WHY don't my lads know how to leave a message?!?

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Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 7:34 pm

This is ridiculous! I give my lads my Google Voice number, and since I'm between 7 and 8 hours behind the time in West Africa, they call me in the middle of the night (my phone is silenced, so it doesn't bother my sleeping).

Then in the morning, I get their voicemail sent to my Gmail account. It invariably consists of a 3-4 seconds of silence (or, if I'm lucky, a couple miniscule breathing noises or something) and then they hang up.

What the hell is up with this? Do lads not know how to leave a message??

Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 7:54 pm

yep I find that too, on my skype voicemail. I just get a succession of 7 second silent voicemails Smile

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 1:22 am

I just got another one! Three seconds long - I think the dumbass licked his lips and hung up Rolling Eyes

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

PM me his number and I will chew him out for you.

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 2:02 am

You could try to tell him that you screen your calls and if he wants you to pick up then he needs to start talking to you. Maybe as code he should recite some Shakespeare so you know it's him.

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 2:16 am

I believe it is because unlike real people, they phone you for a scammer-typical reason : To find out from the inflections of your voice how hooked you are.
Therefore, from their POV, voice messages are a waste of time, and they hang up after a second so that you see they have called, like flashing, then they expect you to call back then.

What from my RL experience is a manner that only small bois and teenagers with no more prepaid credits do, seems to be a normal socially acceptable way to start a phone conversation over there.

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 2:36 am

^^^^ I believe that is true and have used that very tactic to get the lads to call me. Call them at O'dark thirty and hang up and wait for them to call back. In five months I have only used about $4.50 fo my google voice credit and recieved dozens on calls with the lads paying the bill. Laughing

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 3:06 am

Always give your lad a passphrase, tell him you won't pick up unless you hear it repeated on your answering machine. Tongue twisters are good, and phrases like 'hammock hunt' or 'High yam a wee todd' work well. Be as inventive as you like. Lads will sing for you, too.

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 3:12 am

I know

I collected a few "advertisements" for Eater U when the passphrase I mass-asemmed out was "Go to 8 at the Eetah University" Laughing

For a while I wanted to get a few show-jingles that way (with passphrases like "Bad to the bone, bad to the bone"), which would have been cool for Dan to play before that George Thoroughgood song, but this little project didn´t work out.

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:16 am

This is nothing new.. Unfortunately, lads have to be TOLD what to say on voicemail. I got a lad to sing "I'm A Little Tea Pot", a couple of times. Laughing

Someone (I can't remember who) had a lad they got to sing MANY different things on VM..

Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 12:41 pm

^^ Spot on, if he's faced with a recorded message and no crystal clear instructions on what to do next, his tiny mind goes blank, and nothing computes except 'hang up' after he's had enough time to work it out for himself. Give him a song to sing (they like hymns), a poem to recite, a quote, anything you like, and you'll soon get lots of nice little voicemails to brighten up your day, courtesy of the lad's phone credit.

You could try the recorded message modalities too, like the 'please hold, while we connect your call' one, or 'you now have three options. To transfer this call, press 1' and so on. Some baiters like to have the recording place the lad on hold with the most nauseating cheesy music they can find, there should be plenty of ideas in the stickies.

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