[TheAutomaton]

You guys feel the same way about cellphones that I do about screaming brats in restaurants and movie theatres.
Cellphones hardly bother me. What I can't stand is when I'm in a restaurant, trying to enjoy a meal and talk to my husband and the people at the next table are sitting there, beaming proudly at little Timmy as he SCREAMS at glass-shattering volumes uninterrupted for five minutes and then the mother (usually) turns and gives you that, "Can you believe how darling he is?" smile. I just want to get up and toss the kid, highchair and all, out into the parking lot.

The thing I hate about phones is when you see a mother out with her kid and she's on the phone the entire time with the kid there desperate for attention. "Mommy? Mommy? Look at this, mommy. Mommy! Mommy! Look!" and she never glances at him once. I just want to shake those people and shout at them, "Pay attention to your damned kid, you moron! You can talk to Sheila about how hot the cabana boy is after you tuck him in to bed."

[BuddingCook]

I'm surprised that any store, anywhere would allow the employee to talk on their phone while they're on the clock. I haven't seen this, but if I did I would be pretty shocked. Where do you guys live??! lol...

[RAS1187]

If management allows phone use in the dining room, I can only imagine what type of things they let slide in the BOH. Tell your boyfriend I said hi and I'm so sorry to have interrupted your conversation, but its ok, I'm leaving now.

There have been times where on the way to the bathroom, I would take a quick peek into the kitchen and see someone on the phone, but I can't really fault them as they at least made the effort to get out of the dining room to take a call.

[Just Jim]

Originally Posted by RAS1187

There have been times where on the way to the bathroom, I would take a quick peek into the kitchen and see someone on the phone, but I can't really fault them as they at least made the effort to get out of the dining room to take a call.

Our company has a no phone while working policy, but I routinely use my cell in the kitchen, due to my position as kitchen manager.
My staff, on the other hand, is not allowed to do the same.

[Phaedrus]

Originally Posted by ChrisLehrer

As to the guests, I think every restaurant with aspirations to quality ought to consider a cell phone blocker and a clearly-stated policy.

I believe it's a Federal offense in the U.S. to jam or interfere with cellular communications, unfortunately.

[ChrisLehrer]

Originally Posted by Phaedrus

I believe it's a Federal offense in the U.S. to jam or interfere with cellular communications, unfortunately.

They have them in some concert halls, though.

[BuddingCook]

Originally Posted by Just Jim

Our company has a no phone while working policy, but I routinely use my cell in the kitchen, due to my position as kitchen manager.
My staff, on the other hand, is not allowed to do the same.

Well yes it makes sense as a kitchen manager but a server should not be on the phone ever, especially not when doing the actual serving! I don't know what I'd do if I saw that lol...

[phatch]

While I agree generally with what has been said, what about emergency notification of that employee?

In a family emergency, they likely won't have contact info for the restaurant to call it and have management take care of notification. They'll call the cell phone. So do you have your employees turn in their phones and you filter the calls for emergencies?

While most cell contact is casual and personal, they do serve an important notification function in some few circumstances. Management should recognize the possibility and help train their employees in ways to manage that contact effectively within the bounds of the job.

Most people have no pre-set emergency signal for contacting them in discreet ways in such situations. A text message with a 911 prefix is a good example. That way the screen can be checked quickly and discreetly out of the customer area for an emergency code and ignored if the code isn't there.

Yes, the customer is owed a respectful service. But we need to respect that servers are real people with lives too.

Just being devil's advocate.

[Dillbert]

once upon a time, there was no such thing as a cell phone.

emergencies pre-date cell phones.

Question: how did we survive?

and if you think back, once upon a time it was the idiot twit with the bleeping pager.....

[phatch]

The world has changed and reality is different. Jobs too.

Rather selfish of you to expect your convenient service over their emergency.

[ChrisLehrer]

Originally Posted by Dillbert

once upon a time, there was no such thing as a cell phone.

emergencies pre-date cell phones.

Question: how did we survive?

and if you think back, once upon a time it was the idiot twit with the bleeping pager.....

Unfortunately or fortunately, this is no longer a viable answer. For example, the university where I work requires -- yes, requires -- that all students, faculty, and staff have email and use it. They send certain kinds of information only through that medium, as part of paper-usage reduction and of course for their own convenience. If you say, "gee, we survived just fine without email in the past," that makes no difference: you are required to have email.

They do not yet require cell phones, but I could easily see them doing so in the near future. If there is a serious emergency, they want to be able to get in touch with you quickly, and cell phones are a convenient way to do this.

My point is that many emergency contact services now assume cell phone access. The fact that they didn't in the past doesn't change matters.

[Just Jim]

Originally Posted by phatch

While I agree generally with what has been said, what about emergency notification of that employee?

In a family emergency, they likely won't have contact info for the restaurant to call it and have management take care of notification. They'll call the cell phone. So do you have your employees turn in their phones and you filter the calls for emergencies?

While most cell contact is casual and personal, they do serve an important notification function in some few circumstances. Management should recognize the possibility and help train their employees in ways to manage that contact effectively within the bounds of the job.

Most people have no pre-set emergency signal for contacting them in discreet ways in such situations. A text message with a 911 prefix is a good example. That way the screen can be checked quickly and discreetly out of the customer area for an emergency code and ignored if the code isn't there.

Yes, the customer is owed a respectful service. But we need to respect that servers are real people with lives too.

Just being devil's advocate.

I don't think this thread dealt with an obvious emergency situation.
It seemed pretty clear that it was just casual phone conversation.
I think all of us, even those extremely annoyed by employees on their cell phones, would be accomodating under emergency situations.
I think "oh my god, dad died?!" can be easily seperated from "oh my god, those shoes are to die for!"

[phatch]

There was a lot of complete and total dismissal of any possibility of cell phone use.

Yes, emergency issues weren't talked about until I raised it.

The phone rings/vibrates/whatever. You don't know if it's an emergency until you check it. And you can't check it if there's a no tolerance ban.

Zero tolerance doesn't work out reasonably in most situations and I saw quite a bit of zero tolerance expressed.

[TheAutomaton]

Originally Posted by Dillbert

once upon a time, there was no such thing as a cell phone.

emergencies pre-date cell phones.

Question: how did we survive?

and if you think back, once upon a time it was the idiot twit with the bleeping pager.....

And this same thing could be said about something as commonplace as copy machines. Copiers have been around for so long now that people no longer view them as a "new-fangled" contraption the way cell phones are viewed, but once upon a time offices survived without them and you know what else they survived without? Hundreds of pointless copies of everything. Once only important documents were copied. Nowadays copying is so convenient that a secretary will make thirty copies of a notice reminding employees not to abuse the copier. Does anyone ever say: Well, we survived without the copy machine once...? The world moves forward. And the world now is almost dependent on cell phones. I mean, have any of you guys ever actually tried to find a payphone in today's modern world? I think you should start looking out for them. You'll be amazed by how many empty payphone booths you'll find.

[Just Jim]

There are exceptions to every rule.
That being said, I believe in the policy of no cell phones while working.
It doesn't take much effort to let those close to you know how to reach you while working.
We have a zero tolerance policy, you can't even carry it in your pocket while working.
I have occasionally received emergency calls for employees, and handled them as you would expect.
I've never had a situation where an employee wasn't reached in an emergency.
Maybe the group I work with is more proactive than most, but it's never been an issue.
I have seen far more examples of abuse than of "emergency use".
I have counseled, suspended and terminated employees for abusing the rule, most notably a cook who texted his girlfriend all throughout his shift.