What if I am expecting an important call on my cell phone during a meeting or business meal?
Let me give you an example, if I am going into a meeting but I'm expecting a call from the director of training for Microsoft, then if I walk into a meeting I say I'm expecting a very important call. You don't need to tell people who it's from, and it may come during this meeting, so you ask if they don't mind while you check your messages. You should keep it on vibrate and if this call comes you'll excuse yourself for a moment and be right back. You can also do that at a dining table with people in a business meeting and then when the call comes in at the dining table you excuse yourself. Go somewhere so that no one hears a one sided phone conversation which is the second biggest complaint we have about cell phone etiquette today, many hate those one sided telephone conversations which are inappropriate. Go find some place quiet where no one will hear your one sided telephone conversation and then when you come back to the table you don't ask for forgiveness or apologize instead you thank the people at the dining table for letting you step away. And you also don't interrupt the flow of conversation by telling them anything about the call, it's private.
