Personal phone calls at work
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Since summer’s underway (eek! almost over, actually), I have kids at home, not necessarily alone, just home, and, they’ve got more time to call me at work.
I’m lucky that I have an office with a door, and, not too many people around. The ones that are around really don’t care if I make or receive personal calls, but, I am always conscious of what I’m saying on the phone, anyway.
I try to keep my statements general, yet, translatable to the young caller:
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea”, actually means, “You can’t hitch the dog to the wagon.”
“We should plan to discuss that later”, translates to, “No”.
“Yes. Mmmhmm. Fabulous. Really?” - responses to the preschooler that wants to talk while you are in the middle of 10 people in your office.
“Perhaps you should consider something else” - Really means, “Don’t hit your brother again.”
“Let’s meet later” - “No, I’m not cooking anything, we’re going out to eat”.
How about you? Do you find yourself censoring your words when you get personal calls at work?
Tags: Career and Kids, personal-phone-calls-at-workRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Work Environment
2 opinions for Personal phone calls at work
scifinerdgrl
Aug 1, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Tell your kids that *you* will call *them* — on your breaks. As a supervisor I can’t tell you how aggravating it is to have staff taking personal phone calls all day long. If your kid needs to go to the ER that’s different, but if it’s day-to-day stuff either take a leave of absence over the summer or get a babysitter.
(I was a child of a working mom and I can tell you — this *does* work)
Mom_of_3
Apr 13, 2008 at 6:21 am
I am a child from a big family, my mom made us her first priority. A job brings home the money to take care of the family, but make no mistake its the family thats important. Workplaces need to realize this.
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