Part of the problem is on my end. My outgoing message (and to be fair, it’s not that outgoing; it’s kind of shy and withdrawn) is a computer-generated one, so sometimes when people call maybe they’re not sure they have a machine or not. I hear a lot of “… hello?? hello?” messages.
I don’t like leaving messages because the outgoing message doesn’t give me much time to compose a message and I might sound like a blundering idiot.
99% of the personal calls I make are to cellphones which, although wonderfull, have the annoying habit of not always ringing. So, I’m completely used to the “Hey it’s me, what time are you guys meeting at the club? Call me back.” message. It’s easy, you don’t have to have this long speach prepared, just a short message to have the person call you back. My cellphone will figure out within minutes if it has a message waiting.
For people who are more used to land-lines - is it unreasonable to assume that the person you are calling went to the corner store for some smokes, or is in the bathroom right now? If all you want to do is chat, is it really that hard to leave a “It’s <name>, call me back at <number>” message? I can understand it being uncomfortable, but it should get easier with practice. I also think it’s perfectly legitimate to let the machine screen calls. Maybe you’re enjoying what you’re doing righ then, and you’d like to call them back when you’re done. Just because my friend has a phone does not mean I have the right to talk to him whenever I want.
This isn’t always applicable, but I hate leaving a message on a business’ voicemail, or anyone else I need to talk to but don’t know very well.
[ul]
[li] Like scr4 I’m self consious about my voice.[/li][li] I have a difficult last name.[/li][li] Several of the letters of that name need to be identified by another word lest they be confused with other letters (i.e., “V like in Victor. A. N as in Nancy. Space. S as in Sam…”)[/li][li] After all that I’m afraid I don’t have enough time to state my business.[/li][/ul]
You know, I had the opposite problem once upon a time. I wanted so bad to call this girl named Heather. (I was a late-teen, early-twenties person.)
I prayed for a machine. It’s damn tough to get “Is Heather there?” out under duress. And if you’re calling a hot babe …
Oooh, I had to deal with people like that all the time when I was temping. Not just people who expected me to magically produce the desired party (who I don’t even know, 'cause I’m a temp), although there were plenty of those, but also people who insisted I take a written message rather than put them through to voice mail.
If the person you want isn’t taking calls, getting the “human touch” from me is not going to get your message through to them any faster. In fact, it’s probably going to delay things. People do not check their mailboxes/ask the receptionist for paper messages terribly often. Why not? Because voice mail was supposed to make that uneccesary! So if it’s really important to you, just tell the machine whatever it is you wanted me to write down for you.