Conference quark::human_relations-v1

        Yes, if they left their phone numbers, let them know that
        their messages did not get through to their intended
        recipients.
        
        Dan

In general, I do not call back people who left messages for a wrong number
on my answering machine.  But if the circumstances of the message seemed to
warrant it, I have done so on rare occasions.

I think it's reasonable for an answering machine message to give either your
name (first name is acceptable) or the number, though the number doesn't seem
to be of much help to callers.  Even if you do so, though, this won't
deter the person who is SURE that they must have dialed the proper number,
despite all evidence to the contrary.

I did have a problem, though, with someone who was giving my number out
as his to his friends (there was a set of transposed digits), and things
got quite annoying for a while.

					Steve

I have this problem too; I don't give my name on my message, and my listing
in the telephone book is under my initials.  Among other things, this is a
useful screen for "junk calls" - if they don't know the "S" stands for Sharon,
I probably don't want to talk to them.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a Scott Walker in the same town with an
unlisted number, and this has resulted in my getting a fair number of calls 
for him.  Several callers have eventually gotten me in person, and almost 
none of the rest have left numbers to call back.  Rather than call a bunch of 
people back I'm tempted to change my phone message to "You have reached 
XXX-XXXX.  If you're calling for  Scott Walker, you've got the wrong number. 
Otherwise, please leave a message at the tone..."

    Sharon

    My number is just below the number for a local high school
    in the telephone book:
    
    	Bishop Guertin	xxx-xxxx
    	Bishop, John	zzz-zzzz
    
    We get lots of calls about school events.  We don't bother
    straightening people out--it'd take too much of our time.
    Changing the message to say "THIS IS NOT BISHOP GUERTIN" is
    a good idea--I may do it!  The current message is clearly
    not from the school, however, and it doesn't stop people.
    
    I just wish more people would say "Sorry!" when I tell them
    they've gotten a wrong number, though.  Most just hang up.
    
    		-John Bishop

One of our numbers used to be that of a pest control business, and we get
a LOT of calls for them, three years after they dropped the number.  (I
suspect, though, they still have it on business cards and stationery.)
Last year I worked out a deal with them that we'd put on our machine
a message that says "If you're trying to reach xxx Pest Control, call xxx-xxxx",
and they in turn would treat our house for ants.  I had expected that
by this year, we'd stop getting their calls, but no, they've been coming
in fast and furious.

I do think that if you get a lot of calls for a specific wrong person or
business, that it makes sense to mention it on your message.  It saves you
and others a lot of grief.

			Steve

    If make a particular one digit error when trying to call Merrimack
    House of Pizza, you will get someone who has obviously given up on
    straightening people out on the error -- he'll pretend to take your
    order for pizza.

    - M

    
    
    I would caution against putting your name on the message.  
    In college, our police force (Huskie Five-0 as we affectionately
    called them) would routinely advise against putting your name
    on the message.  This was always told to the women, and I am
    not sure if it was stressed to the guys as equally.  The reason
    behind it being that if the caller who just dialed the number
    at random would then know that you were the only one who lived
    at that number and you were female which might lead to trouble.
    
    

>I do think that if you get a lot of calls for a specific wrong person or
>business, that it makes sense to mention it on your message.  It saves you
>and others a lot of grief.

    	I'm pretty sure this has been mentioned before (maybe it wasn't
    in this file, tho), but a lot of people don't even pay attention to
    the actual message on the machine!  When I lived in Somerville
    several years ago, we ended up with a phone number that used to
    belong to the Somerville Police Dept. (Detective's line, I
    believe, or something like that.)  We used to get calls all the
    time, reporting robberies, looking for help, etc.  I had the
    message say that if you were looking for the Somerville police,
    you had the WRONG NUMBER.  People still left messages, sometimes
    repeatedly.

    	amy

 Why not at least give your first names in your message. At least this way
 the person calling would know if the person they are calling is correct.
 On my machine I leave a message stating we are not able to come to the 
 phone but if you would like to leave a message for. Neil, Leslie, Angela
 or Cathleen wait for the beep. Maybe I'm being nieve but unless you have
 an unlisted number why are people afraid to leave their first names on their
 answering machines. I personally feel if someone is trying to contact me
 by using the telephone directory at least they can be assured of reaching
 the correct number. I'd hate to think an important call was left on my 
 machine for someone else by accident just because I neglected to leave my
 first name on the machine when they called.

