Voicemail is the Devil.
As the story goes, I’ve been rather hating voicemail since about the time I got that “feature” from my mobile provider in 1996. I have Caller ID, I know I received a call, in fact, my phone displays that I “missed” calls in a special list, all on its own. Furthermore, if I reject a call, my phone will let me know that I did so in yet, another list. So, at the end of the day, leaving me a voicemail is redundant and a waste of time and airtime.
It’s reminiscent of the days of taped playback answering machines which I couldn’t stand, even when I was a kid – but that’s because everyone screened their calls through them pre-Caller ID, and there was always those moments: “Hey, Mike, this is Enrique…. My mom took me off restriction and I was wondering if you wanted to go play outside… <Hello?> … Oh, hey Mike’s mom … <Mikey’s on restriction still>…Oh, ok. Can you tell him I called?” – You get the idea. Hated that crap.
Voicemail? Hate that shit too. Chances are if it’s not a message saying “Hey, man, it’s ____, call me back” (duh); then it’s going to be a list of ramblings that I won’t pay attention to because after I heard who it is that left the message… I’m gonna call that person back and have to explain what this means: “Yea, got your message, what did it say?”. Frustrating.
“But, Enrique, you could just listen to your voicemails…”. No, actually, I can’t. If you can’t get me on the phone; I have 7 email accounts, the ability to receive text messages, 5 IM accounts, I’m on over 200 social networking sites, hell – you can even Google me (nrek). If you have a phone, you can get online, and thus, you can get a hold of me by any means other than rugged, tired, dumpy, presumptuous Voicemail.
Don’t leave a message after the beep.
Tip: If you have AT&T, call into your voicemail and Press 4 – 1 – 1 to disable your outcall notifications today. End this “standard” means of communicating (barking) messages. It needs to die.
