Work

A recent survey of 6,000 people by recruitment company TMP Worldwide found that irritating mobile phone rings are the top workplace nuisance, followed by malfunctioning equipment such as photocopiers, fax machines and printers.

I recently finished my first stint as a contract programmer. (Although I was employed for a few months in 2000 on a contract for Home Shopping Network Direct, a subsidiary of the television channel.) I worked from December 1st until January 31st for a company in City of Industry, CA called 2by2.net. I did some active server page development and worked on their jabber-based IM for a while. It was a decent gig, even though I really didn’t fit into their corporate philosophy. Easily the most annoying aspect of the job – aside from the hour-plus commute (each way!) – was the fact that every single phone in the office had a distinct ring tone. They were all unbearably aggravating. What was even worse was that every single employee had a mobile phone and all of those had distinct, cute-sy rings. If you bring your cell phone to work you really should keep it on silent alert. Research proves that you’re probably bugging the hell out of someone.