Colleague reported me for phone usage - awkward!!

[AmyRuby]

I work in a fairly large office and there’s a very much ‘common sense’ approach to personal phone usage. No one sits at their desk and takes lengthy personal calls, but management accept there will be times people need to check/use their phones briefly and that for anything longer, they’ll step away from their desk or wait for breaks and lunch.

I had my 1:1 with my Manager today who told me that someone has reported to her that I’ve conversed with delivery drivers using my ring doorbell whilst at my desk - I simply say ‘please leave that round the side’ if no one’s in. I try to schedule deliveries for my WFH days but can’t always control that so it’s only a handful of
times this has happened.

My manager was clear she doesn’t have an issue with my phone usage and obviously she can’t tell me who reported it, although I have an idea.

This person will have known our manager will have had to say something to me - am I wrong to find them reporting this a bit pathetic? It just risks an awkward atmosphere when we are generally a fairly harmonious team.

If your manager actually didn’t have a problem with it they wouldn’t have said anything. Your manager does have a problem with it and has issued a light warning hoping that you’ll take the hint and they can still be the good guy.

This, I think it’s more about interrupting people if they are concentrating - they don’t need to hear about my life admin, nor would I want them to know how many parcels I get 🤣🤣

I agree with this.

Some managers can't manage effectively, and hide behind others as their reason for raising things. In this instance OP, I'd hazard a guess that may be the case with your manager.

I have never heard a member of staff talk to a delivery driver. If we receive or make a personal call we would step into a meeting room. The only personal calls made at desks are usually brief calls at the end of the working day when people are confirming the time / place they will be meeting for drinks, meals or the theatre, but usually half the staff have left already as it will be early evening. Perhaps you take more calls than you realise.

TBF a handful of times is quite a lot.

I think it’s the fact you’re sat at your desk doing it and it no different taking a quick personal call.

Can you not just leave your desk and say it?

As a manager I would let my team know if someone was reporting them to me just so they could be aware someone is behaving like that. But I would also say that I told the person it’s not something I’m concerned about as their work is excellent and not affected.

You’re obviously doing this enough for people to notice. Stop answering your door at work and concentrate on what you’re supposed to be doing!

They really don't. They are a filter, not a voicemail recorder.

This

Poor management here.

If what you are doing is actually an issue, your manager should raise it with you and ask you to stop doing it.

If it's not an issue, your manager should tell the tattle-tale to wind their neck in and not bother you about it.

Why would you sow discord among your team like that? If it's not a concern for you and doesn't require any action, what would you be expecting the person to do with the information?

Your manager has a problem with it - colleague or not - your manager has a problem

Desist

As the manager you say to the snitch OK, thanks for letting me know. Then either ignore it, or tune in to see if it’s genuinely a problem.

I have people that bloody love to snitch “so and so was sick, but I saw them in Tesco!!!’”, “so and so was booking a holiday this morning at 11:47!!!!”.

I prefer to wait in the tall grass until the Snitch does the thing they snitch on, and point out that real life has a way of diverting everyone’s attention from time to time.

My doorbell app plays on loudspeaker… does yours? Because I wouldn’t mind my colleague taking a call but I’d find it quite disrupting if you were effective communicating via loudspeaker while at your desk.

Unfortunately, not all snitches are powerless. I think some people are far too naive on this point.

If this OPs issue was taken to HR, would it just be swept under the carpet?

I agree. If one of my team said that I would just say ‘I’m not concerned about that so you don’t need to be either’ and shut it down.

I think it’s a passive aggressive move by your manager as they want to mention this but don’t have the guts to say it directly. I once worked with a manager like this - it felt underhand. I heard her do it to others too - to someone sorting a funeral for a family member and mgr said someone had complained they’d had a longer lunch hour (they were stuck in the bank arranging payment of the funeral).

It’s bad management on the mgrs part. I have a team of people and personal calls are fine within reason. Everyone in my team works their rocks off so it’s give and take - when it’s mega busy everyone is working over and above their hours. When there’s a lull, who cares if the team have longer lunches or take personal calls…. Your manager should have just had the guts to say she didn’t like you taking personal calls.

I have colleagues who speak to delivery drivers, etc, on their Ring doorbell. It's really loud and distracting because they are shouting directions and having an awkward conversation with someone who isn't familiar with their house, who often doesn't have English as their first language and is shouting back as they are in a hurry. We can hear the driver too as the are using the loudspeaker - not sure if that's the way they use the app or if you are using the app differently. Normal conversations on their phones to partners/kids schools etc are quieter and significantly more discreet.

It sounds like it's more the loudspeaker that's the problem, rather than the personal calls.

Surely you can just write a delivery note when you order things online?
It seems bizarre to feel the need to answer your ring doorbell, and I definitely think you should be courteous and move to a corridor before doing so.
I wouldn't report you but I would think you were a bit of a nob for not putting a delivery note on your orders

Either it's a problem and violated the rules or it didn't. I don't see why the manager mentioned it.
If anything they could've said to the team as a whole 'just a reminder to keep personal calls to a minimum when not on break'.

I think the fact the manager essentially grassed the complainant up to you makes the atmosphere awkward. But yeah, that person is clearly a cock who dislikes you.

My god it sounds like you are at school! No phones in the office - not allowed to take calls ! Blimey - glad I don’t work in your office

I thought the same. The manager DOES have an issue but she's trying to blame it on your coworker.

Mute your phone, all the alerts are so annoying.

This. I notice if my colleagues are on the phone, but I don't care. Why would I?

Most offices are not like this.