When I go on holiday or travel to a conference in a far away land I always leave a voice mail message directing callers elsewhere. I never, ever, suggest leaving a message.
I do this for two reasons. First, because I’m away and if someone wants to get information into the publication they’d be better placed pitching to someone else. Second (and more importantly) because the first time I ever left a voice mail message when I left the office for an extended period I foolishly suggested that I would get back to the caller(s) upon my return, then when arrived back from holiday I had to spend all day calling people up.
Why then, when I return from trips away, do I always return to the office and come face to face with the blinking red light on my phone that signifies that I have voice mail messages? I shouldn’t have voice mails. I never, ever, suggest that I will return the calls. I always redirect people to a colleague I know will be around.
Adding insult to injury almost all of the messages that I have to listen to are from PRs calling to ask me whether I’ve received their sodding press releases. The answer to which the PR should already know, since they would have received an out of office message from my email account redirecting them to the unfortunate colleague I knew would be around in my absence.
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