.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I work at a large 'Top Ten' company and I see this sort of thing from just about everyone who is under 60 (the older folk seem to doodle on notepads rather than play on phones). It doesn't matter if it's a manager or an intern, if there are more than a handful of people in a meeting you're going to see this. I get tired of hearing exchanges like this day in and day out:
Speaker: And what do you think about that Johnson?
Johnson: (playing on his phone) Huh? What?
Speaker: What do YOU think about this?
Johnson: (glazed look on his face) Umm... Can you repeat what you said? I didn't hear you the first time.
Meetings grind to a halt when this stuff happens. Not only is it rude to the speaker, but you waste everyone's time when they have to go through everything again. Everyone swears they can play on their phone and listen at the same time, but it doesn't work. I understand the occasional emergency call (my favorite was when we could hear the guy shouting "The babysitter is doing WHAT? Stop her before she gets out the door!". I still have no idea what that was about.) but your day to day activities (work related or otherwise) can wait until the meeting is over with. It's just common courtesy.
It's just what a given culture or group decides is the "right" way to act. If more people in that group feel a different way is instead what's acceptable, it eventually will be. "Rudeness" is simply violating a cultural norm. Ask a 70 or 80 year old and he'll tell you these young 40 and 50 year olds look like disrespectful slobs with their "business casual" clothes in a professional office. In some cultures if you admire the fountain pen someone was using it would be offensively rude for him to offer it to you as a gift.
As the twenty-somethings who grew up with this technology expect it to be integrated into all aspects of their life, it eventually will be as they ultimately become the managers and CEOs. Of course, they'll probably find a new thing to complain about "kids these days" doing, even if it's not texting during meetings.
This is actually something I go into quite a bit in my training about business communications.
Part of it is the push-back with the client. Don't accept meetings where a team of 20 are involved where only 2 people are actually relevant. Only include those who are absoloutely needed. Break up big meetings into smaller ones. Schedule meetings for times when they don't occur smack bang in the middle of developers best development times (you know, just between their first coffee of the day and lunch), let them get absorbed in the code for a decent length of time without pulling them up for air... seriously, they will get more code done in that period than at any other time. In fact, don't bother coders when they are in the zone...
Agile, scrum, stand up meetings, they have their place, but who should be involved in what aspects and when is a part that is often done wrong.
Kids -- keep the phones on vibrate. If you need to take an urgent call, excuse yourself and step outside but make it brief. Don't be an ass and do it in every meeting. It's distracting and just not considered courteous. You're obviously in the meeting because your involvement is important.
Old guys -- use the white board when possible. No, we don't want to hear your golfing digressions. There is plenty the rest of us need to get done and watching you fumble with your slideshow is annoying and not very respectful of OUR time. Get to the point. Ask everyone if they understand. If someone isn't getting it, or wants to argue, talk to them after the meeting. The rest of us don't want to referee for the jackass you're sparring with. It's OK if what you had to say only takes 20 minutes. It doesn't mean that what you had to say isn't important, interesting or pertinent.
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I mean, it certainly helps in making the list when layoff time comes around ...
They are self-centered and everything is about them, and them only. Common courtesy and respect are gone in that generation..
Do that around me in the office and you are fired, or at the least off the project. Do it around me personally, don't expect to be a friend.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
A lot of the technical people have job descriptions that have you on call, at least, the entire work day.
These job descriptions do not list paying attention at unimportant meetings that have nothing to do with you.
So, of course you read/respond to texts in meetings.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
You know I recall a few years ago about an article stating how kids in college would be texting during classes and tests (yes those critical things you need to do to pass your courses) to the point where teachers had to expel them during tests after more than one warning wasn't enough to get them to stop using their cell phones.
I'm thinking this is simply the evolution of those same kids now entering the work force. I'm thinking this might be worth following to see if these same kids will continue their social ways in the next few years. Are we going to see them continue to text in their 30-somethings or will they eventually learn better etiquette?
Heck! Will anything the next generation do irritate them? I imagine by the time they reach their 40s that the new generation will be watching videos (loudly) during meetings or something crazy like that and think it's as appropriate as this group seems to think talking and texting are now.
Why are 20-somethings closing a multi-million dollar sale? I'm a 20-something, and I know plenty of 20-somethings that are quite mature and capable of closing a multi-million dollar sale, but wouldn't you leave something that important to somebody that is more seasoned, generally-speaking, I would think a 30-something? That's a job for executive positions (or otherwise higher management), and 20-somethings that work in a company that closes multi-million dollar sales with such regularity will rarely be in a sensitive position like that. That's just the way the world still works.
Bonus: If you do have a 20-something taking point on the closure of this multi-million dollar sale, I would expect they know better. Otherwise, you, the higher management, have made poor decisions, and not necessarily just them.
Problem with dumb ass solved.
When shit worked this is how shit worked.
I suspect (based on a loose study of my family), us older generation believes that the more important people to focus your attention on are the ones in your presence (at the table, in a meeting, etc) and that the person on the other end of the line can wait.
Our kids however, feel that certain people are more important than others regardless of where they are. Their friends are more important than any boss or family that is nearby.
And so, my wife and I will let the phone ring / answer machine take the call, ignore text messages / FB notifications, etc during supper.
And my kids are squirming as if in extreme pain if their phone buzzes and we don't let them immediately see who it's from and if it's a friend let them respond.
I'm not going to say it's a bad priority shift, but it certainly is an interesting one.
I'm in my right mind and I have the answer to everything!
By business meeting you mean COD and pot party in moms basement right?
Before the meeting starts, teach the babies what is appropriate and what is not in a meeting. The babies starting to work in companies today have no discretion about anything. They even think that it is ok to have sex on their bosses desk top during and after work.
Instead of what the article says to do, THIS is what you do during business meetings:
"No matter what your age is, you may choose whether or not to bring cell phones into the meeting but you must keep it on silent and, if you answer a call or interact with it in any way, unless it's required for the meeting, then disciplinary action (up to and including termination) will be taken on you! Case closed!"
FUCK these kids!
I became annoyed with an employee who received a LOT of cell phone calls during my infrequent, but necessary meetings with operations managers. Finally I placed a bucket of water by the door and as people entered the room and informed them that, as a security precaution, any cell phone brought into the room had to be placed in the bucket during the meeting. Thereafter, cell phones were left outside and out meetings became shorter and were not interrupted. Yes, I'm over 40, and I still think using a device for talking, texting, surfing or anything else when engaged with one or more live people is inexcusably rude.
We're getting all of these conveniences and our society doesn't have the time to instruct people (kids especially) what is and isn't appropriate behavior. It's not just this. It's people taking snapshots of party goers doing something embarrassing, sexting, phone calls in theaters, etc. I was just at the coffee shop and a woman had one of those bluetooth headsets talking away while at the counter. Now, nothing is more annoying than standing next to someone when you can't tell if they're talking to you, the cashier, herself, or some hidden phone under their hair or on the opposite side of their head.
However, society hasn't had the time to say "hey this pisses other people off so just because it makes irrelevant 5 minutes conversations convenient, wait until you're in private to use this device."
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
This is such a biased study. Where is the comparison to the percentage of workplaces with policies which allow texting or answering calls during a meeting? I know mine does because that shit's critical and the older employees are usually the ones doing it because they have the most important communications.
Like, what if those two numbers lined up?
isn't it more likely that the 20-somethings are in a lower position hence don't have much responsibility with their role in the meeting?
There are 20-somethings with jobs? In America? Where they get paid? With money?
Bullshit.
If you look at the actual polling they didn't differentiate people that actually attend business meetings or really define what qualifies as a business meeting.
If you look at how many 20-somethings are still in school, unemployed, under-employed, or just doing some type of non-office work you'll see that a business meeting is something completely different to them.
Most people on slashdot probably think of a business meeting as a project manager meeting with some technical people in an office meeting room, but most people aren't working in an office as technical people or project managers. A business meeting for someone that works as a waiter or cook at a restaurant could be the manager taking 5 minutes to talk about upcoming catering events in the morning before you start doing work.
