Maybe I’m old school, but every time I leave a voicemail, I still give my phone number. Not only do I give my phone number, I usually say it slowly, just in case they’re writing it down.
The funny thing is, I’m not sure why that’s necessary anymore.
Back in the day, it made perfect sense. Someone might be listening to your message on an answering machine and have no idea what number you were calling from. Today, however, your phone displays my name, my phone number, my missed call, my voicemail, and probably a transcript of everything I just said.
Yet somehow I still find myself saying, “You can reach me at 816-651-9001. Again, that’s 816-651-9001.”
The other day I caught myself saying, “I’ll give that to you slowly in case you’re writing it down.” Then I stopped and thought, who exactly is writing it down?
Do people still keep a notepad next to the phone? Does someone hear a voicemail and yell across the house, “Honey, grab a pencil! This guy is leaving his phone number!”
It’s the same thing when I leave a message at a doctor’s office. I always end with, “Please call me back at 816-651-9001.”
Of course, they already have my phone number. They have my address, my date of birth, my insurance information, and enough paperwork to identify me in a police lineup. Yet I still feel obligated to leave my number.
I suppose some habits never go away.
In fact, I’ve noticed that people my age tend to leave much longer voicemails than younger people. We explain why we’re calling, what happened before we called, what we’re planning to do after we call, and then we finish by leaving our phone number twice.
Meanwhile, younger people don’t even listen to the voicemail. They read the transcript and text back, “What’s up?”
Maybe someday I’ll stop leaving my phone number. But I doubt it. If there’s even the slightest chance that someone is sitting beside a landline with a legal pad and a freshly sharpened pencil, I want to be prepared.
And just in case you’re writing this down, my number is 816-651-9001.
by RON HENDERSON