Are you being heard? The perils of working on the train

Sometimes, I’m a bit nosey. Especially when I am on the train with an hour or two to kill. If I’m on my way to a meeting, I can read my notes, and do some work along the way, but always, in my line of work, ensuring that I keep those notes and work to myself.

Not everyone is the same though: I am always amazed by the number of professionals who are quite happy to discuss their clients’ cases or other confidential information on the phone in a crowded train carriage. I am also amazed at how careless some people are with the papers they spread around the train table as they work during the journey. 

As I said, I’m a bit nosey and if there are papers on the table in front of me, I’m going to read them. I’m also good at reading upside down, so that won’t stop me either. (It’s a handy skill which I’ve used many times in the past). I’ve read business plans, marketing briefs for well known brands, listened in on the details of a very interesting contract dispute (and privately disagreed with the advice being given) and sat through a thorough bollocking being administered on the phone to some hapless junior back in a distant office. 

So, I wasn’t that surprised to find that sometimes people get caught out. The British Medical Journal reports that a consultant forensic psychiatrist who discussed a patient’s medical report with a colleague on a crowded train could be disciplined. The Court of Appeal quashed a High Court injunction which had prevented the Mental Health NHS Trust from convening a disciplinary panel to hear allegations of breach of confidence against the psychiatrist.

The main allegation was that the psychiatrist had the patient’s report on her lap and discussed it with a colleague when the two doctors were passengers on a train in November 2010. Opposite them happened to be sitting the head of secure services policy at the Department of Health. She did not speak to the psychiatrist at the time but later wrote a letter to the patient's hospital, outlining details of the incident, indicating that the patient’s name was clearly visible.

The psychiatrist admitted reading the patient’s notes on the train but said that she had not realised that his name could be seen. She also admitted dictating two reports on the train but she said that she had ensured no other passengers were close by.

Lord Justice Pill, delivering the leading judgment in the Court of Appeal said that a patient’s right to confidentiality “is fundamental in the health service and must be respected by doctors and other staff.”

And that goes for lawyers and other professionals too. When on the train, do not forget where you are: keep your files out of sight and confidential conversations for another time. 

Don’t spill it, zip it.

Facetime etiquette - from Arthur C Clarke to modern manners

I love my iPad and I particularly love using my iPad’s FaceTime application.  The connection is so much personal than just speaking on the phone.

I recall showing it to my Dad last year when we had a long chat with my sister who lives abroad. He was blown away by the technology – not only could he speak to his daughter for free, but we could see her too – and her apartment – and her boyfriend. It was lovely and I could see he was alive to the possibilities that FaceTime could offer - enabling him to see and speak to his children as if they were in the same room.

So, Christmas arrived and with it, both of my parents acquired iPads. Then the fun started!

On Christmas day, I had a great chat with my Dad via FaceTime. Then another one. And another.

After the first one, I realised that I looked pretty terrible on screen and by the time the second call came in, my hair was up and I was wearing make-up. By the time of the third contact, I was clearing up after tea and had a serious debate as to whether I should answer at all. I did, and took a seat in the kitchen, with a glass of wine and the family cat on the table. The unexpected consequence of this was that I ended up waving the wine bottle at the iPad so that my Dad could read the label and comparing the sizes of our respective pet cats.

Over the following week, I had FaceTime conversations with my parents, my niece and my sister on their iPads pretty much every day and it was lovely to be able to do that. I even gave my sister-in-law a guided tour of our newly painted cellar, including the view down the spiral staircase. How amazing is that? But it also dawned on me that the rules for video chat are very different from when just using the phone.

The writer and scientist Arthur C Clarke, always way ahead of his time, invented the equivalent of FaceTime in his book, Imperial Earth (published in 1976). And take note: he also touched on FaceTime etiquette. In one scene, a character fails to switch on the visual option – preferring a voice-only conversation. Clarke's protagonist comments, “as a matter of common good manners, one never overrode the vision circuit, unless there was a very good excuse indeed… whatever the real reason, social protocol demanded some explanation. To say the viddy was out of order was to invite total disbelief, even on those rare occasions when it was true.”

Uh-o, this is the future, dear reader. You may as well get used to it: I spent the entire Christmas/New Year holiday far better dressed and made up than usual, on the basis that I would inevitably end up having a FaceTime conversation with someone I would prefer to only see me half decently turned out.

So, on reflection, here are my useful tips for a happy FaceTime experience:

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• If you can, text to, or otherwise pre-arrange your FaceTime calls in advance. FaceTime angst when your call is not answered, or when you really don’t want to take that call, can then be avoided;

• Keep still! Or at least, keep your iPad still: there is nothing worse than having to watch your caller whirling around – sea-sickness may ensue;

• Position yourself or your iPad carefully. I could see up the nostrils of one of my relatives until I made a joke about it and the iPad was hastily re-positioned;

• Be prepared! Or don’t be afraid to ask to return the call shortly – especially if you feel the need to put on your face before your caller sees you;

• Beware of pulling faces. Nuns practise what is called ‘custody of the eyes’ – you cannot unsee what you have seen (so don’t look). Likewise, if you start rolling your eyes in exasperation, your caller can’t unsee that either; 
•  You can't take FaceTime calls just anywhere: we all know people who text from the bathroom - or even take calls - not on your FaceTime you don't!

• Have an exit strategy. There’s nothing more awkward that just looking at each other, following a long pause, then feebly muttering ‘bye.’

Who knows, FaceTime may improve our manners. In the meantime, don’t forget to tidy up and hide that pile of laundry behind your chair….