The Official Site of 1337 Pwnage
Manners matter.
Bad manners can lose your job, lose friends, and if you piss
off the wrong people at the wrong time, even get you killed.
Sooner or later people either end up learning manners or they
end up only associating with the low-class scum who embrace
such behavior.
I found the opposite to be true. The older demographic (who tended to be higher up) were the ones who took more frivolous calls during meetings. The 20 somethings usually left their phones at their desk. I suppose the younger people questioned might say they think that it is OK for the older folks to do that while if you ask the older folks they would agree that it isn't appropriate but they do it anyways.
I think that can be all well and good for a 'study' except for the last flip comment at the end: "And if you’re an older worker annoyed at what you believe to be rude behavior, just remember, it’s not you – it’s them!" The researchers clearly don't know how to interpret their own data objectively. The study was asking what people thought would be appropriate, not what they actually do!
If you're responding to house on fire phone calls or emails, whether real or metaphorical, or it's something that's related to the meeting, then that's fine. If you're playing Angry Birds or posting on Facebook then it's not.
1) I call meeting in which case have screen up and lasts no more than 30 min to get clarity
2) big 'status meeting' leave when last action with my name on comes on.
3) get bored or have something to do so walk out.
got called out on 3 loads of times never actually harmed career.
34% of all new hires who misuse gadgets in meetings will never advance beyond their current status. By paying attention to agenda items that may be tangential to their immediate concerns, they may learn things about the business that will be essential to advancement.
I dont see much harm in reading texts (calls is a different topic as it disturbs the other people)
I've always wanted a button I could push to make my phone ring during an interview. That way instead of glancing meaningfully at my watch if I don't like how it's going, I could have my phone ring, answer it and say "Hello? I'm in an interview! No, it's crap! They're using visual source safe and the team members average 80 hours a week! I'm pretty sure he's going to offer me under market, too!"
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Ok maybe not actually taking the phone call IN the meeting room, but we are allowed to excuse ourselves, are allowed to answer texts and emails .. as long as all of the above are work related but only in meetings that are a) not critical, and b) internal meeting (i.e not with clients) and c) you are not directly involved at that time.
Sometimes you need to be in that 1 hour long meeting even though you only directly involved in 5 minutes of it, sometimes you just need to be aware of what is going on, but our boss realizes that we are losing a bunch of productivity, so if we can answer texts/emails from clients/other coworkers without disturbing other people then so be it. Why would other people get disturbed if I am typing out an email on my phone?
"Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms such as you have named... but a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot. [...] This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health but as proof of his/her strength. Look for it. Study it. Friday, it is too late to save this culture... this worldwide culture, not just the freak show here in California. Therefore we must now prepare the monasteries for the coming Dark Age. Electronic records are too fragile; we must again have books, of stable inks and resistant paper. But that may not be enough. The reservoir for the next renaissance may have to come from beyond the sky."
~Robert A. Heinlein, from the novel Friday
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
The first time I was told to knock it off in a meeting scared that social behavior right out of me. This is a learning moment - a stiff, public shaming for being out of line and they won't do it again or they'll be fired. That crap would fly maybe once before said 20-something was looking for work @ the local fast food joint.
Oh if only that were true!
They should be fired, or have their pay cut.
Sincerely, a 22 year old.
Though, maybe there is a case for just checking notifications. I have a Pebble so these come through on to the watch where it is silent and can be discretely checked. The problem with the Pebble is that if you're caught looking it may appear as though you're rudely looking at the time and thinking "when will this fucking asshole stop talking?". A device such as Google Glass would be the victimless crime in this case (maybe, I have never actually seen one) - but I'm reluctant to be in the presence of somebody who is wearing one (a clearly visible physical shutter for the camera is in dire need!).
I interviewed a guy in his mid-20s last week, on top of saying he's a brony, he pulls out his phone and answers it in the middle of the interview.
He said it was his brother calling, so i asked him for the phone and he handed it over. I said to the kid calling "how would you feel if you cost your brother this job by calling him right now?"
