Rou

Don’t be that guy. Or girl. Or whatever. Just don’t be that guy.

When you’re leaving a message for someone, be concise. Think before you ramble.

For example, I have a friend of mine who was born to ramble. To be fair, he does this regardless of it being a voice mail or actually speaking in person. Instead of briefly summarizing the reason for his call, he goes into a long winded explanation. Sometimes it goes on for nearly the full length of the time allotted per message

I don’t want all of that. I really don’t. I want who you are, contact info, quick reason why you called. Not the fully explained reason, just the light version will do. Because when I all you back, you can give me those details. You’re probably going to review it when I call back anyway. And it forces me to listen to a longwinded and mostly pointless voicemail just to make sure there isn’t something important at the end.

Let me give you another example. A co-worker (Hi if you actually decided to come back and read the site again!) recently got tickets to a football game this week. He has an extra and wanted to call a friend. He left a message that included name, contact info, and a much longer explanation than was needed. He told them why he didn’t mention it sooner, and what time he was leaving to tailgate and a handful of other extra details that could have been summed up much easier, or better yet, discussed when the person called back. Watch my version:

Hi Joe. this is Rou. I got an extra ticket to the fish-heads game Saturday. Probably leaving around 11am that morning to tailgate. Call me back and let me know. 555-1212.

Short simple and concise.

Don’t be long message guy.