Do lawyers learn in law school to leave a new message on their voice mail greeting every morning?
You know you’ve heard a message like this: “Today is Tuesday, Aug. 3, and I will be in court and then meetings for most of the day.”
Why not just tell us the how the rest of your day looks? “I plan on eating chicken salad at lunch with a hint of tarragon. What is tarragon, anyway?”
I can not think of another segment of workers who – as a group – seem to follow this protocol so fervently. Does anyone know how this became protocol?
Isn’t it a huge pain to update your voice mail every day? Come to think of it, maybe this habit is a primitive ancestor of tweeting your every move. “I’m at my desk. I’m leaving my desk. I’m walking down the hall. There’s a lawyer. There’s another lawyer.”
Do lawyers learn in law school to leave a new message on their voice mail greeting every morning?
You know you’ve heard a message like this: “Today is Tuesday, Aug. 3, and I will be in court and then meetings for most of the day.”
Why not just tell us the how the rest of your day looks? “I plan on eating chicken salad at lunch with a hint of tarragon. What is tarragon, anyway?”
I can not think of another segment of workers who – as a group – seem to follow this protocol so fervently. Does anyone know how this became protocol?
Isn’t it a huge pain to update your voice mail every day? Come to think of it, maybe this habit is a primitive ancestor of tweeting your every move. “I’m at my desk. I’m leaving my desk. I’m walking down the hall. There’s a lawyer. There’s another lawyer.”
I had a boss who used to leave a new FUNNY commentary on his machine every morning: EVERYONE wanted to call him.
I’m a lawyer and do that, and there’s a reason for it. I want to be accessible to my clients. Thus, if I’m going to be away for a while, I want the client to know so that it will not be frustrated or worse by a delay in getting a call back. Clients rightfully expect a fast response, and this information is one way to help them.
I wish EVERYBODY would change their VM daily and state whether or not they are in the office. It is very frustrating to call and leave a message for someone only to find out a day or days later that they were out of the office. With so many automated systems, it’s almost impossible to get a live receptionist anymore that’ll know whether the person is in or not because alot of times, if you’re fortunate enough to get a receptionist, she/he may not be in the same building (or state for that matter) of the person you’re calling.
I have always found that practice to be absurd, inefficient, ineffective, and it generally will lead to embarrassment when you inevitably forget to update your outgoing message.
I have enjoyed poking fun over the years at colleagues who insisted on such daily (if not twice daily) updates. I find it more effective to actually answer my phone and promptly respond to messages and e-mails. Hope these folks are just as committed to turning in their time sheets on a daily basis.
Our phone system sends my voice mails to me as emails. I see them on my laptop and my phone.
The time spent changing the message could be spent returning calls.
FWIW Google has a feature that allows designated people to track you via the GPS in your cell phone. That would make these updates unnecessary.