On the Phone or Away From Your Desk? Don’t Tell Us About It
A while back, the United Nations estimated that spam cost the world’s economy $25 billion the preceding year in lost productivity and money spent protecting systems against it.
How the U.N. became a productivity expert is anyone’s guess, but if it really wanted to make an impact it would tackle voice-mail greetings.
To all of you who tell us that you’re either on the phone or away from your desk: Of course you are, otherwise you would’ve answered the phone. More likely, your phone has displayed my number and you don’t want to speak with me. That’s fine. Just don’t waste any more of my time than you must before I have the opportunity to leave a message.
Why do people feel the need to tell us the reason they haven’t picked up the phone? Having this information rarely changes things for the caller, so why offer it?
Even worse are voice-mail greetings recorded by assistants:
