Food for Thought

We've all heard em,
" Hey its Bob, leave me a message"
" Hi you've reached Susan, please leave me a message after the beep, and I'll return your call"
"Its the Smith's,  Leave your name and number and we'll call you back"

The list of examples could go on and on...
But we are missing half of the message.  Don't forget that Miss Phone Recording comes in and walks us through, step by step, how to leave a message.  It usually goes something like this.
"After the tone, please record your  message. When you are finished recording, please hang up or press pound for more options.  To send a fax, press 4 now."
Sound Familiar?

Now to many people this may just be part of their day, nothing that really causes them to think or even wonder about.  For me, who calls approximately 50 people a day, It can get a little frustrating.  It seems like the answering maching/voicemail messages only continue to get longer as they explain over and over again how to leave a message.  You can imagine my jump for joy when the message is short without any further instructions afterward.  I bet that if Miss Phone Recording didn't exist... I could save 20+ minutes on my daily phone calls.

I guess what I am getting at is...   Its 2010.  People have been leaving messages for YEARS.  I have yet to find someone, who doesn't know that they are supposed to leave the message after the tone.  Why we have to explain in our messages what to do, and then let Miss Phone Recording follow us with more instructions is beyone me, 
...But I do it.  You better believe my voicemail tells you leave a message.   I guess its just part of life and something us frequent phone callers will have to deal with.  Imagine if we voicemails were different... what would they say?

" Hey its Bob, You missed me,  Your bad."
" Your phone will explode in 5  4  3  2  Beep"
" Its 2010- you know what to do"

What would you make your answering machine say?