Telephone etiquette:

I am still thinking about those people in their first few days on the job. But I guess this applies to us all. So when it comes to answering the phone, the best thing to do is answer using your name. Perhaps your company has a standard phone answering protocol. If so, use it. If not, come up with something like this:

"ICC Engineering. This is Ron Ulseth."

More importantly from an etiquette standpoint is when you are making the call. After all the person calling you probably knew that you would be the person answering. When you call them, they are unaware. So when calling someone, try this:

Phone is anwered - "Hello. This is Ron Ulseth calling, is Brad Steinbrecher in?" or similarly "Hello. Is Brad Steinbrecher in?, this is Ron Ulseth calling."

TBL: Learning to be a professional includes lots of lessons. The fewer learned the hard way, the better.

P.S. Here was the protocol for my first job - don't laugh:

"Navy Nuclear Power School, Enlisted Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Division, this line is non-secure, Ensign Ulseth speaking, may I help you sir or ma'am?"

Yup.