Confess! Do you have an automated outgoing message on your voice-mail? (Phoenix: live in, office)

[Voebe]

I just can't understand this.

In other cities, people mostly have personalized their outgoing messages on their answering machines or voice-mail. So you get:
-Hi, this is John Smith...
-You've reached the Smith family...
Sometimes they're even funny or clever. At the very least, people use their own voice to recite the number, so it provides a clue.

Or, even more important, for business lines:
-This is John Smith's Painting. My hours are...
-This is John Smith in the ABC accounting department. I'll be out of the office through...

But it seems to be that close to 80% of the phones in Phoenix have only the automated voice, sometimes not even repeating the number, and you have no idea if you're even calling the right place!

Why do people do this? Are they just lazy? Do they fear being thought unimaginative? With the way things have evolved, privacy is no longer an issue in the same way. No more obscene calls. And the annoyance from spam makes no difference regardless of the outgoing message.

[Ponderosa]

People don't do that anymore. If someone doesn't know whom they are calling why tell them?

[DetroitN8V]

This is not a local phenomenon, I assure you. Voicemail is becoming useless. I rarely leave voicemails and I hate getting them. Text/email is much easier and I can then see what the person wants instantly, without having to listen to them ramble on.

[exit2lef]

Back in the '90s, I would record elaborate voicemail greetings. If they were for business purposes, there would be detailed explanations of the best times to reach me. If they were for personal purposes, I'd try to be funny. That was back when enough people used voicemail to make those efforts worthwhile. Now, almost no one I interact with uses voicemail, and when people do, I always find myself wondering why they didn't just send me an email with all the information provided in a more efficient manner.

[DetroitN8V]

I knew this sounded familiar.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...ople-here.html

Voebe, what's with the weird obsession with voicemail? Did you not grasp how out-of-favor voicemail has become throughout the last five page thread?

[Ponderosa]

I never liked voice mail. Gotta listen to a bunch of "headers" before you get to the message and then the call back number goes by so fast that you miss it and have to do it all over. Give me the days when my secretary/office assistant left a stack of pink "while you were out" notes impaled on a nail-like stick on my desk.

[Voebe]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

People don't do that anymore. If someone doesn't know whom they are calling why tell them?

Sorry, I thought I just explained that - it's to give the caller a polite hint that he dialed correctly. And, as I said, you needn't specify whom.

[bobsell]

There are so many scam calls, that I just let them go to voice mail.

I don't want scammers knowing my name, so I don't put my name in the message.

[More Rock]

I don't live in a small town. I live in a huge city : Phoenix. I don't want to tie my voice and name to my phone number. Plus, anyone under 40 probably uses text and email anyway.

[Bondurant]

My mom is the only person I know with an identifying voicemail. I know people all over the country. This is not a Phoenix trend. It's everywhere.