As I said in an earlier post, I do not enjoy listening to VM's. I've never actually discussed this with anyone because I thought it was just me who was so irritated and impatient with them and I didn't want to admit that in most cases I delete the message before I ever finish listening to the entire thing. But there are some people who I dont mind getting VM's from and they are the ones who get to the point.
Examples of VM's I don't mind.
Hmmmm, it's Jan. Would you call me back after 4 today to discuss the article?
Clear, gives me time boundaries and subject.
Hmmmm, it's Alan. Nothing urgent just calling to chat.
So when I see that I missed Alan's call I don't need to worry about calling back and he didn't leave me a long vm about what he wanted to chat about. Yeah!
Hmmmm, the deadline changed to the 1st instead of the 8th. Please have the draft by the 29th.
Clear concise and to the point. And I don't need to call back. I would have hated a VM that said "can you call me back to discuss the deadline to then call back and be told the same thing.
Hmmmm, its Susan. Dinner's at 7 on Saturday. Would you bring dessert?
short and sweet
So what I want is a VM that is 10 sec's or less. And while that sounds short, all of the examples above would actually be under 10 secs. And I do feel a little bad that I have an attention span limit of 10 seconds, but there it is.
I love my MIL, but hate her VM's. Her introductions is more than 10 secs. It always starts out as "Hi, Hmmmm (pause, pause) it's MIL (pause, pause) Hope your having a good day (pause pause) I'm calling to tell you...." (after 20 years, I know the exact phrasing and cadence)
She's hit my 10 sec tolerance before she ever gets to the subject of why she's calling.
Someone mentioned they'd rather receive a text instead of getting a VM. While I would really enjoy that, I think it is a bit SS to expect someone who has initiated a phone call to hang up and no switch to typing out a text to you, especially if they are not using a smartphone.
Years ago, I used to listen to my vm's as soon as I could, both work and home. Now I might leave them for hours. Or if I know it's from my sister who loves to leave long rambling vm's of chatty stuff, I might leave them for a day or two. There is even one co-worker who's vm's are so annoying to me, that I will delay for a day.
So question. Is there anyone who enjoys getting a chatty voicemail from someone you talk to on a regular basis? I wouldn't mind one from a friend I haven't heard from in a year, but what I find is that the chatty people are going to repeat everything they told me in the voicemail when I talk to them next time.