Aren't we at the point in society, where each one us knows what to do when we reach a voice mail message?

I just encountered something like this....

"Hi, you have reached the voice mailbox of Debbie *******, in the Sales department of ********* Company, a ******** corporation. I am sorry, but at the moment I am not at my desk or on another line. I would love to assist you, so at the sound of the beep, please leave your name, your number, and a message, and I will be certain to return your call as soon as I am back at my desk or back in the office, whatever my case might be. Please have a wonderful day and thank you for calling!. Here comes the beep."

This went on for almost 30 seconds, and then you have to put up with the automated message which tells you the same thing, and then gives you the three options on what to do if this message is urgent or how to reach another extension. I almost threw the phone at the wall.

July 3rd, 2007.... I mean, are you serious? really?!?!?!?!

and on top of it, she spoke slowly and clearly.....

i need a f*cking drink after that call...

she better not return my call till Thursday.

So, how did you threaten her life in the message you left?

You should leave a correspondingly mind-numbing, tediously pronounced message, lasting a minimum of 4 minutes.

this is a serious problem

i hung up...I'll pay the mortgage insurance on thursday....

You waited through that entire thing and then didn't even leave a message?

I guess it's all good, they never return those calls anyway.

I used to leave intentionally long voice mail greetings so people would get discouraged and hang up.

my favorite is the voice mail message that simply goes:

"at the beep, you know what to do"






beeeeeeeeeeeeeep

call in the national guard.

Unfortunately, idiot people still roam the earth these days and you need to leave 'em instructions so that they'll leave proper messags. I could go on about how many people leave me a message -- don't identify themselves, don't leave a phone number and think I know who the hell they are. It always makes me laugh when they call back later, angry that I didn't return their call -- "well, I had received a message from someone and that person didn't identify him/herself nor leave a phone number...was that you?"

I deal with those messages fairly frequently when I am trying to order stuff from relatively small national or regional supply companies. They don't really bother me unless that company has the tendency to not call me back.
I think companies that don't have an email contact or don't include them on their web pages are more out of date and annoying. It's nice to be able to get a price quote or product information without having to answer or ask a ton of questions to get a simple answer.

The sad thing is, she probably has had people leave her msgs where they didn't know how to leave a proper msg.

to play devil's advocate, she might be 80.