On the way out Friday, I set my outgoing voice-mail message to let callers know that I won’t be back in the office till January 2nd. Usually, I end that sorta message with, “If you need immediate assistance, please call my associate editor [whose name I don’t wanna give out] at extension 326,” but she’s going to be out till Jan. 2, too.
That’s when I decided that anybody who calls next week surely can’t be taken seriously.
So, till we get back, my associate editor and I have both set up our voice-mails to instruct the caller to contact the other one “for immediate assistance.”
That’ll learn ’em!