“Call Me”

Is there anything as annoying as getting a voice mail with the single message “call me”? I understand that AT&T is doing backflips as a message like that could result in record-breaking phone tag sessions. But for any person of normal intelligence and sanity it spells lunacy.

Most activities (scheduling meetings, getting feedback, accessing reports et cetera) that used to demand a phone call can now be managed via the web. We also have excellent technology to return a well-formulated voice mail via other communication technologies such as email, SMS and messaging.

But there is a certain expectation that a voice mail should be returned as a voice mail even if it costs time, attention and money. A phone call spells urgency and should be responded to in the same manners as it was received. Therefore “call me”.

I don’t mind the use of voice mail per se. A voice memo can be very personal and it’s great to hear a real voice - especially when working in virtual environments. But “call me” -  c’mon, that is plain stupid. Be concrete, god dammit!