Chinese offices are known to be very quiet places; sometimes so quiet that you can hear a pin drop. I find the lack of noise slightly odd personally, but as the old saying goes: silence is golden. That is, until it's shattered in the most obnoxious fashion.

Cell phones can ruin any tranquil moment, but they are arguably at their most annoying when they are belting out pop music or strange sound clips at full volume in an office.

Since the introduction of the Motorola StarTac back in 1996, every mobile phone has had the option of a silent vibrate alert. I remember being in California back when the phone was introduced, seeing how the new SMS and vibrate features won over fans. The near-silent buzz in your pocket let you know that you were getting a call. It was all very unobtrusive.

Yet, with the advent of the Mp3s and what have you, the age of common decency has made way for the age of obnoxious ringtones, with users now happy to have whatever pop, rock, hip hop or reggae song that is popular at the time blaring through a diminutive speaker.

What people fail to understand is that their taste in music isn't something that everyone in an open office needs to know. Sure, there are bound to be a few people who actually want to know what the song coming out of the iPhone is. For the rest of us, all we get is a moment of silent thought broken by the melodies of Justin Bieber.

Don't even get me started on the other noises, such as the chirping birds synonymous with Nokia models or the iPhone's default beeps, not to mention the jarring sounds of babies shouting or cutesy voices screaming for the owners to pick up. The ringer is there to alert you if you get a call while you and the phone are separated but in the same room, yet these days cell phones are near-essential tools. Mine is glued to my hand.

To quote a Scottish colleague of mine, who shall remain nameless: "They're called mobile phones these days; they're supposed to be mobile, like on your body." What he pointed out was that many people tend to leave their phone on their desks and walk away for long periods. During that time, they seem to become suddenly important and their phone is bombarded with calls, causing the phone's tiny speakers to explode in cacophonic glee.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying offices should be libraries where silence is the law. In fact, I admit I find it strange my workplace is often so deathly quiet. What irks me is the random inappropriate noises that are constantly played back in a professional setting.

There really needs to be an unspoken agreement or a public service announcement akin to the movie theater, which tells people to remember to turn off their cell phones. The least you could do is set to vibrate.

The author is a reporter with China Daily US edition.

China Daily