Boss told me to get off my personal phone in a meeting

A smart watch is useful to check a message quickly and discreetly.

Oh jeezus... it's work, not prison.

Give your head a wobble 🙄

Are you for real?

YABU, it's rude. A public callout also isn't the best way to deal with it, but what are you meant to do if you are not sure the other people in the meeting are actually focused on the conversation at hand. I might have been a bit more tactful if it was someone who doesn't usually do that, but if someone in my team was repeatedly doing it, I may well get to the point where I felt their behaviour was not going to shift until they felt some kind of consequence.

If an emergency, then fair enough, but some parents just seem to think the world revolves around them, including their employers, and they can't seem to filter at all. A trivial text on the parents' WhatsApp group is given the same level of importance as "your child is sick, come pick them up". Managers are human and we do get sick of it.

If you don't trust yourself to stay off your phone in meetings, but are worried you might miss an urgent call, put it in another room but turn the ringer volume up so you'll hear it if an important call comes through.

I still remember the time a colleague got bollocked for using the office mobile phone to call a customer. Apparently it "created the wrong impression". It was the only way to reach this customer because their phone wouldn't accept withheld numbers, which the office land phones did by default. That was around the turn of the century!

Of course it’s ok to quickly check that a message from school isn’t important/urgent. Ridiculous replies. It’s sad that the majority think working parents should work as if they don’t have kids. Thankfully places I worked, we were treated like adults and this wouldn’t even register on anyone’s radar.

Years ago I was sacked for using my personal phone in the office twice , I wouldn’t dream of doing it in a meeting

You were rude and unprofessional.
Doesn't matter if it was child related or not.
You we're called out on your behaviour and I imagine you're still slightly embarrassed by it.
Suck it up OP and move on....

You shouldn't be distracted by personal messages in meetings. It's very disrespectful of others.

You acted badly . I had this happen I spoke up and said I needed to leave for a couple of minutes as kids school only calls in emergencies .returned , apologised and had to leave .
he shouldn’t have been abrutp either by the way but you should know better

Would you check your phone and open a message in a face to face meeting back in the old days? Of course you wouldn’t (well I hope you wouldn’t) so neither should you in an online meeting. I would have pulled you up on it too.

More like you were sensitive. Own that.

I never claimed GenX and boomers were the same. You're just projecting your lack of verbal reasoning skills.

Seems like a more sensible approach.

Put your phone on silent with school/nursery/any other true emergency numbers set to override this for calls (not texts which they wouldn’t use in emergency) then if they call say ‘excuse me a minute, possible emergency’ and leave the meeting/turn off camera to answer at work.

Well, you were insulting, can't get your facts right (boomers and Gen X aren't the same), and thus not being very bright, so... if the cap fits. Own it instead of whining about how unfair it all is.

In many jobs you only get chance to check your phone during a break so same should be applied to the office world. Schools understand parents are at work and can't reply straight away and if it was an emergency they would ring your place of work or you would see missed calls. If of course you're away from POW it's harder, same as those who don't have their phones with them during work.

Rubbish I take my phone into meetings in case my child has an accident/gets sick and the school call. I would only answer it if it was the school and wouldn’t be looking at messages etc. I’m an adult and expect to be treated like one.

I can’t really imagine harshly reprimanding a valued employee like that in front of everyone unless you are a repeat piss taker who had me at the end of my rope.

I would say you were both unreasonable. You should have left your phone away from the computer if you were having a meeting and he shouldn't have signalled you out like that. A quick word in private after the meeting would have been more appropriate.

This.

Should be switched off during working hours. Give them your Company phone number for anything that could be classed as an emergency. And yes, I have some kids.

I think with the threat to schools at the moment there may well be a text sent to all parents to come and collect their children early or a message to let them know the school is in a lockdown situation but all children are safe.

This has happened at 3 local schools in the last few weeks due to various incidents in or around the schools.

I for one would check my phone quickly in that scenario.

I understand it could be deemed unprofessional but a quick glance is doing no harm in ensuring your child is safe. There is more to life than work and you would never forgive yourself if something bad happened and you ignored that message.

I do not feel this unreasonable in the times we’re living in currently.

Not great but you were wrong…
the fact you told him more about it will cement an idea of you in his mind…honor you aren’t in the run for a promotion coz you just lost it.

edit : hope not honor…

When I was working we weren't allowed phones on our desk let alone in a meeting.