Daily Archives: August 14, 2008

• Create the illusion of communication.

  You maxed out your emergency credit card the first week of school. Your parents are looking for some answers. A text message isn’t going to cut it but a voicemail would mean that you tried calling them.

• Buy yourself some time.

  You go to a week long convention for work in Las Vegas and blow $5,000 the first night at the roulette table. You need to call your wife and tell her why she should hold off on making the monthly mortgage payment. Her voicemail will be much more understanding than she will.

• Just call to confirm.

  You have several meetings scheduled for the afternoon. You want to call to confirm but you don’t want to disturb them or give them the opportunity to reschedule. Being able to just leave them a voicemail is not only polite but advantageous.

• Just tell your side of the story.

  You just partied hard last night and going to work is just not on your radar today. You dread having to call your boss and answering any awkward questions he may have. Instead just leave him a simple voicemail letting him know that you won’t be coming into work today.

• Don’t be a bother.

  You just gave an awesome pitch to a potential client. You want to call him and thank him for the opportunity but you know he is in another meeting and don’t want to bother him. Leave him a voicemail and this personal touch may just tip the scales in your favor.

• Play the field more effectively.

  You are dating quite a few people at the same time. You don’t want to leave them all text messages because there is nothing romantic about that. But a nice voicemail to each would score you points.

• Maximize your time.

  You are working on a dozen different projects and have as many calls to return. Instead of being stuck on the phone with just one, leave each a voicemail with an update and you may just have enough time to enjoy Happy Hour.

• Have your cake and eat it too.

  You desperately need to call your girlfriend but she is a talker and you don’t want to spend an hour on the phone with her because you would much rather watch the game with your buddies. Leave her a sweet voicemail and get a reprieve for the night.

• Appease your family.

  Your Aunt June sent you a sweater for your birthday. You need to call her to thank her but you don’t want to listen to her go on and on about her recent hip replacement. Instead just leave her an appreciative voicemail that she can share with her bridge club.

• Let them know that you didn’t forget.

  You just remembered that it is your friend’s birthday. You want to call her but it is really late and you don’t know if she is still up. Don’t take the chance that you might awake her from her beauty sleep. Instead just leave her a sweet voicemail with warm wishes and a promise of a belated birthday drink.

Maybe it wasn’t created with Gen Y in mind but that was the first thing I thought of when I saw it. Is this something you think you would use? Do you think this will even be around in a year?