What's in your pockets?

[laborcat]

When I was having the major issues with my alpha child (the one with diagnosed autism, thinking the omega child might need tested as of late) I told my boss and store director, on no uncertain terms, that my phone was to stay on my person at ALL times. I didn't care about the rules. I'd already almost lost him once when he tried to suffocate himself at school with a plastic shopping bag and they couldn't get hold of me. Fortunately my store director at the time was cool with it as long as I kept the volume low.

[SimonF12009]

Mobile, keys, customer survey cards and my PC-toolkit flash drive

[Food Lady]

Always and forever: lip stain and lipstick or balm (must have reddish lips at all times)
Usually: phone, lotion tin
Sometimes: some kind of snack, tube of ibuprofen

I never carry a pen because we have them all over the place. My wallet and keys and such are in a locker.

ETA: I wear skirts, but I make sure they have pockets when I buy them.

[BrenDAnn]

My smock pocket at work always has a permanent black marker, and a box cutter in it. Sometimes, there's a pen in there, too, if I find a nice one I feel like keeping to myself.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Glad to see you received proper training - would you believe that some jurisdictions allow untrained people to carry keys, cash, phones, and flashlights?

As for places that only allow carrying a phone if there's an emergency situation, what happens if an emergency suddenly develops (i.e. employee's kid gets hit by a car while they're at work)? Employee's phone is in the "locker" (quotes because no provision for locks) room - or walking out the door because a customer got into the "locker" room, so they won't get the call, and manglement won't pass on non-work related calls to an employee who's on the clock, so they can't be reached if someone calls the store.

We have a landline in the office, so there's a phone available to use in that kind of situation. Also, if need be, we could always ask one of our cool regulars to make a call for us. Unfortunately, cuz of idiots who insisted on playing Angry Birds, checking their Facebooks and texting their mates instead of doing their work, we all get penalised.

[wolfie]

That's what I meant by manglement not passing on non-work related calls. Spouse calls the office, says Junior just got hit by a car and is in the emergency department at Rampart Hospital, and that you need to get there STAT. Boss say "I'll tell her right away". At the end of your shift, boss tells you "By the way, about 5 hours ago your spouse called, said your kid is in the hospital, but since it wasn't a work-related call MY policy is that if I remember it I pass on the message at the end of shift".

Having the phone in the office is completely useless in cases like this - you NEED *YOUR* phone so you can be sure of getting the call.

[bbbr]

The current factory I'm in doesn't have a PA system (the owner thought it was too "low class" to install one when we moved in) nor phones anywhere near my primary work area. If an emergency calls come in for me; I've got to rely on the receptionist to route it to someone who has a clue where I'm currently working. Which is a problem since my work takes me into 3 other areas (one of which has no phones), depending on the exact piece of the project I'm on. We got the "no cell phones on the shop floor" speech again Friday as people are playing on them again. I pretty much ignored it.

As is, I got an email from father mid-morning saying that my grandmother was having a massive stroke and it was time to get to the hospital in the event this was it. Which I wouldn't have found out about for several hours at best under the existing policy and phone setup.

[Lace Neil Singer]

That's what I meant by manglement not passing on non-work related calls. Spouse calls the office, says Junior just got hit by a car and is in the emergency department at Rampart Hospital, and that you need to get there STAT. Boss say "I'll tell her right away". At the end of your shift, boss tells you "By the way, about 5 hours ago your spouse called, said your kid is in the hospital, but since it wasn't a work-related call MY policy is that if I remember it I pass on the message at the end of shift".

Having the phone in the office is completely useless in cases like this - you NEED *YOUR* phone so you can be sure of getting the call.

Not really; the call would be forwarded to the petrol station or someone would come right over in that kind of case. Look, I know it might be different elsewhere, but believe me when I say that where I work, a genuine emergency would get to the person. I have experience of it happening; a co-worker's girlf cut her hand and someone came over right away to take over from him so that he could go to the hospital. I was new, so we ended up having to close early cuz the person who came over wasn't trained and neither of us really knew what to do.