Needless to say, Sparkles Sunshine didn't get the job.
If you look at the actual polling they didn't differentiate people that actually attend business meetings or really define what qualifies as a business meeting.
If you look at how many 20-somethings are still in school, unemployed, under-employed, or just doing some type of non-office work you'll see that a business meeting is something completely different to them.
Did someone say "inter-divisional summit"?
The words are business meeting. If a high-school or college graduate doesn't have at least a basic grasp of those two words and how to apply common-sense etiquette when 2 or more people walk into a room to communicate, then I have little patience trying to explain it to them. Their parents should be brought into the room and bitch-slapped for fucking up that hard.
A handshake has never gone out of style, no matter how many forms of communication we've invented. I suppose no 20-something ever thought that it was perhaps them refusing to better understand common business etiquette that likely keeps them unemployed or under-employed?
(Psst. I have ZERO tolerance for rude manners. I'm not old. We're still out there. Learn common courtesy)
They are all about 'respect' ... being directed towards themselves that is. Giving respect just isn't on the radar. Phone/text in a meeting is dis-respect of all others at the meeting, esp. the person(s) being tuned out during the call/text.
Mind you, it isn't just the 20-somethings. Note that the stats show the mind set is present in all age groups.
Blame the Boomers. They taught the world that nothing deserves respect; tear down the establishment, sod religion, nothing but the 'self' matters. And that attitude prevails in everything, it permeates advertising, sports, entertainment ... except, you might think, Disney with its heavy 'family is number one' message. But that message is simply treating the family as a bigger 'self', so it's all the same.
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
If I'm paying you to take care of my child or my elderly parents, you will not be texting while you are taking care of them. If the kids are asleep, sure. If granny's asleep, that's the time you can use your cell phone and send and receive text messages. I can't believe the caretakers I see (I know they're caretakers because they're usually wearing nursing scrubs) who are yapping on their cell phones or texting madly while they sit right next to the person they're being paid to care for, and they don't interact with the person at all. I dropped a dime once because I observed a severely disabled child (in a wheelchair and suffering from what looked like brain damage) was choking on his own spit, screeching and trying to get his aide's attention, and she was too busy talking on her phone to even reach over to wipe the spit off his face, with the towel that was already pinned to his shirt collar. I called the transportation service they were using and left a message with the office manager to pass on to the parents of the child.
I almost forgot to add, the problems I have with well-paid employees thinking it's okay to talk and text all day long are NOT just with twenty-somethings. The behavior is not unique to their age-group.
I'm so glad most of our staff are under 30 and that I'm in a position where I get to decide who joins. This article just further cements for me not to hire over 35s since all they ever do is bitch about how people don't conform to the way they've worked for the last 20 years instead of adapt themselves into a new environment.
The few people that we have hired over 35 we've only had to fire later on because "that's not how they're used to working" therefore we must change, ugh..
Fact is meetings are a giant unproductive wastes of time. If you're going to make everyone join into one where only a few key people are taking part then at least have the professional courtesy to let people get on with other things in the background while listening to you.
If you are responsible for mission critical systems and cannot check your emails/ business related texts during a meeting then the business/boss should be ready to take the heat when your exchange server/database/core switch/server/PBX goes down. We are provided these devices to increase productivity and communication. Yes I think it is disrespectful to play with a device for an entire meeting but really who does that? If you can get by without paying attention the whole time you obviously aren't a required participant and cannot be a beneficial participant to the subject you are meeting on. If I receive a message during a meeting I will check the sender and if it is my monitoring system I will read it because it is my job.
I see plenty of senior staff members, well and truly over-the-hill types, who are just as bad about using their phones in meetings. 20 somethings are going to take their lead on how to act in a meeting from their peers. If you clearly set an example of what is OK and not OK in a meeting, this isn't a problem but many Managers don't bother to manage. Do yourself a favor and don't bring your phone into a meeting, at all. If you really MUST be connected, weight what is more important to your personal reputation at that moment. Disrupting the meeting and taking a communication, or realizing part of your job is to be fully committed to the place you're at.