The 13th that is Friday

I was a little late to work today. I know, I know. So irresponsible. But I had to get gas and I was brining in Jason Voorhees Cupcakes for my co-workers (photos to be posted later).

The worst thing about getting to work late, aside from finding your boss waiting for you in your cubicle, is to see that little red light on the phone indicating that you have a voicemail. Well that’s what I walked into this morning. My first thought was that someone called looking for me at the time I was supposed to be at work and that Friday the 13th was cursing me. Or it was my mom with comments about last night’s episode of “Survivor”.

But it wasn’t either. When I checked my message it was a hang-up. Now this is a mystery to me. Why would anyone sit through an entire voicemail message and THEN hang-up? Here is an exact (from memory) transcript of my voicemail message:

Hello, you have reached the voicemail of The Office Scribe at extension 666. Please leave me a message and I will return your call as soon as possible. If you need immediate assistance please press “0” to return to the operator.

Not the shortest message in humanity. I can’t imagine anyone in the corporate world having a message that is short. There is a lot of information that you need to convey to caller.
So this mystery person calls me and hears my name and extension within the first 5 seconds and continues to listen. Did they think I was going to magically become another person? Or did they think I was screening my calls or had just dashed in and was going to pick up the phone mid-message? Guess what, this doesn’t work with voicemail. Back in the pre-digital age of Answering Machine Tapes you could interrupt the call and answer the phone. But no so anymore.

Okay, so they progress past my name. Obviously I am not answering the phone because I say to leave me a message. It’s not a request, it is a command. So this person ignored a direct order by me. Not cool.

And then I provide them with an out should they need one. I tell them by pressing “0” they can speak to the operator and find the correct person to speak to. It’s like a lovely little all inclusive helper. Don’t know what to do? Press “0” and they will make it all better.
But does mystery caller do that? No, they wait for the beep and then hang up.

I'd blame it on Friday the 13th and the craziness it is supposed to bring but let's face it, I deal with dumb people everyday...
~The Office Scribe

EDIT: Here is a picture of the cupcakes...