At ICP Networks we refurbish more than 10,000 phones every year. And, a bit like Emergency Room doctors treating their patients, we see some pretty strange sights, a lot of them accidental, many self-inflicted.
Take people decorating and personalising their mobile phones, cases and screens, for example. And not just their personal phones. Work phones too. Sometimes we just have to ask ourselves: why?
Why, oh why, oh why?
It’s a strange thought. Adapting – or at least trying to adapt – our work phones to give them a bit of individuality.
Sure, we spend silly amounts of time at work, so it’s hardly surprising we’ll do almost anything to brighten up our surroundings. Can we really be blamed for bringing a bit of creativity and colour, madness even, to the kit we stare at day in day out?
Well, the jury’s out. Like furry dice and go-faster stripes in the ‘70s, and tattoos, is decorating your phone self-adornment or self-mutilation?
A large haul of Cisco IP phones recently arrived with us as part of an IT Equipment Disposal package. Just when you think you’ve seen it all… Blue tac, butterflies, unicorns… to name but a few of the strangely popular additions that adorned the phones rolling along the refurbishment line.
Here’s a quick reveal of the top six insane additions we’ve seen people use to upgrade the interest, fashion status and general bling credentials of their work IP Phones:
1. Unicorns.
Stickers and loveable models of mythical creatures are an unfathomably common phone adornment (we loved the tungsten-horn upgrade to these unicorns though).
(ICP rating: 5/10: too corny)
2. Blue Tac.
Seriously? To hold all those to-do notes in place? What’s wrong with a Reminders App?
(ICP rating: 4/10: too tacky)
3. Stickers, stickers, stickers.
Stuck with what to do with the You Don’t Have To Be Mad To Work Here But It Helps sticker your kids got you for your birthday? Stick it on your phone! Along with the one of Donald Trump as a human and Britney Spears as a singer.
(ICP rating: 3/10: too many)
4. Coffee and tea stains.
Ok, so you’re busy multitasking while slurping a Triple, Venti, Soy, No Foam Latte and the phone rings…
(ICP rating: 2/10: too distracted)
5. Make-up and cosmetics.
Noooo! They’re for your face. You couldn’t make this up.
(ICP rating: 1/10: too lippy)
6. Health & Safety Notices.
At last! Something useful. We thoroughly approve of any announcement that may prevent cardiac arrest. Wherever it is.
(ICP rating: 10/10: too important to ignore*)
Next week: how to clean your phone like a pro, including how to remove sticky residue(s) – works for mobiles especially! (Hint: bring your own cotton buds…)
Contact us for spotlessly refurbished IP phones or to re-purpose your current phones.