 Neil....

I agree that some people don't listen to messages.  My message currently
has both my full name and my phone number.  I came home once to six
messages from a car dealer's service department trying to leave a message
for "Pam" about her car.  Evidently she had written the number wrong or
he misread it, but didn't the service manager have a CLUE after the
third time or so that maybe he had the wrong number?

Or the folks who called our number that used to be the pest control
service - the message is clearly that of a residence, and asks callers
to "leave a message after the obscene warble" (this machine doesn't beep,
it warbles) - they'd still leave detailed messages about wasps in their
attic, etc..  Why didn't they realize that no business would have
a recorder message like that?

Still, after adding the message about the pest control service's new number,
we haven't had any more messages left for them.

			Steve

    Mine says,
    
    "Hi, this is 555-XXXX.  [optional goofy message]"
                 ^^^^^^^^
    If they don't know who they're calling, I'm not going to clue them in.
    
    "We can't come to the phone right now;
     ^^
    Could be me and the heavyweight wrestling team I live with; could be me
    and my cat.
    
    "please leave a message after the beep."
    
    No promises that we'll call back!  IF we got a wrong # message that sounded
    urgent, we'd probably call back, but I don't feel that I have an
    obligation in that case to inform them of who I AM, just who I'm NOT!
    
    Leslie

Well, the wrong numbers weren't caused by phone number re-use (I've had the
number for 10� years), and it's not an adjacency in the phone book problem
either.  Could be transposed digits, or just wrong information.  I did return
the call, so hopefully it won't happen again.

I used to have my first name on my message, but some kids like to call my number
from time to time and leave obscene messages on it.  It's rather boring.
Sometimes they get really brave and call when I'm home.  I just hang up.

Well, as an attempt to discourage them, I changed my message to say:
"According to the phone company's record you have reached <number>, please
leave a message at the tone."  Nothing inaccurate about it, but misleading
enough to make you think twice if you're doing something a bit suspicious.

Rich

I know someone who has a message that says "You have reached the number you
have dialed."  Now if only it had been done in a Lily Tomlin voice....

				Steve

   About ten years ago I knew a guy who's phone number was similar to that of
an appliance repair shop so he was constantly getting calls from people about
problems with their appliances.  He got pretty tired of this so he started to
offer advice to people who called...... (indicated by lines staring with '*') 

---------
   My washing machine doesn't seem to working too well.

*  What kind is it?

   It's a (enter_brand_here).

*  Oh yes... we've seen that problem with that machine lots of times. There is
*  an easy way you can fix it yourself.

   Oh?..... How?

*  The problem is the machine isn't getting enough exercise. All you have to
*  do is dig up some rocks out of your yard, fill the machine about half full
*  and run it through the regular wash cycle. You need to do that twice a year
*  or so.

   Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks.

*  While you're at it you might as well exercise the dryer too.

---------

   My refrigerator isn't keeping the food cold.

*  It's probably due to the fact the the electricity isn't strong enough in the
*  kitchen. Do you have a basement?

   Yes.

*  OK. Try moving the refrigerator to the basement. Electricity runs downhill
*  so the power is a lot stronger down there and the food will get colder. 

   Hmmmm..... OK, I guess we can try that.

---------

  ..... and so on. He has some crazy 'fix' for everything and took the time to
carefully explain what to do and and the 'technical reasons' why this fix would
work.... all in business-like tone of voice. He said the AMAZING thing was the
very high percentage of people who actually did what he suggested! Even more
surprising was a few people called back to say it fixed the problem!!!! Over
time the number of calls dropped off and, if I remember the story correctly,
the store went out of business. I can only imagine some of the calls the
owner/manager of the store got from people who called back to discuss the
merits (or results) of running a load of rocks through the washing machine!

As a non-user (and non-liker) of answering machines (as well as being a general
ne'er do well), if I were receiving a lot of messages from people who had
reached the wrong number, I would call them to inform them. It couldn't hurt,
and at best you might get _their_ machine, on which to leave a false message!
:^)
-Jack

I just ignore wrong number messages...

