Editor, The Beacon:

Here’s a sample message from my doctor’s office:

“This message is for [first name only]. This is [Shawna, Darra, Shana, Tcharma, Micha — you figure it out].

“Your appointment with Dr. ‘Smith’ is scheduled for [mumble, inaudible] at [mumble]-30 at the DeLand office. To confirm, call 386-[mumble], option 0, extension [mumble, inaudible, scramble and Zip (five numbers)].”

Click.

Play a minimum of four times to figure out what the caller said!

Return the call, and get a phone tree and wait for a callback. Or, let them call you back with a more helpful message.

When I called for business reasons, I always said my whole name at the beginning, whom I represented, left a message and then repeated my name and a callback number, and repeated the callback number again. It only takes a couple extra seconds.

Joan Carter

DeLand