Talking at You, Not with You

A couple of days ago I turned on my cell phone and heard, “You have 26 new messages” and I wasn’t really shocked.  Well, a little bit.  Twenty-six is quite a bit…probably the most I’ve ever had…but, 15-18 is normal for me!  Yep, normal.

See, one of my best friends lives states away.  We met while our husbands were in grad school together at Vanderbilt in Nashville.  She and I have not seen each other since they graduated in 2003 and we haven’t spoken to each other in years.  However, we talk at each other almost every day.  We are both on Sprint mobile plans and voicemail (VM) each other back and forth daily. 

It’s an odd relationship in so many ways…but it totally works for us.
Pros
  1. Most importantly, she never interrupts me and vice versa. (hehehehe)
  2. We can talk about anything and be anywhere while doing it.
  3. I can stop her mid-thought by hitting “9” for “save message” and come back to her when I can pay attention and she hasn’t lost the thought!
  4. I can vent for 3-4 messages on one topic and just get it all out.
  5. It makes my morning and afternoon commute to/from work enjoyable (hands-free, safety patrol).
Cons
  1. My VM box is ALWAYS filled with 8-12 messages…which causes a problem if someone else leaves a message – I may not get to it for days.
  2. If one of us upgrades phones, phone plans or switches providers, the other is screwed…unless we plan it together.  We have learned that there are actually different voicemail platforms within our network so we have to have similar plans.  (And we actually do talk about this!)
  3. When I don’t get a response to a VM I’ve left, I often wonder if it wasn’t response-worthy, she disagrees with whatever I’ve said and doesn’t want to say it, the VM just didn’t go through, or she accidentally deleted me.
  4. By the time once of us gets back to the other on a topic, the original sender may have already “moved on” due to the time that’s gone by.
And you?  Any odd communication relationships??

4 Responses to Talking at You, Not with You

  1. B and I communicated (not exclusively of course) through our work voice mail when I was away at college. They left me on the system after I interned so that they wouldn’t have to set me up again if/when I decided to work there full time. We didn’t have cell phones at the time so we used the free (to us) 1-800 number to leave messages back and forth on days when we didn’t talk live.

  2. I never thought about doing that before – I’m much more of a typer and have several relationships maintained exclusively through facebook messages and texting.

  3. This is something I may propose with Krista. I have a confirmed allergy of the phone, but maybe not voicemail. It may just work and I may frustrate a few less people.

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