It happened again last week… a gentleman called and left a message asking me to return his call. But I didn’t, and I never will.
Why? Because I can’t determine what his phone number is.
I think I got the first few numbers, but the last couple were garbled. In addition, my telephone either didn’t capture the number he called from, or he called from one number and wanted a call back on another. Since my phone records the numbers of the many spam calls we receive each day, I’m not going to try calling each of them in hopes of finding someone named Mario.
So – Mario thinks I can’t be bothered to return his call, when in fact I wasted considerable time listening over and over to his message, trying to learn his number. I even tried dialing some of my best guesses.
A similar call came in this morning, but this time my phone captured the number. Two of the numbers were different from what I thought I heard after listening to the message twice. This time I was lucky.
Communication demands clarity.
When you leave a phone message, slow down, speak clearly, and enunciate each number separately. My number is 208-448-1479. If I rattle off “Please call me at 2084481479,” it is much more difficult to understand than if I say “2, 0, 8, 4, 4, 8, 1, 4, 7, 9.” For good measure, repeat that number again at the end of your message.
Names aren't always easy to understand, either. But at least ifyou have the number you can call and say "Someone called me, but I couldn't catch the name." It doesn't work if you're calling a large office, as I lerned a few times. Since most have cell phones now it's not the problem it was several years ago.
Also - If you have a habit of letting the volume of your voice drop at the end of sentences, make a conscious effort not to do that. In a phone number, the last number is as important as the first one.
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