Phones in general are just plain awesome. They grant you the ability to talk to people across the world, even outer space. Albeit I haven’t called anyone in outer space yet but if I do, you’ll be the first to know. Anyway, like I was saying, phones are awesome. They have saved me in a few situations (the whole saved by the bell thing), although now that I think about it, they’ve put me in a couple awkward situations too. For the most part, however, they are useful tools to keep in contact. When cordless phones were invented, I thought it was genius, now you have the ability to move to another spot so as not to disturb or be disturbed by anyone from your conversation. Cell phones were, of course, a natural evolutionary step to the cordless phone. ( I swear Star Trek’s Tri-corder is the next big thing, although it looks like Vital Technologies Corp came up with something called TR-107 TRICORDER Mark 1, *shrugs* no idea what it does). So most of you are probably wondering at this point, “What’s he getting at?”

Speakerphones.

These things are a blessing and a curse. They are great if your hands are preoccupied with other things (What that occupation is… well that’s *completely* up to you). Any customer support person will tell you that hands-free telecommunication is a must have. I tend to agree, for the most part… but I have been seeing some major abuse from knuckle heads in the cubicles. Everyday conversations do not need be carried out in such a loud manner… especially in the cubicle world. Just pick up the receiver, and talk into it, the key word being “talk” and not “scream”, or “yell”. This past week, I’ve unfortunately managed to be within earshot of a patient-doctor conversation. I honestly didn’t know people would ever use the speakerphone for this type of call. Fortunately it wasn’t anything disturbing, like how to make their STD go away. This one happened to be about a case of some foot infection, which still isn’t exactly pleasant to listen to but it could have been worse…much, much, worse. The funny part was his cubicle neighbor standing up and saying: “Dude, pick up the damn phone to discuss that.” Priceless.

A friend of mine told me of a story of a guy who decided to use a speakerphone for a conference call…apparently he thought that he couldn’t talk normally since he raised his voice several octaves so the rest of the office could hear the wonderful conversation. Here’s the worst part, the guy stood and left to get something and he just left the speakerphone on! That is a serious WTF moment.

So why on earth do people use the speakerphone for every conceivable type of conversation?? Is it an announcement to the world that they’re on the phone? Is there no one else in the office? What do you think?