Voicemail is for dinosaurs?

[tarheelmjfan]

I'm a GenXer who hates talking on the phone. One of my sisters complained that my voicemail was full, so she couldn't leave a message. My response, "Really, I didn't even know my voicemail was set up." DH must have set it up. Obviously, I don't check it. If you want to get in touch with me, send a text or a message through Messenger. If you need me to call you, I will.

That said, when my DS(26) was in school, I kept my phone on ring or vibrate at all times. If it was the school, nothing would have stopped me from answering my phone. Otherwise, I ignored it. The only reason I had a cell phone in the earlier years was for the school to contact me. They weren't all that common back then. We had to pay by the minute, so I used it sparingly. If for some reason I didn't have signal, I checked every chance I got for a voicemail. DH also had a phone on him in case they didn't get me immediately. He'd be on his way calling my cell & our home phone nonstop. If for some reason they couldn't get one of us promptly, which never happened, we gave them alternate numbers to call. I always felt it was our responsibility to do whatever was necessary to make sure the school could contact us. If I had needed to learn Morse code, I would have done that. Smoke signals? No problem. I would have learned to interpret those too. First & foremost, DS was our responsibility. The school had 250 to 1,000 students to take care of. We were responsible for one child. Ours! It was up to us to do whatever it took to make sure they could get in touch with us. There's no way I would have said, "Either you text me or you won't be able to contact me." I'm really surprised that any parent would think that way.

 

[Cubbiecakes]

If you’re not in my address book, I’m never picking up your phone call. And if you keep calling and don’t leave a message, I’m just going to block your number completely.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I don't even know why they bother having desk phones at our office. I unhooked mine and put it in my file cabinet. I just forwarded the phone number to my cell phone. You can't text the desk phones either.

I don’t have a work cell phone.
No way I’m using my personal phone for work calls.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I work in a doctors office and I have actually found it is the senior citizens who tend not to have voicemail set up (or if they do they don’t know how to access it). If they still have a landline they can check the answering machine but voicemail seems to confuse them too much.

The younger generation has the voicemail set up and they know how to access it but it never fails they call back 30 seconds after I have finished leaving them a message saying they missed a call from me. I then have to repeat the whole message again because they didn’t wait a few seconds and listen to their voicemail before calling back. Or their voicemail is full because they don’t bother deleting their messages after they have been taken care of.

Needless to say I end up playing phone tag with a lot of people until I give up and send them a letter in the mail.

On my current cellphone, if I click on a “missed call” showing on my home screen, it dials the number. My old phone didn’t do that. So, I’m still trying to break that habit.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Interesting because I never said that. ???

I did disagree that most people can get texts at work (that is what you had said) and then explained the way I got messages. Obviously each family is different - which was my point in telling you that neither my husband or I could get texts at work.

I agree that not everyone can receive texts at work. They most likely do have some way they can be contacted. Those who can receive texts could also put their phones on vibrate to see it was their child's school calling. I really don't understand the text is necessary argument, but maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

If you’re not in my address book, I’m never picking up your phone call. And if you keep calling and don’t leave a message, I’m just going to block your number completely.

I automatically block any unknown number that doesn’t leave a voicemail.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I agree that not everyone can receive texts at work. They most likely do have some way they can be contacted. Those who can receive texts could also put their phones on vibrate to see it was their child's school calling. I really don't understand the text is necessary argument, but maybe I'm missing something.

I think the issue often is with schools that call for whatever the occasion. School on lockdown, call. Tomorrow is hat day, call.

IMO, only 1 of the above should be a phone call.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I think the issue often is with schools that call for whatever the occasion. School on lockdown, call. Tomorrow is hat day, call.

IMO, only 1 of the above should be a phone call.

I agree I wouldn't consider hat day an emergency, but I would want to know about a shutdown. In all of DS's years in school, we never received a "hat day" type call, during regular school hours. Those were always messages sent home with him. It appears the answer is to let the schools know that non-emergency information should be sent home with the child or communicated in some form after school hours. I'm really surprised that any school calls about regular activities, during the work day. DS attended five schools through high school & we never received a call like that.

 

[wenrob]

I hate VM ... I don't want to spend the time it takes to get into it, navigate the menu, play the message, repeat the message to get the number written down. Just send me a text or an email.

Is Visual Voicemail not a common thing? I’ve had it for so long I guess I thought everyone had it. I don’t have to do any of that. I just tap the VM icon and it gives me a list of people who left one. Tap on that person and it will play the VM. My phone also gives me text for the message so I have phone numbers etc. right there.

I disagree that most can easily be reached on an office phone during school hours. That worked for your family, but is different for mine.

Again, these apps are often free or very inexpensive to the school. And the family chooses best method of contact for THEM...text, phone call or email. The system automatically uses that method, without the secretary deciding what method to use. How can that be a bad thing for the school?

I'm the only one in my office. If I can't get to the office phone, I miss the call. If I know I'll be away from my desk for a period of time, I bring my cell.

Dh is often out of the office for work. His cell is his best contact #.

If the school can't get me via phone a text (if I'm in a meeting) would alert me to the urgency of the call. I could excuse myself and make that call back. Same for dh.

Lots of people can sneaky peeky at their Smart Watches too. Even my FitBit will tell me who is calling or texting. That said, I prefer a phone call if my kid is hurt and make sure my phone is set up so that the school can get through during school hours even when I have Do Not Disturb on for others. Still I agree with you, if a kid is hurt every way there is to get ahold of a parent should be utilized. I’m going to get a text long before I get an email. The schools have implemented notifications through text for other things so the software is there I don’t see how it would be hard or costly to have that option.

