[Arrowhead1952]

Speaker phones in general drive me nuts. Anyone who uses it when there is no one else who needs to hear the conversation should be fired on the spot (and then shot at sunrise.)

Amen.

We have conference calls about every two months or so. I have my assistant supervisor in the office with me and we use the speaker so both can hear.

There are people on other speaker phones who are constantly shuffling papers, having "sidebar" conversations or distracting everyone on the call.

That behavior really ticks me off. I've asked them to either be part of the conference call or get off line just to embarrass them, but they continue with their distractions.

[RightOnline]

Every two months???

Good heavens. I spend 30-40 hours per WEEK on conference calls, I kid you not. I work in worldwide marketing for a HUGE high tech corporation (Fortune 5). It’s a way of life. I have ‘em down pat. Speakerphones with mute are a tool of survival.

The stories I could tell about things I’ve heard in the background on these calls........