more Neuroses

[jillybean74]

Recently we've changed phone systems at our office.  There were some errors on the part of Telus which forced us to adopt a phone message system for about two weeks, and I've left it turned on since then.  I've really discovered that I hate voicemail.  Or maybe a better choice of words is "Come to terms with".

I don't so much mind messages like "

Comments

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

[lindylousmith]

I don't think it sounds neurotic.
I think it sounds quite reasonable.
:)

If people THOUGHT more and reacted less, I think communication would actually work. <-- I really do know how ironic that is, coming from me! *grin* (working on it!)

Re: Trust me, I'm a doctor.

[jillybean74]

Can't count on people to think. The only way to *really* fix it is to disable messages, but sometimes they are handy, as in the case above where the person leaves a message that I don't have to call them back for (ie. one that allows me to put their file AWAY rather than pull out yet another file for my ever growing to do list).

And what does "Please leave only ONE message. Messages are returned in order of priority." Mean to you???

Oh, even better, then if do disable messages in favour of an outgoing message that says "This machine does not take messages." you have people calling you a week later saying "Well, I left you a message last week."

Rant away! I'm liking it!

[boldfeather]

Yay!
The thing that really irks me is when people leave their whole freakin' life story on VM - two minutes just to tell me that they're not coming to something/need something/to call them back just makes them seem so selfish and makes me angry. And, of course, you have to listen to the whole damned thing just to maybe get the point of the message.

[jillybean74]

When we first got cell phones, Mort used to leave me messages that said "Hi. Just saw that you called. Just leaving a message to say I called you back." And I'd have to dial up my vm system just to get that message.

Those didn't last long.

Sorry, Dear.

[tblumens]

My new phone line comes with voice mail, and I haven't bothered to disable it yet. Not knowing that, I bought a phone with answering machine the day before the phone line was installed. Talking about it with my sister, she said "I hate voicemail, but I like answering machines".
I completely agree with her, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm a very visual person, and like having the controls in front of me?
What I really prefer is what I have on my cell phone: no voicemail, but I get a list of the missed calls, and I can receive texts. Perfect. Probably not for an office, but perfect for a personal phone.

[jillybean74]

The office doesn't really need voice mail, either. I feel better about it if people take the responsibility to call me back. In fact, whenever I'm calling an office or business, I'd actually prefer not to leave a message but instead to call back. That way I know I've gotten someone.

My cell phone recognizes missed calls as well, but I'm not one of those people who calls the numbers back if I don't recognize them (tons of people do, and I'm supposed to tell a person of I called them, three days later... I call about 40 people a day)

[tblumens]

I also don't leave messages but call back instead. But I think that's just our slightly controlling nature... Can't you get rid of the voice mail at the office?
I call back missed calls from my phone. Considering how little I use it, that's very rarely anyway. And I usually call back on the same day, when the person still has a chance of remembering!
I use my phone so little that the battery just lasted 8 days without charging...

[jillybean74]

I could get rid of it altogether if I really wanted to, but it's handy for offering info to people when they call after hours (ie. hours, fax number, etc.) I also sometimes like to get vm, only certain types of vm mind you, it's just hard to specify what types on the message without sounding totally neurotic.