Phones in the office interrupting my lunch break

Isn’t it very annoying when you’re sat at your desk in the office having your lunch, when you get frequently interrupted by constant ringing of other peoples’ phones.

I work in a typical office environment and usually take an hour for lunch, which is normally spent sat at my desk.  The reason for this is that I like to eat and catch up with the news at the same time; not perhaps a very healthy way to spend your lunch hour, but it’s my own time and that’s how I prefer to spend it.

The office where I work is of an open plan design and the desks are arranged into groups of six.  I sit at one of these groups and quite often find myself alone at lunchtime as a number of my colleagues go out either to the cafeteria or home for lunch.  The problem is, they often forget to divert their desk phone to their mobile, or to enable their voicemail before they leave.

It’s very irritating when the phones are constantly ringing and there is no one except me around to answer them.  I find it impossible to leave a phone ringing and to continue eating my lunch, so I don’t really have any other choice other than to take the call.  I then end up having to explain that such and such is out to lunch, yes I’ll take a message, but no I don’t know anything about their project and what they said to you yesterday.  Why do they always assume that you know everything about that persons’ work, when all you are doing is simply answering their phone?

Here’s another annoying thing that often happens at lunchtime.  You’re sitting there eating a sandwich and perhaps reading a book or a newspaper, and someone decides to come up to you and ask work related questions or talk about work.  It’s just so rude, especially when it is blatantly obvious that you are on your lunch break.

It doesn’t take much to divert a telephone...

It would be great if people you work with could be a little more thoughtful and think about colleagues who prefer to take their lunch break at their desk.  It doesn’t take much to divert a telephone, and if you see someone with a sandwich reading the news then take the hint; they’re on they’re break and probably don’t want to be disturbed with work queries!