This is why I hate the telephone!

I personally think the telephone is possibly only second to
the
television for being a "monkey wrench" to
productivity.

Case in point.  I have a desk phone and a cell phone.  I was
on a
conference call on my desk phone.  I get a call on my cell
phone which
I let go to voice mail.  This call was from "Person
A".  I then see a
voice mail appear on my desk phone (which is tied up by the
conference
call).  It's from "Person B" who is telling me
"Person A" is trying to
get a hold of me.  HELLO!!  "Person A" left me a
voice mail.  I know
this already.

And to add to it, while I was listening to one of the voice
mails, I
got yet even more voice mail because "Person C"
called while I was
checking voice mail.  I call people back.  But being human
beings,
they ramble on and on, so I now have another voice mail
because
someone called while I was listening the "Person
D".

I don't know what the problem is.  The technology or the
users.  I
guess it's the users, but I find people tend to get to the
point more
on email because it's harder to type than talk.

Sorry, I'm just ranting.  I feel like I spend too much time
checking
voice mails left by people while I'm checking voice mail and
75% of
the time the voice mail is useless.

Have a good weekend!
John

-- 
John Mayson <johnmayson.us>
Austin, Texas, USA

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I'm with you, John.

Oral/aural communication relies on mostly sequential access
and can be very
ambiguous (at the level of clarity of sound and clarity of
speech).  E-mail
can be rapidly scanned and is much less ambiguous, as well
as being cheaper
and leaving a permanent record.

Just about the only things that phone has going for it IMHO
are:

1.  It is warmer in terms of human contact.

2.  It requires less learned skill (typing, thinking ?)

3.  There are telephone directories so that more folks can
find you (if
that's a plus).


 
Dennis C. During 

"To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey,
serves to bring all law
into contempt." - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American
women's rights advocate
(1815-1902)


> -----Original Message-----
> From:  John Mayson
> 
> 
> I personally think the telephone is possibly only
second to 
> the television for being a "monkey wrench" to
productivity.
> 
> Case in point.  I have a desk phone and a cell phone. 
I was 
> on a conference call on my desk phone.  I get a call on
my 
> cell phone which I let go to voice mail.  This call was
from 
> "Person A".  I then see a voice mail appear
on my desk phone 
> (which is tied up by the conference call).  It's from
"Person 
> B" who is telling me "Person A" is
trying to get a hold of 
> me.  HELLO!!  "Person A" left me a voice
mail.  I know this already.
> 
> And to add to it, while I was listening to one of the
voice 
> mails, I got yet even more voice mail because
"Person C" 
> called while I was checking voice mail.  I call people
back.  
> But being human beings, they ramble on and on, so I now
have 
> another voice mail because someone called while I was 
> listening the "Person D".
> 
> I don't know what the problem is.  The technology or
the 
> users.  I guess it's the users, but I find people tend
to get 
> to the point more on email because it's harder to type
than talk.
> 
> Sorry, I'm just ranting.  I feel like I spend too much
time 
> checking voice mails left by people while I'm checking
voice 
> mail and 75% of the time the voice mail is useless.


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Okay, the Safari browser for Windows just plain sucks!  This
is the
second time I've written an email and had it blank out on
me.

On 6/15/07, John Mayson <johnmayson.us> wrote:
>
>


-- 
John Mayson <johnmayson.us>
Austin, Texas, USA

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We are familiar with the definition of "beta", I
take it?

-----Original Message-----
From: "John Mayson" <johnmayson.us>

Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:22:46 
To:43Foldersgooglegroups.com
Subject: [43F Group] Re: This is why I hate the telephone!



Okay, the Safari browser for Windows just plain sucks!  This
is the
second time I've written an email and had it blank out on
me.

On 6/15/07, John Mayson <johnmayson.us> wrote:
>
>


-- 
John Mayson <johnmayson.us>
Austin, Texas, USA





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On Jun 15, 2007, at 4:31 PM, Gary Slinger wrote:

>
> We are familiar with the definition of
"beta", I take it?

I have Macs at home and thought I'd try the Windows version.
 Good  
lord, it's *SO* bad.  I know it's beta, but good grief.

--
John Mayson <johnmayson.us>
Austin, Texas, USA




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Only ever have one source of telephone contact and then only
answer
every other call!!

