08 October 2008

The modern version of spinach in your teeth

Audience questions:

When you call someone's voice mail and their outgoing message is from a long time ago ("Hi, this is Jamie and I'll be out of the office from August 10th to the 15th...") do you tell them?

And if someone has spinach in their teeth, do you tell them? Why or why not?

22 comments:

meno said...

If it's someone i like, i tell them.

In the other case, i enjoy it.

I am evil.

Karen Bodkin said...

i would tell them.

Swistle said...

I never know WHAT to do! One of the school's voice boxes still says "We're gearing up for the new year starting soon!" and I'm always too nervous rehearsing the message I'm about to leave to think of anything to say about their message.

thailandchani said...

I tell... but usually in some joking manner so that they can still save face. I'd want someone to tell me.

There is one person I know who still has Christmas music on her voicemail. Perhaps she figured that if she waited long enough, she wouldn't have to trouble herself to fix it. :)


~*

Lynnea said...

voicemail - I usually don't bother. in fact it would most likely be me that has the outdated message

something in teeth - you bet! even people i don't know though that usually takes mustering a bit more courage. but i would want someone to kindly tell me.

Mrs. G. said...

I tell them-hoping that others will tell me. I was once in an office full of women and I was the only one who told a another co-worker she had toilet paper attached to her skirt. Been there.

Susan C said...

I would definitely tell in both cases. And, of course, the "toilet paper tail" goes on that list too.

I thought at first you were going to say that someone left a message for the wrong person. I always call to let the message leaver know they mis-dialed.

Glennis said...

We recently had all our computers at work replaced, and upgraded from Windows 2003 to windows 2007.

The old things, when you turned on your out-of-office-assistant, would tell you it was on next time you logged it, and ask you if you wanted to turn it off.

The new one doesn't so if you forget you turned it on, you end up merrily sending "out-of-office" messages until someone (usually a co-worker) tells you.

I'm sure there's some way to set it up to ask you to turn it off, but windows 2007 is freakin' annoying.

Anonymous said...

ABSOLUTELY! When these questions arise I rely on the golden rule and ask myself if I would want someone to tell me. The answer is ABSOLUTELY!

lizgwiz said...

Voicemail--if I know them pretty well. Spinach--yes.

Elena said...

YES! Do unto others, right? There was this abhorant co-worker who taught one me one good thing...one day she just handed me a Plackers (the floss on a stick) and said, "here hon, you need this". Very effective and minimally humiliating.

Day Dreamer said...

Spinach in teeth, yes. Voicemail, no unless they are one of of the two people at work that I trust completely. Otherwise the schleps would actually think I'm overstepping.

Office politics are more difficult to figure out than plain ol' politics. Seriously.

Anonymous said...

yes, because it annoys the crap out of me. Not so much for them, as to make me happy! hehe

claire said...

I tell people about their outdated voicemail. The spinach in the teeth thing usually depends on how comfortable i am with them. If it's my boss or something, i tend not to.

J said...

It depends on how much I like them. If I don't like them, I enjoy it (like meno), unless it's the spinach, and then I tell them. Unless I hate them, and they're going somewhere important later...then I might not tell them.

If it's someone I like, I tell them.

If it's someone I like a lot, I tease the hell out of them. ;)

Issa said...

Spinach or a tag hanging out; I'll even tell a stranger. I figure, I'd rather know. An annoying message, I ignore it. I have no clue what mine says and I just figure they forgot. I mean, who calls themselves?

Anonymous said...

The voicemail thing I don't care about, so I probably wouldn't say anything.

Spinach in teeth and related matters: I always tell the person because I would want to be told if it were me. Although once I told a woman that her sweater was on inside-out, and she thanked me but she also seemed offended that I said anything. Eh. Her issues are not my issues.

Deb Rox said...

No, no, no. Unless the person is very close or your mortal enemy. Don't ask don't tell. You didn't see anything. Walk along. Ignorance is bliss to most people.

But please tell me...I don't want to walk around looking foolish!

nonlineargirl said...

If it is someone I know I would tell them (in either case). I probably wouldn't do it for a stranger.

Elan Morgan said...

Yes, I do tell them if their voice mail is out of date. No one ever listens to their own voice mail, so I think they likely appreciate the heads up.

Also, yes to the spinach question. They'd rather hear it once from you than get home and realize a hundred people saw it.

Anonymous said...

I tell them about the voice mail usually because I forget stuff like that all the time. But I do it in a conversational tone, unlike the tools who remind me of such things in a crappy, "God you're SO STUPID" tone that makes it sound like it's made their day to find someone to correct.

Spinach is weirder for me, I don't know why. But I try. Definitely toilet paper on shoes though. That sucks.

Project Christopher said...

yes to both. Voicemail, I'll mention it especially if I know them, but nicely. same with email out of office.
Spinach, yes. Maybe not everyone. but I would want someone to tell me discreetly. Having it pointed out blatantly in front of everyone is worse than finding it out later.
and then there's my worst fear... the need for a hanky, or as my mom jokingly put it... "you've got a booger hangin' "

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