PSA: How to leave a telephone message
(This picture is a lie. Voicemail rarely elicits this kind of joy from me.)
Attention, attention! This is a Public Service Announcement.
Maybe it’s because I grew up in New York, and New Yorkers are always in a hurry, so most New Yorkers I know have very little tolerance for wasted time, myself included. lol. Anyway, one of my pet peeves is rambling voicemail messages. Since almost anyone with a cell phone can either email or text, I dislike voicemail because I have to go through the trouble of calling to retrieve the message, and then straining to hear the message above the noise of my workplace or the city. Waste. Of. Time. So my attitude is, if you’re going to make me go through the trouble of retrieving your message, you’d better leave a clear message that gets to the point.
Mark Hurst (aka “Uncle Mark“) understands my pain. And he has written the following advice:
When you’re leaving a telephone message – on an answering machine, on a cell phone’s voice mail, etc. – think about the experience of the person listening to the message. The single most important piece of information in that message is your phone number. Even if everything else in the message is garbled, if they can understand your phone number, they can at least call you back.
Conversely, most people don’t want to hear a long, drawn-out, repetitive, boring, endless, boring, repetitive message.
Why is it, then, that people often do exactly the wrong thing when they leave a message?
“Hey there, so um, this is, um, Greg, and we’re going to send you that report, ahhhhh, as soon as we have it, and anyway, you’ll be getting that report soon. And when you do, uhh, could you call me, at, twoeightsifivesixfourfourthreetoeighnine.” Click.
A long, boring, repetitive message, and then he turns into a speed demon when he leaves his phone number. WHY? And then to make it worse, to get the phone number, you have to listen to the whole message again, waiting for that last two seconds of nonsense. Sheesh.
All I have to say to that is “AMEN!” Mark has written an almanac of useful information, mostly a holiday gift guide, but some other useful advice too, like how to prevent a sneeze, how to leave papers for people, etc. Go here to read the rest of his 2009 Gift Guide and Almanac.
Thank you for your attention. End of Public Service Announcement. 
MarilyneL
December 22, 2008Haha! that is so true, and sorry, I’m scared I’m one of those….I hate leaving messages so I kinda rush my sentences so it’s as short as possible:P