# What's the deal with people whose voice mail box is always full? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-people-whose-voice-mail-box-is-always-full/708409 "2014-12-29T04:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-people-whose-voice-mail-box-is-always-full/708409/81 "2016-02-10T05:39:25Z")
Alright, I guess I have to chime in on VM. Any guesses where I am on this issue? If you guessed “more worthless than smoke signals” you are a winner. I already hate phone calls with a passion, now you want me to make ANOTHER phone call to find out you just want me to call you back? Nope. Not gonna happen. My box is full because i can’t be bothered to make a phone call to check them/ delete them. If I miss your call (which in reality is probably me purposely bouncing your call), I will text you back asking what you want. Only then will I determine if it is worth a phone call. If it’s an unknown or blocked number, you just won’t get a hold of me from that number. Call my wife if you are in jail or in the hospital. She will text me. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-people-whose-voice-mail-box-is-always-full/708409/82 "2016-02-10T05:46:54Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Rather, he has a bunch of saved voicemail messages he doesn’t want to delete. These fall into two categories: 1) important info about accounts, licensures, etc. which he’s never gotten around to writing down so he can delete the voicemail, and 2) voicemails which have a sentimental value, namely, funny voicemail messages friends have left him in years past. Because he has a bunch of messages he doesn’t want to delete, going through the messages and deleting all the others is a major chore (because every time he does it he has to work around all the ones he wants to save.) Therefore he procastinates doing this indefinitely. He said “I know, I know, I really should go through my messages and clean a bunch out.” My voice-mail provider gives me an easy way to save messages with sentimental value and free up my voice mail. They give me an option to save voice-messages from my phone to my computer, as a .wav file, I think. Then it’s backed up by my computer back-up, so it’s pretty secure. That means I have saved old voice-mails that have sentimental value (like the first message from the Piper Cub when he was little) on a permanent back-up, that I can play at any time. Then I can delete them from my voice-mail and it is functional as a message system. Might be useful for your friend to see if this is an option with his voice-mail provider. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-people-whose-voice-mail-box-is-always-full/708409/83 "2016-02-10T05:47:49Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > If someone calls, the assumption is that they want to speak to you, and you should call them back. When he sees the missed call from you, he knows you want him to call you back. Why do you bother leaving a voicemail that explicitly asks him to call you back? That’s the accepted goal and intent of your phone call–to speak to him. He doesn’t need you to tell him that in the voicemail. He knows you want him to call you back about something. No. My phone exists for my convenience. If you want to talk to me and I don’t answer the phone, leave a voicemail and be specific. Otherwise it’s $150 an hour with a two hour minimum and the clock starts when I dial your number. My time is too valuable to play phone tag. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-people-whose-voice-mail-box-is-always-full/708409/84 "2016-02-10T05:48:15Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > 100 texts? That’s probably two years worth of texting for me. > This. 100 texts can easily done in a single day for me. Looking at my call history for this year (since 1-1-16), I actually only called out 18 times, mostly to my wife. A couple times to another friend. And 1 to a coworker. Every single one was less than a minute. However I bounced/missed almost 80. I have a 250 text limit per conversation before it starts autodeleting old texts. Looking at the thread with my best friend, the oldest text is on Feb 1. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-people-whose-voice-mail-box-is-always-full/708409.md?page=4)