If you needed to ask a question of your supervisor, you dropped a dime or a quarter or two into a payphone and called the office, hoping they would be at their desk. If they weren’t, you made the decision yourself and moved along. If you were good at reading your manager you probably was already sure what the answer would be even before asking the question.

As time passed communications got easier and for the roaming employee more like a leash. First there were the one way pager. You received a message to call a telephone number and off you went to find a phone to return the call.

For a short period of time, the same time as mobile communications, the car phone, was developing there were 2 way pagers. You could receive a message, in 2 way paging it was usually a text question and you could returned an answer with one of the pre-programmed messages. 2 way pagers were much cheaper and more reliable than a mobile cell phone.

Mobile phones first were in the car and then in a portable device that resembled a brick. And as we progress in technology, instant communications became easier.

But it seems to me that at times as communications became more instant, people became less able to decide something without having another opinion. It developed not only in the work arena but also at home. Many times I have heard a husband or a wife call the other partner while in a grocery store asking whether a substitution was acceptable.

Decisions are made as a team or by the supervisor. Original thinking by a lower level employee sometimes was no longer commendable, but became insubordination even in middle and lower upper management.

One would think that with instant communications issues can be resolved quicker and with a better outcome. However, at times I wonder if with instant communications it takes longer and the decision may not be the correct one. The farther the decision maker is from the situation, the less that person considers the personal customer service aspect of the decision.

So I will ask.

Is Instant Communications Good or Bad?

What is your opinion?

How recent have you done one of these? Or do one before the end of the year?

Email:
Use Reply All when intending reply only to the sender.

Send a list of email address embedded within the body of the message to someone who may be collecting addresses. Or send a private email address to a person that the address owner would rather not have it known.

Send an email referencing an attachment, without adding the attachment.

Be reminded that the attachment was not attached by a person who you are trying to impress.

Telephone:
Think that the telephone is muted and say something you don’t want the other party to hear. Or say something inappropriate.

Accidentally conference two parties together.

Erase a voice mail message that holds important information, more than likely it’ll be important contact information.

Start leaving a voice mail message to someone only to discover you are actually talking with the person.

Leave a message or adding to the message on someone’s voice mail thinking that you have been disconnected, but not.

Energy:
Turn the lights on in the supply room, forget to turn it off only to find that it was left on for the entire weekend. Worst a long weekend.

Wonder why the office is cold, use a space heater only to find that the thermostat was blocked from getting room air.

Cellphone
Forget to turn the ringer off on the cellphone before entering an important meeting and then have the phone ring. Worst case, heading a meeting and requesting that everyone silent theirs only to have yours ring.

Forget where you are while talking on the phone and talk about important or private information where others can hear.

Stop in mid conversation with someone to answer your cellphone without an apology.

Have a person respond to something you said while talking to the cellphone. Or respond to another person who is on their phone.

While there’s not a way to completely eliminate any of these things from occurring, by taking a second to think and not rushing can help.

One of the items that can be added to an invoice is Third-Party billing. This is when a company is allowed to pass charges onto your local provider bills. This could be for a club membership or other add-on services.

A lot of third-party billing is fraudulent. Important to note, the local provider does not have any responsibility or liability for third-party charges and third-party billers must be contacted directly for billing resolution. Many local providers will allow you to place third-party biller block on your account. It’s advisable to do so.

Knowing this you shouldn’t simply short pay your invoices. Many vendors require written notification of disputed charges and authorization allowing short payment of amounts due. Sometimes it is even easier to pay the full invoice amount and request a refund for those incorrect charges. Any delay could give the vendor a reason to assess late charges.

Proper documentation can and usually will protect you. Short payment of invoices may look as non-payment and late charges can be assessed on those amounts. Should at some time disconnection be threatened, the correct documentation gives a paper trail that can be used to substantiate your actions.

You want to always only pay for the correct amount, but big telecommunication companies also want to receive payment for services they believe were provided.

For example one day I was standing at a graveyard ceremony during a funeral and my cellphone started ringing. Fortunately it was a ring, and not one of those musical ring tones. I had thought I had turned it off before entering the funeral home, which is what I would normally have done. I obviously hadn’t. The phone ringing at that place and time was one of my most embarrassing moments.

There needs to be some cellphone etiquette. There are places where you really should turn the cellphone off, such as when you are attending a funeral or going to church. Do you really need to have your ringing or vibrating phone while you are trying to woo a prospective client?

And there are those places where you should have the phone on vibrate, which in my mind is almost anytime that you aren’t either in your own home or office.

There are places where you really don’t need to be talking on the phone, such as in a movie theatre or even at a table in a restaurant. There’s usually a lobby area where you can take an important call. Although at times I do wonder how important that call may be. It seems as if no one any more can make a decision and anything without picking up a cell phone and placing a call. “Honey, I’m at the grocery store and would you rather me get beans instead of tomatoes, the tomatoes don’t look very good.”

How many have turned to the fellow next to you, who you thought might have been asking you a question, only to discover he is deep in conversation on his cell phone.

I guess the one good thing is now if you are walking down the street talking to yourself, people will think you are just on the phone.

Are you paying replacement insurance?
If you are, should you?
Replacement of a cellphone or other wireless product can be expensive. A question that need to be asked is; How many phones do you have? If you have a few, it may be a valuable cost. If you have quantity of phones then the added cost of the replacement plans may be greater than the costs of replacements.

One way to determined whether it’s a waste is to take an inventory of how many replacements you made in the past 2 years. Determined what it would have cost to replaced those phones and and compare it to the cost of the insurance. If the Replacement cost would have been less than the insurance. You didn’t need the insurance.

How are you using your minutes?
Do you regularly use more minutes than you have on your plan?
It may be easier to purchase the all inclusive unlimited plan, but for most this is much more than needed and just making a couple of minor adjustments and reductions may save a bunch of money. Also if you are using more minutes than you have on your plan even if it’s only a few times a year, moving to the next higher plan could save you a few dollars.

Are you paying for extras that aren’t being used?
Being able to make or receive a text message is great, but are you paying for a texting plan, but not using it. Most carriers have an reasonable rate for single messages. Are you using a lot of text messages that are billed at message rates? Add a texting plan.

This is also true when looking at a data plan. Are you using it? Is there a least expensive plan that fits your usage?

The only way to know for sure is to study your bills, or have an expert review the invoices. It should be done each month. After reviewing them for a perioed of time, a year period is good, you’ll see the trends on how the phones are being used.

Google Voice offers a single phone number that can ring on all of a user’s phones, either all of the time or by a schedule that can be applied to each number. The service also has a voice mail box which can transcribe the message to text and send it to an email address or as SMS to a cell phone.

To use the service all you need is an Google account. Currently users will have to select a number supplied by Google Voice. Although this could change in the future.

The Senate passed the bill on a week earlier.

It is expected that Governor Markell will sign the measure.

The bill makes this a secondary offense which means that one can only be given a ticket if they are observed committing another offense, such as reckless, speeding, etc. Punishment is a $40 fine for a first offense and $100 for subsequent violations. No points are levied against the motorist’s driving record for a first offense unless it contributes to an accident.

Last year Maryland passed a ban on texting while driving, which is a primary offense.

At this writing there are seven states (Maryland, California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington) as well as Washington, D.C. and the Virgin Islands which has in placed bans. Other than Maryland all of these have it as a primary offense.

A list of all Cellphone and Texting Laws can be found at www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html

8 – Oral Sex

Banana – Penis

FB – F*** Buddy

FOL – Fond of Leather

GNOC – Get Naked On Cam
GYPO – Get Your Pants Off

IMEZRU – I Am Easy, Are You?
IWSN – I Want Sex Now
ILF/MD – I Love Female/Male Dominance

J/O – Jerking Off

KFY or K4Y – Kiss For You
Kitty – Vagina

LMIRL – Let’s Meet In Real Life

NIFOC – Nude In Front Of The Compute

PRON – Porn

Q2C – Quick To Cum

RU/18 – Are You Over 18?
RUH – Are You Horny?

10Q — Thank You
1DAY — One day
1ON1 — One on one
1NC — Once

2 — To/Two/Too
2DAY — Today
2bctnd — To be continued.
2d4 — To die for
2g4u — To good for you
2l8 — Too late
2MORO — Tomorrow
2NITE — Tonight
2WIMC — To whom it may concern

3 8 1 — Three words, eight letters, one meaning (I Love You)

4 — For
4e — Forever
4gv — Forgive
4gvn — Forgiven
4yeo — For your eyes only

7K – Sick

8 – Ate
8ball – Eightball

911 — Emergency, call me

AAMOF – As a matter of fact.
AFAIC – As far as I’m concerned.
AFAIK – As far as I know.
AFK – Away from keyboard.
Alwz – Always
ASL – Age, sex, location
ASAP – As soon as possible.
ATB – All the best.
ATK – At the keyboard.
ATM – At the moment.
AWHFY – Are we having fun yet?
A3 – Anytime, anywhere, anyplace

B – Be.
B4 – Before.
B4N – Bye for now.
BAK – Back at keyboard.
(B)B4N or (B)BFN – (Bye) Bye for now.
BBIAB – Be back in a bit.
BBL – Be back later.
BBS – Be back soon.
BCNU – Be seeing you.
BF – Boyfriend.
BFz4evr – Best friends forever
BHL8 – Be home late.
BIL – Boss is listening
BION – Believe it or not.
Bn – Been
BOL – Best of luck
BRT – Be right there.
BTW – By the way.

C – See.
CM – Call me.
CU – See you
CUBL8R – Call you back later.
CU@ – See you at
CYA – See you around, See ya
CMi –Call me
CMON – Come On
CUB L8R – Call you back later
CUL8R – See you later
CYR BOS – Call Your Boss
CYR BRO – Call your brother
CYR H – Call your husband
CYR MA – Call your mother
CYR OFIS – Call your office
CYR PA – Call your father
CYR SIS – Call your sister
CYR WF – Call your wife

DK – Don’t know.
DNR – Dinner
doN – Doing
Dur? – Do you remember?
D8 – Date.

E2eg – Ear to ear grin
EOD – End of discussion
EOL – End of lecture
EVRY1 – Everyone
EZY – Easy
EZ – Easy

FAQ – Frequently asked questions
FC – Fingers crossed
F2F – Face to face
F2T – Free to talk
F? – Friends?
FITB – Fill in the blank
FOMCL – Fell out of my chair laughing
FYEO – For your eyes only
FYA – For your amusement
FYI – For your information
F2F – Face to face
F2T – Free to talk
FWIW – For what it’s worth.

GAL — Get a life
GF – Girlfirend
GG – Good game
GMeSumLuvin – Give me some lovin’!
GMTA – Great minds think alike
GSOH – Good salary, own home
GTSY – Glad to see you
GUDLUK – Good luck
GR8 – Great!
G9 — Genius
G1 – Good one.
G2G – Got to go.

IAE – In any event.
IBK – Idiot behind keyboard.
IC – I see.
ICQ – I seek you.
IDK – I don’t know.
ILU – I love you.
IML8 – I’m late.
IMTNG – In meeting.
IOW – In other words.
IOU – I owe you.
IRL – In real life.
IYSS – If you say so.

JAM – Just a minute.
JTLYK – Just to let you know.
J4F – Just for fun.

KHYF – Know how you feel.
KWIM – Know what I mean?

L8R – Later.
LDR – Long distance relationship.
LMHO – Laughing my head off.
LOL – Laugh out loud.
LTNS – Long time no see.
LTNT – Long time, no type/text.
LUV – Love.
LYLAS – Love you like a sister.

M8 – Mate.
MEGO – My eyes glaze over.
MTE — My thoughts exactly.
MTFBWY – May the force be with you.
MYOB – Mind your own business.

NETHNG – Anything.
NMHO – In my humble opinion.
NO1 – No one.
NP – No problem.
NRN – NO reply necessary.
NTW – Not to worry.

OIC – Oh, I see.
OMG – Oh my God.
OTOH – On the other hand.
OTT — Over the top.

PCM – Please call me.
PITB – Pain in the butt.
PLS – Please.
PLZ4GVME – Please forgive me.
PRL – Parents are listening.
PRT – Party.
PUKS – Pick up kids.

QT – Cutie.

R – Are.
RGDS – Regards.
RNGL8 – Running late.
RLR – Earlier.
ROTFL – Rolling on the floor laughing.
RTM – Read the manual.
RUCMNG – Are you coming?
RUOK – Are you OK?

SK8 – Skate.
SK8R – Skater.
SPK – Speak.
SUM1 – Someone.
SWIM – See what I mean?
SYS – See you soon.

TAFN – That’s all for now.
THNQ – Thank you.
THX – Thanks.
TMB – Text me back.
TTFN – Ta ta for now.
TTUL – Talk to you later.
TTTT – To tell the truth.
TTYL – Talk to you later.
TVM – Thanks very much.

U – You.
UI! – You idiot
UOK – You OK?
U2 – You too.
U4E – Yours forever.
UR – Your

W — With
WAN2 – Want to?
WB – Welcome back.
WE – Whatever
WKEND – Weekend
WOA – Work of art.
WOT – What?
WRU – Where are you?
WTH – What the Heck
WTG – Way to go!
WUF — Where are you from?
W8 – Wait.
W84ME – Wait for me.

XLNT – Excellent
XOXO – Hugs and kisses.

YKWIM – You know what I mean?

Revised on March 6, 2010 – Added codes.