When is it appropriate for a clip of 50 Cent's Candy Shop or Green Day's American Idiot to play on your cellphone? What about an angry man shouting "Answer the damn phone?"
Common sense suggests it's probably not the image you want to convey in certain professional settings. Imagine the effect, say, of a well-heeled lawyer's cellphone squealing a boisterous hip-hop rhythm in the middle of court proceedings.
Ring tones - which can include snippets of real songs and celebrity voices - have been catching on like wildfire in Canada over the past year. This follows the U.S. trend where the ring-tone market was worth an estimated $209-million in 2004, up sharply from $117-million in 2003.
There are thousands of tones available for download for $2 to $3 each.
While most users are skewed to the under-30 crowd, older people are quickly catching on and enjoying the ability to personalize their phones.
"People are using them in all sorts of situations to help define who they are," says Nathan Rosenberg of Virgin Mobile Canada, who estimates about 20 per cent of over-30 cellphone users are downloading ring tones.
"It gives people a chance to say how they're feeling or what their mood is like on that particular day."
He said a stockbroker recently told him he downloaded the dance song Gotta Get Thru This by Daniel Bedingfield when he was having a bad day.
"Every time someone was hassling him he'd say 'Listen to my ring tone.' He'd go into his menu and play it for them."
But while the rings are hip and fun, new dos and don'ts are taking shape among the professional set, says etiquette expert Lynne Waugh, president of the Toronto-based company Etiquette Advantage.
"We want to personalize our cellphones, and that's fine if you're using it totally on a personal basis, but as soon as that cellphone becomes a professional piece of equipment you have to change that cellphone ring," said Ms. Waugh, whose company travels the country consulting businesses and university students on proper business manners.
Having a Gwen Stefani or Coldplay track blast from your phone while you're driving your kids to school might make you a hip parent. It might not elicit the same "Cool!" reaction while you're making a presentation to potential clients.
As well, new features like ring-back tones - what callers hear while waiting for you to pick up the phone - could pose a problem if you've programmed, say, Mystical's Shake Ya Ass or Bruce Springsteen's rendition of Viva Las Vegas.
Ring tones tend to reveal personal details about an individual's tastes, says Ms. Waugh.
"Anything that you do, anything that you say, anything that you wear, including ring tones, sends messages about your professionalism. . . . Having a Britney Spears song is okay if you're 12 years old. Same with hip hop. But anything that you do that's unexpected will cause people to question you. We have to be very careful about the messages that we send to people."
Even an etiquette master can make a faux pas during an important business meeting.
"I had on a Beethoven ring tone. It rang. I was really embarrassed," recalled Ms. Waugh. "It's very distracting. . . . Anything that detracts from the image you want to send, from being confident and competent, you have to think twice."
Chelsea Vivier, a 20-year-old from Toronto, knows having her phone bellow Youngbloodz's Damn! during a job interview wouldn't bode well with most future employers.
"I make sure to turn it off," said the student.
Rik Lauder, a business analyst in Toronto's financial district, says he keeps his party tunes programmed for evenings and weekends. While he loves the novelty, he doesn't want his co-workers to think he's juvenile.
"Ring tones should be turned off in a work environment, but in a social environment they are fun and show personality," says Lauder, whose cellphone's music library includes Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side.
He adds that amusing ring tones can sometimes compensate for the disruption.
"I've noticed a cute ring lightens the disruption and causes people to laugh rather than roll their eyes," he said.