Answering machine messages can be really bizarre!

I always use to use the pre-recorded answering machine messages which came with my Panasonic answering machine, but I found that hardly anyone would leave messages after the tone. My buddy pointed out that the message was just too formal for most folks and that it did little to invite a real response form the caller. Well, the day we recorded our own personalized messages into the telephone answering machine was the day it started working for us.

Do you own an answering machine? If so what sort of answering machine messages do you have? The reason I’m asking you this is that of late, I have been noticing that most people, including me, have started personalizing their answering machine messages. Even those who never bothered to do so for years and years have cottoned on to the benefits of a personal recording. And most of these answering machine messages, if not all of them are rather funny.

I still remember that answering machine message that I heard that went, “Hi! You have reached XYZ. I’m not home right now. If it is mom or dad, please send money. If it is the bill collector, the check is in the mail. If it is the IRS I don’t have money and if you owe me money, tell me where you are and I’ll get there right away!” There is no doubt that an answering machine message that sounds like that will surely have your sides in splits as well.

There was another answering machine message I heard that went, “You have reached the house of the XYZ’s. Obviously we are not in right now, so why don’t you call us back at a more reasonable time? We promise to take your call if we are in.” To me, this sort of a message sounded almost rude! But when it comes to answering machine messages and a sense of humor, consistency or sameness can hardly be expected!

So as you can see, a phone answering machine can be a bit of fun if you lighten up a tad. Obviously if you have such a gadget in your place of work, you will most likely need a formal and polite recording because although a funny answering machine message may give a few giggles to some callers, there will inevitably be others who will not find it in the least bit amusing, and especially if they're calling in to complain about someone, some service or some product.

In recent times, probably because of the want of something better, answering machine messages have achieved a sort of cult status. Most people I know shudder at the thought of creating and storing the right kind of answering machine messages. This is not because they don’t know what to say or how to say it, but purely because everyone seems to be in the quest for the perfect sort of answering machine messages that are funny, catchy and better than the scores of answering machine messages they have already heard.

But answering machine messages don’t just stop there. Even those who leave messages on answering machines tend to take humor rather seriously. One memorable response to a rather plain answering machine message went as follows. “Hi there! When I called in, I was hoping to find someone interesting to sell this service to. But after hearing your answering machine message, I’m not sure you are the right sort of person I’m looking for. So ciao. And don’t bother calling me even if you have my number on your machine!” Now how does that grab you as a clever retort to answering machine messages?

Most of us by now have a phone with answering machine built in, and many of us have a trendy digital cordless phone answering machine around the house, but it's not the machine that elicits responses from callers, it's the answering machine messages that we program into them. By the way, after doing a bit of experimenting, we found that folks were more likely to speak into our machine when the message was from a female. Wife and daughters voices always came home to more messages from callers than me or my son.



Useful Links relating to answering machine messages and answering machines coming soon.
Please check back often for updates.