Answering Machines

I hate leaving a message, most people do. But now I think I know why. You treat it as if it was an actual conversation, which it isn't. They are not there to respond, you are just talking. So what you should do is simply leave the information you want, and end the call. But what you actually do it have an introduction: "hi, this is ___", then you flounder around what you want to say, then leave a really awkward conclusion: "umm, yeah....bye bye".

Some of the problem is no one really expects to get the machine, so they are not in the right mindset. They were expecting a real conversation, and are in conversation mode, which requires the socially standard introduction and conclusions. But not only are those added in the recording, but people don't really know how to say what they want to impart. they did not expect to need to explain what they wanted to in what seems like a very constrained amount of time. People feel really awkward leaving long messages, and usually just leave it up to the return call to say anything substantial.