 

[wenrob]

"Either you text me or you won't be able to contact me." I'm really surprised that any parent would think that way.

I don’t think anyone in this thread has said or even implied that. The scenario of a hurt kid was presented and not being able to get ahold of parents by phone/voicemail and that the school wasn’t set up for texting. Some of us are saying it should be. Not in a “text me only” way but a “use every way you can to get ahold of me” way.

I agree I wouldn't consider hat day an emergency, but I would want to know about a shutdown. In all of DS's years in school, we never received a "hat day" type call, during regular school hours. Those were always messages sent home with him. It appears the answer is to let the schools know that non-emergency information should be sent home with the child or communicated in some form after school hours. I'm really surprised that any school calls about regular activities, during the work day. DS attended five schools through high school & we never received a call like that.

We no longer receive any kind of notice on paper. It’s all email, phone calls and texts.

 

[Katie Dawn]

I'm the "gatekeeper" for internships at my company (among other things.) Students will call and leave me a voicemail inquiring about internships. Sometimes when I call back I leave a voicemail for them and then a couple minutes later they will call me right back. I don't answer because invariably their voicemail is just them telling me they missed my call. I already took the time to leave them specific instructions on their voicemail and they need to listen to the message.

When I get a voicemail and I return their call but they don't have a voicemail set up I'm not going to continue to call them back until they answer. We are inundated with internship requests, and I am frequently out of my office doing other things, so I'm not going to take up a lot of time trying to call them back over and over to relay the instructions.

The same holds true if you've applied for a job. Your potential new supervisor might call or might email. (Some might text you but texting is more "familiar" so doesn't happen very often.) You need to make it easy for a potential employer to contact you either way. If making contact with you is difficult they're likely to move on.

I prefer texting to phone calls too, but texting isn't appropriate for every situation.

 

[gotomu212]

I agree I wouldn't consider hat day an emergency, but I would want to know about a shutdown. In all of DS's years in school, we never received a "hat day" type call, during regular school hours. Those were always messages sent home with him. It appears the answer is to let the schools know that non-emergency information should be sent home with the child or communicated in some form after school hours. I'm really surprised that any school calls about regular activities, during the work day. DS attended five schools through high school & we never received a call like that.

Wanted to agree with the PP that we recieve nothing from the school on paper anymore and almost nothing after hours unless it’s a school cancellation notice. Everything is electronic- permission slips, health forms, medication consent is all done on their website- notices are emailed and texted home. They don’t even have physical textbooks anymore. All the kids starting in kindergarten have their own iPads, and cell phones are allowed in class for work. When my son was sick he was the first one to text me about it.

Schools have chaged around here SO much in the last 10 years.

 

[kamik86]

This is a HUGE problem at my work. Everyone has their own desk phone with voicemail. About half the staff don't even know their extension number, and most have never set up their voice mail.
We don't have a secretary, and they give out the general number instead of their own. Sorry, I'm glad to send a call to your extension, but don't tell me you don't know your extension, don't ask me who it is, because I don't know, and don't tell you can't let it go to voicemail because you haven't set it up....or know how to.
And the worst part, managers don't care.

I'm one of the ones that would annoy you.

I have worked here for 10 years. Voice mail is set up automatically but I dont' know my password and don't check it. The phone gives no indiciation if I have a voicemail so I"m not going to spend time checking it every day. If i'm at my desk and you call I will answer (I do know my extension and its in my email signature) but if I'm not there a message isn't going to get to me (and probably can't be left as I'm sure by now its full).

I had one counterpart in another company that used to complain to my manager about this (although the time he complained that I didn't respond to a voice mail I was on travel all week and he knew it so I wouldn't have been able to check my voice mail if I wanted to) I have access to my email on travel, email me. When he decided to send an email about it after my manager told him that I responded in 2 hours.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I recently changed cell phone providers for me and my 19-year old daughter. I was texting her about something and it started to get complicated so I called her to explain. She couldn't answer the phone so she declined the call and I went to voicemail. Which would have been OK, except she had no voicemail set up. I texted her that she should set up her voicemail and she said "No"!

Apparently it's a Millennial thing to hate voicemail and that has continued into Generation Z.

I feel like such a dinosaur. Do you or your kids shun voicemail?

We don't leave voicemails, lol.

 

[Miffy]

Baby Boomer who is, I guess, an Xer at heart, since I can't stand talking on the phone and ignore my voice mail.

 

[BrianL]

I am not a millennial, and I hate voicemail. I hate it because it is difficult to access and my phone will always have the notice until I do. Usually by the time I've heard it I already know what it was about because I can see the missed call. I'll call back before I listen to the message. Honestly, it's just not that practical anymore.

 

[tvguy]

I had one counterpart in another company that used to complain to my manager about this (although the time he complained that I didn't respond to a voice mail I was on travel all week and he knew it so I wouldn't have been able to check my voice mail if I wanted to) I have access to my email on travel, email me. When he decided to send an email about it after my manager told him that I responded in 2 hours.

LOL. That's why you put an automatic out of the office message on your e-mail, AND change your voicemail greeting to say our are out of the office until whatever date

 

[Skellingtonj]

I don’t buy the “it’s for old people” argument. I’m 43 and have a voicemail set up. You call and I don’t answer, leave a message. I will listen and call you back. I don’t get the whole “oh I never listen to my voicemail”.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I hate talking on the phone, so in that case I like voicemail better. But I prefer text or email.

 

[soccerdad72]

Funny, my kids would never listen to a voicemail and my parents wouldn't know how to access theirs, so I guess it's just us Gen X'ers who have any chance with it.