I discovered recently that one of my pet peeves is shared by many (I love it when that happens) What is it? Speaking with people who are on a speaker phone.

“But” you might protest, “everybody does it.”

I recognize that; however, that doesn’t make it any less irritating.

Why, exactly, does it bug me?

It bugs me for a number of reasons:

It’s hard to hear the person who is speaking.

I end up having to yell to ensure they can hear me.

And (and it’s possible this is just my paranoia but, as Henry Kissinger said, “Paranoid is well informed.”) I’m never quite sure when I’m speaking to someone who is on the speaker phone who else might be listening to my call.

In short, it doesn’t sound professional.

“OK,” you may say, ” but what can I do about it?”

I’m so glad you asked.

If you haven’t yet met, let me introduce you to the Moshi Moshi.

For just $30 you can both sound like you are speaking to someone from a secure land line AND look quite cool.

I bought two years ago and I can’t tell you how often it has helped me to sound professional as I ran a conference call from some preposterous location.

So my recommendation is invest, enjoy, give me a call and let me know what you think.