| Subject: Re: Voicemail blues |
Author:
Rob
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Date Posted: 08:33:52 09/06/13 Fri
In reply to:
Wes
's message, "Voicemail blues" on 13:31:21 09/03/13 Tue
>Another column picked up from the paper -- Wes
>
>----------------------------
>
>Things have changed since I was a kid, but that's
>something you've heard me say before. Sometimes the
>change is for the good, and other times not so good.
>Very often we all have problems adapting to it.
>
>One of the things that irritates me more than a little
>is voicemail. Now this is one of those things that it
>at least theoretically useful, but in practice if
>often becomes more trouble than it's worth.
>
>Now, before I get too far into this, I'll have to own
>up to the fact that I'm not very good about using it.
>Often when I get a voicemail prompt I'll just hang up
>the phone and resolve to call later, since I'd at
>least like to know that the person I've left the
>message for has actually received it.
>
>Sometimes -- and I suspect often -- the message
>doesn't get through. I'm guilty of that myself, and
>probably more guilty than most. I don't even check the
>phone for voicemails. At home, my wife is on the phone
>for the messages like a hawk just about the instant
>she comes in the door, so there's no point in my doing
>it. At the office, the machine is on my daugher's desk
>and I never check it. I don't even know how to. As far
>as I know she does check it, but she's not here every
>day, either.
>
>One of the things I really hate about voicemail is the
>fact that it makes people lazy. One time a couple
>years ago I had a doctor's appointment after work. I
>showed up on time, but nobody was around the office,
>not even a secretary. The next day I called them up
>and asked what happened. "We had to cancel because of
>a schedule conflict," the secretary rold me. "We left
>a message on your home voicemail to come in two hours
>earlier."
>
>"Look," I told her. "The appointment was scheduled so
>that I could come straight in after work. I never even
>went home. You people have my office number. Why
>didn't you use it, or did you just think I'm retired?"
>
>She said she was sorry about that, but as it turned
>out she wasn't sorry enough to keep from billing me
>for missing the rescheduled appointment. They are
>still waitng for the payment . . .
>
>In my job I have to spend a lot of time calling people
>for one reason or another. I have discovered that
>there are a lot of people that use voicemail to screen
>their calls. Now at home, with the many illegal
>robocalls we seem to be getting these days, that might
>not be such a bad idea. About all you have to do is
>hear the slight tone differential that indicates a
>recorded message, and with one flick of the button
>it's on to the next robocall. But, if there's a human
>being trying to get through to you with something
>besides a sales pitch for aluminum siding or
>something, things can be a little different.
>
>But in this instance, I've gotten to the point of
>being irritated at the number of voicemail messages I
>leave with never a clue that they've been recieved.
>(Yes, I know I'm a sinner as well as being sinned
>against, but that's not the point.)
>
>However, sometimes it works for the good. A few weeks
>ago I was calling around trying to find out a little
>critical information for a story. There were several
>possibilities of people who could help me out, but I
>got voicemail prompt after voicemail prompt, until I
>finally got the little bit of information I needed.
>About half an hour later, I got a call from one of the
>people I had tried to call -- she'd seen the "missed
>call" on her cell phone and was either curious or
>polite enough to call me back. Although I already had
>the point of information I needed and she couldn't
>have helped me out anyway, we wound up having an
>enjoyable wide-ranging discussion on several topics
>for ten or fifteen minutes.
>
>The moral of this story? I don't even know if there is
>one. Technology is moving on and things change. I
>guess our manners are just going to have to catch up
>with them.
Wes,
Would it be possible to have some of the columns you write for the paper (such as the ones you've shared here in the forum) to be placed in the Spearfish lake tales website as well?
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