33 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981Copyright © 2014 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.The Telecom Digest for Dec 26, 2014
| ||||||
| Let us ever remember that our interest is in concord, not in conflict; and that our real eminence rests in the victories of peace, not those of war. - William McKinley |
See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details.
| Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 09:34:31 -0800 (PST) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Coca Cola says life is better without voicemail Message-ID: <f14ca1f8-79e7-4b53-89a5-b990495a7ac8@googlegroups.com> On Monday, December 22, 2014 11:38:42 PM UTC-5, Bill Horne wrote: > Of all the inventions of the Twentieth century, I have often thought > that the answering machine was the worst. I must respectfully disagree. To me, the answering machine (or voice mail) is merely a tool. It can be used well or used poorly. To communicate, sometimes I'll go face to face, [with] an email, a telephone call, a fax, a letter, and sometimes a message left directly to voice mail. It all depends on the urgency, [the] context of the message, and formality. (I still use postal mail for social correspondence as that seems to be the polite thing to do.) Indeed, in the 1960s, as telephone service grew more sophisticated and excutives found themselves almost always reachable, there were many writings proclaiming the telephone to be the worst invention of the 20th century. People wanted to get away from the incessant jangling ring of the telephone. As to answering machines in the home, many years ago most people lived with their families and someone was often around to answer the phone and take a message. But in modern times, we have far more people living alone. The answering machine helps them stay in touch. With a cell phone, there are situations where the phone must be turned off, so the voice mail takes care of those situations. In terms of time consumption, I find that the answering machine saves time by filtering out soliciting and robo calls. During election season, I let the answering machine take all calls since I'm flooded with recorded calls from politicians seeking a vote. As to voice mail in business, before getting it we would miss calls; there wasn't always secretarial support to take messages, especially for junior staff. Voice mail allows for checking messages remotely, which is helpful. If I'm working on something critical, I simply unplug my phone and let voice mail take the calls. Yes, voice mail isn't perfect: I get messages where the caller leaves me their life story before getting to the point, or callers who speak at 500 words per minute and I can't understand what they said. But all in all I'd say it's a net gain. <<< |
| Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 07:09:55 -0500 From: "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <elmop@nastydesigns.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Coca Cola says life is better without voicemail Message-ID: <elmop-CFE775.07095524122014@88-209-239-213.giganet.hu> In article <m7brv2$r2f$1@dont-email.me>, Gary <bogus-email@hotmail.com> wrote: > On 12/22/2014 11:34 PM, Bill Horne wrote: > > > > It is only after a thirty-plus year trial that Coca-Cola and other > > companies are realizing that voice mail is a colossal waste of time: > > an invitation to strangers to impose unwanted obligations, > > unproductive suggestions, selfish demands, and foolish expectations on > > someone else's employees, at someone else's expense. > > Email is much worse than voice mail due to the ability to provide > unlimited details and instructions. > > You could also say the same about faxes and real mail, depending on how > far back in history you want to go. > > Bottom line, time management is an important skill. And the ability to say "no", in the correct manner for the context, is an absolutely crucial part of that skill set. People will ask you anything. Once you've mastered the skill of saying "no," your life becomes yours. Otherwise, you've given your life to others to run for you. Just because someone sends you a voicemail, or one of those emails with unlimited details and instructions, that doesn't obligate you to do their bidding 100%. Do what's right for the business, for your business. Manage your time and your business. That others can't do that for themselves, and end up trying to send you detailed emails and voicemails to make up for their shortcomings, is their problem. |
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom- munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to Usenet, where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.
TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit educational service offered to the Internet by Bill Horne.
The Telecom Digest is moderated by Bill Horne.
| Contact information: |
Bill Horne Telecom Digest 43 Deerfield Road Sharon MA 02067-2301 339-364-8487 bill at horne dot net |
| Subscribe: | telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=subscribe telecom |
| Unsubscribe: | telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=unsubscribe telecom |
This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Copyright © 2014 E. William Horne. All rights reserved.
Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself. Thank you!
All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization.