A manager at a small company told me over coffee of a job interview she gave a young candidate, in the middle of which he received a cellphone call from his wife (who wanted, with the wrong timing, to wish him luck in the coming interview).

I was curious how this had affected her attitude to the candidate. After all, on one hand, it is nice that he’d answer his wife – he proved to be a considerate spouse. Yet on the other hand he had interrupted the interview and did not have the courtesy to either shut the phone down (or silence it) before the interview, or to ignore it once it rang. He was showing respect to his wife, and disrespect to his potential employer.

The manager told me she did not let the incident count against the young fellow, but she did think he was being immature. I think that for my part, I’d be less forgiving in this case – I’d interrupt a friendly conversation myself for a phone call I care about, but not a formal meeting like an interview. After all, there are two people involved – the one phoning you and the one talking to you; why give the interrupter priority over the one in your presence? Isn’t it rude? It’s the same attitude you meet at the bank, when the clerk serving you keeps devoting time to phone calls from other clients – ignoring the fact that you had patiently waited in line: why are the callers more important, you can’t help thinking?

And I think a key problem here is that we don’t really have good etiquette norms in place. Other areas of social interaction have evolved more slowly, and there are accepted Do’s and Don’ts covering them. Not so cellular telephony, where anything goes.

Maybe it’s time to take stock and create the missing rules of etiquette?
What do you think?