On Jun 16, 3:57 am, "Jennifer Spedowfski-Martin"
<jdawnsmu...gmail.com> wrote:
> John,
> I work in the Logistics and Processing department of a
major recycling
> center and what I find happening, no joke, is this:
> 1-Desk phone rings.
> 2-As I am trying to politely get the desk phone person
to the point, the
> work cell starts ringing.
> 3-I answer the work cell right before it goes to
voicemail.  As I'm trying
> to get that person to their point (do you need a bin
routed for pick up?
> does a compactor need fixing?  If so, are they full or
do you just need me
> to route a tech?)....
> 4-The desk phone starts to ring...and inevitably it is
from someone that I
> actually might like talking to.
> 5-Then hubby calls and tells me how *crappy* his day is
going.  Oy!
>
> There have been days when I've yelled, "I'm going
to throw one of these
> phones out the effing window!"  Which wouldn't
help all that much
> considering my office trailer is in a warehouse.  I'd
still hear it.  Some
> people deep breathe...I take to cussing.  Which is why
it is good that I
> work with truckers.
>
> 
Jen
>
> On 6/15/07, John Mayson <j...mayson.us> wrote:
>
>
>
> > I personally think the telephone is possibly only
second to the
> > television for being a "monkey wrench"
to productivity.
>
> > Case in point.  I have a desk phone and a cell
phone.  I was on a
> > conference call on my desk phone.  I get a call on
my cell phone which
> > I let go to voice mail.  This call was from
"Person A".  I then see a
> > voice mail appear on my desk phone (which is tied
up by the conference
> > call).  It's from "Person B" who is
telling me "Person A" is trying to
> > get a hold of me.  HELLO!!  "Person A"
left me a voice mail.  I know
> > this already.
>
> > And to add to it, while I was listening to one of
the voice mails, I
> > got yet even more voice mail because "Person
C" called while I was
> > checking voice mail.  I call people back.  But
being human beings,
> > they ramble on and on, so I now have another voice
mail because
> > someone called while I was listening the
"Person D".
>
> > I don't know what the problem is.  The technology
or the users.  I
> > guess it's the users, but I find people tend to
get to the point more
> > on email because it's harder to type than talk.
>
> > Sorry, I'm just ranting.  I feel like I spend too
much time checking
> > voice mails left by people while I'm checking
voice mail and 75% of
> > the time the voice mail is useless.
>
> > Have a good weekend!
> > John
>
> > --
> > John Mayson <j...mayson.us>
> > Austin, Texas, USA


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Im with you John,
Here is my "solution." I don't answer phones. My
reasoning is two
fold:
1) If it is important, they will leave a message.
2) My time is no less important than the caller's timme. By
expecting
my to answer your every ring on demand, you as the caller
are valuing
your time higher than mine, and that is not the case.

I pair this with the "check email/vmail during set
times approach". I
explain this on my vmail recording. "Hi. You have
reached Gabe. Im
working right now... most likely on what you are calling
about. Leave
me as detailed of a message as possible. I will return your
call
during my next available break. My breaks are scheduled for
9am, noon,
and 3pm. Thanks."

Is this approach with out flaw... certainly not. Most of my
extended
family think Im an a$$ cause I never just "call to
chat." Im OK with
that. If you want to chat, invite me over for dinner, or to
the bar
for drinks, or to a show, whatever... schedule it with me.
I'll try to
come up with something interesting to talk about then.

The only times I break this policy is when my wife calls, or
someone
that I am expecting to call (confrence calls, client with a
fast
approaching or moving deadline, etc...)

I also try to leave messages that are how I would like to
receive
them. "Hey Joe. I just wanted to touch base with you
about that
Graphic for client A. I have the layout ready, and Im just
waiting on
your image. E-mail it to me when you have it. No need to
call back
unless you have a problem."

This way people start to see how this can work. I do not
want Joe to
call me and say that it will be done by 4. He knows the
deadline. When
it shows up in my box, communication accomplished.

There is my two cents from my lurker corner.
Gabe


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John Mayson wrote:
> I personally think the telephone is possibly only
second to the
> television for being a "monkey wrench" to
productivity.

With all of the troubles you were having, I might suggest
you switch
to a service like www.grandcentral.com or
www.ringcentral.com - both
of which will forward your voicemails to email if you like. 
You could
forward your phone (when busy or unanswered) to one of these
services,
then everything would come in into one location.

GrandCentral will allow you to pick up the phone (online) as
the
person is leaving a message, or to block calls from certain
numbers,
or to have message greetings specific to various numbers.

Another idea - in one interview with David Allen, the
interviewer said
he knew a person who had worked for IBM, and who said
"I listen to my
messages at the beginning and at the end of the day."
(and that was that.)

I might also mention - I've been in places with low cube
walls (the
new walls, at chest high, replaced old walls that were over
head-high)
- places where I could hear *both* sides of a phone
conversation.  I
wanted to say "Just go *over* there and talk...." 
I think phones have
taken away from person-to-person communication in a lot of
cases.

-- 
UNIX System Administrator
Linux+, SCSA, RHCE, LPIC-1
HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD
Books: "Advanced System Administration" and
"GNU Screen: A
Comprehensive Introduction"
http://www.lulu.com/ssrat

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