I still haven't found a nice consise way of saying... "Leave a message and the
person you're leaving it for and we'll endeavour to write it down in a place 
they can find it, should they not be the one to get to this machine first"

This is where our system fails drastically, 

I need a message which makes it obvious that the house is shared so that nobody
leaves any embarrassing personal messages, and so that they know they have to
also say who the message is for so that the others can write it down and pass it
on...


Any ideas?



Xtine

    
    How about....
    "This phone and messaging system is shared by several people.
    Please consider this when leaving your message....<pause>..." ?
    
    'gail
    

    Or...
    
    No one is here at the moment, please leave the name of the person you
    are trying to call and we will pass the message as soon as they return.
    
    Skip

Re: .18

Nit: you don't want to say "no one is here" - instead say, "no one can come
to the phone..."

As for a warning against "too-personal" messages, I wouldn't bother.  Most
people who would be likely to leave sensitive messages would know the
person's living arrangements.  And, as has already been mentioned, nobody
listens to the message anyway.

			Steve

    	I never bother to answer wrong numbers, either.  I figure if they
    listen to my message, hear my name, and STILL think they have the right
    number then there's no hope for'em!  ;-)


    	Not too long ago I got the greatest wrong number message I've ever
    heard.  This woman's voice comes on and says, "Hi Brian, you don't know
    me but I just called the wrong number by accident.  Sorry to bother you
    and have a nice day!"  I'm not sure if that's exactly what she said but
    it was something along those lines.  I got a good laugh out of that
    one!



    Brian

    I came home to a ringing phone today - the person was trying to reach
    the person that messages have been left on my machine in the past.  I
    guess that there may be a number of people that think that my number is
    her number.
    
    Rich

	Over the weekend, I got a very strange call on my machine. A female
voice, who sounded upset said:

"Hello. <long pause and a sigh.>  I guess I don't have a message. Thanks."

	I know a bunch of people it's not, but I don't know who it was and it's
driving me nuts.


						--Doug

    My wife's last name before we got married was the same as a female
    teenage actress.  She constantly got calls from teenage boys wanting to
    ask "Nichole" out (averaging 4 or 5 a week).
    
    After we got married, I tried a host of things (including telling the
    young obnoxious caller that the actress had died and her funeral was
    this Thursday at 2pm, please be prompt ...) I finally contacted the
    phone company to get the phone changed.  They said $50 or keep a diary
    of 10 of these calls.
    
    When the first call came in for "Nichole" after starting the diary, I
    asked the person how he got the number, explained the situation, and
    asked him to call me back 10 times or so in the next week.  That was 4
    months ago and we haven't received any calls for "Nichole" since. :^)
    
    - Dave
    
    And I was looking forward to being able to change the phone number.

    There must be a girl in my area that goes out alot and gets hit on by
    the guys, because I get ALOT of calls for Pam, and there all different
    male voices....great...she hands them a phoney number, then I get to 
    deal with at least two phone calls from the same guy asking for Pam...
    When I ask them what number they're calling, they tell me mine....
    grrrrrrr.....
    
    You wouldn't mind, but my answering machine also has my first name on
    it....."Hi, this is Lynne..etc. etc. etc....and they STILL leave a
    message for Pam!  
    
    Lynne
    

    Re .22
    
    I've just been a ROer in this conference, but your strange message 
    reminded me of one I received some months ago.  On it was a young lady
    with a semi-sultry, quite conceivably intoxicated, voice, who said, 
    "This is ..... you know .... call me ..... xxx-xxxx .... 
    <something unintelligible>"
    
    My machine says, "Hi this is Dave, I can't come to the phone right now,
    but blah, blah, blah."  She must not have paid that any heed, though.
    
    And no, I never called the number, but I was tempted.  I even wrote it 
    down.             
    
    dc�
    
    Oh, and I get wrong numbers a lot (and it's an unlisted number) and I
    never call the people back.  One time my number got put in a newspaper
    ad by mistake for someone selling firewood.  I got several calls from
    people wanting a � cord or 2 cords or whatever.  I found it rather
    amusing, actually.