If you’re someone who hates to leave phone messages asking others to
call you back, you’re not alone, because most Americans seem to feel
that way.
According to a recent
Portrait of America survey, only 35 percent of respondents said they regularly leave a message when they encounter a recorded message on the end of the phone line they’re dialing. Another 45 percent said they “occasionally” leave a message.
Meanwhile, however,
the survey also said most people — 68 percent — said they had a phone answering machine at home.
As to content and length of messages, 66 percent said they preferred to hear short, to-the-point messages when they encounter an answering machine. And by all means, don’t try to make your message funny; only 22 percent said they enjoyed humorous messages, adding to the belief that most good comedians already have a job.
In fact, don’t even think about “spicing” your message up with your kids or background music, because 57 percent said they don’t like that either.
Poll analysts said “over half the population becomes very irritated to slightly annoyed when someone who has call waiting puts them on hold to check on an incoming call,” while just 31 percent said they didn’t mind the wait.
“Trying to do multiple tasks such as eating, watching TV, doing chores, or using the computer while talking on the phone can cause some Americans to become annoyed,” the study said, noting that 35 percent of respondents said it bothered them to have someone try to eat and talk at the same time.
And who are the most annoying callers? Seventy-three percent said telemarketers; 14 percent said they don’t mind over-the-phone sales pitches.
What about all those automated telephone routing systems? Sixty-four percent of Americans say those are annoying and frustrating and would rather speak to a live receptionist.
“As telephone technology modernizes with new features such as caller ID and call forwarding, the number of Americans who actually use them is rather slim,” Portrait of America researchers noted. “According to the POA telephone survey, 56 percent do not have caller ID. Among the 40 percent that select this feature, 29 percent of them use it to screen undesirable calls.”
The study also examined the popularity of call forwarding, talking to someone who is watching television, and trying to have a conversation with someone doing chores.
Rasmussen Research conducted the survey of 1,000 adults on July 10. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.
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