Ticking away, the moments that make up the dull day…
As each day passes, and I’m on the phone more and more, I am really getting more and more perturbed over the structure and use of voice mail in business.
Why is it necessary to have a voicemail message as long as this one:
”You’ve reached the voicemail of John Doe, Program Manager for the Ford Business Unit at Tier One Auto Company. Today is May 14th, and I am in the office today, but away from my desk or on the phone at this time. Please leave your name and number after the tone and I will do my best to return every call by the end of the same business day. Thank you and have a great day.”
It’s insane when you add to that the voice mail instructions that the phone system pre-loads before the beep.
Short Version: “Begin speaking at the tone. When finished, either hang up, or press pound for more options.” Long Version: “Begin speaking at the tone. When you have finished recording, you may either hang up, or press pound for more options. Begin speaking at the tone.”
All told, that’s thirty or more seconds of crap that you’re forced to sit through, unless you know which button this particular phone system has programmed to be its “skip me to the beep” button.
If sitting through the crap is frustrating, try hitting the “#” key, only to land yourself in the phone mail’s mailbox system instead of at the beep. That just means that you have to call back and patiently sit through that thirty seconds of hell to leave a message.
Let’s assume that I’m making twelve calls a day at work (and that’s conservative) where I’m sitting through 20 seconds of unnecessary phone mail fodder. That’s a 30 second wait for the beep when 10 seconds would have done just as well.
There are 52 weeks in the year, which gives us 260 weekdays. Subtract eight holiday days, ten vacation days, and five sick days, and you are left with 237 days in the office sitting through twelve calls with 20 seconds of unnecessary phone mail fodder.
I spend nearly
two full working days (15.8 hours) out of my year listening to extra crap beyond “This is Bob, leave me a message…BEEP.”
Something has got to be done about this.