One of the biggest rules at work is that the managers don’t want to see any phones on the sales floor. No problem, I just shut mine down and drop it in my pocket. And that’s worked out for me just fine. 

Except for that one time I didn’t turn it off. 

And so, in the middle of a transaction and in a long line at the cash register, the sound of a dog barking, i.e. my ringtone, came bursting out of my pants. I tried to ignore it. 

My customer raised her head like a cat hearing a can opener and asked, “Did you hear that?” 

And the phone kept barking, because the caller wasn’t going to accept me not picking up. 

“It sounds like a dog,” she said.  

I couldn’t switch it off, nor could I turn it off afterward, because “No phones on the floor.” So I spent the rest of the day in fear that this person would call back.  

But I never left my phone on again.