I have heard that one of the biggest headaches of our time are mobile phones. These gadgets, although very handy, have been blamed for all sorts of poor ettiquette. I will tell you a story. It's Friday. 2 pm. A certain young man asks to see me. I gather from my colleagues that he had been waiting at the reception for two hours. He had not made any appointment but I agreed to see him. He talked to me about a children's camp and asked for help in raising the visibility of his club through publication. We agreed he would send me some background information and a proposal, via e-mail, and we parted ways.
Saturday morning. 11 am. I head to the bookshop to buy some books. My mobile phone rings and I can tell - from the caller's ID that it's the man I had talked to the previous day. It's WEEKEND! I am strict about mixing work/business with my private/leisure time. I reject the call. That is when the trouble begins. The man takes the rejected call as a cue to call and call and call and call again!
I think that if you are not smart enough to respect other people's out-of-business hours and use a rejected call as a sign that perhaps it would be better to call another day, then people should not give you a minute of their time. I see the countless attempts to reach me over the weekend (having not first respected the terms of engagement) as harassment. Excessive aggression. And if truth be told, I am dreading any further communication with this man!
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