Please Leave a Message After the Tone

When call waiting first appeared, the telephone company offered the service for free for two months.  We had all seen the commercials on television indicating how easy it was to click the flash button to switch calls but I remember how excited I was to hear that initial beep.  “I have a beep,” I squealed to my mom.  “What do I do?”  She walked me through the single step just as I had two days earlier when she heard her first call waiting beep. 

Every subsequent call waiting beep was answered without any guidance.  Yet, I’m still amazed at how many answering machines still leave directions for callers.  Is the “please wait for the tone” absolutely necessary?  Even my two year old toddler knows to wait for the tone before leaving a message.  Yet so many voicemails have that greeting. 

 In college, I had played around with my voicemail greeting, whether it was singing a song or pretending that I was actually answering the phone.  I loved hearing someone talk to me and then thirty seconds into the message ask if I was really on the phone.  My father once called me with his friends conferenced in and was disappointed to hear my voice.  “I wanted to show off your answering machine message,” he said. 

Today I have a dull greeting inviting callers to leave a message and my father’s cell phone voicemail directs callers to leave a message at his office or risk not having their calls returned.  I know at least several people who find the message offensive and smug, but I appreciate the honesty.  My sister rarely, if ever, checks her messages.  If her greeting warned callers not to leave a message, she could avoid confusion and resentment. 

This is an original NYC Moms Blog post.  When Helen P is not screening her phone calls through the answering machine, she blogs at Milf Alert