Etiquette
Do You Return Calls if the Caller Doesn’t Leave a Message?
And if they leave a message, do you listen to it before you return the call?
Recently a friend called and I wasn’t able to answer at the moment. She didn’t leave a message, but I had just finished a call with someone else and I wanted to talk to her about that, so I called her back.
Me: “I know you didn’t leave a message, but I’m calling you back.”
She: “Oh, I know not to leave messages. My kids have me trained.”
Really?
She went on to explain that her adult children don’t like to listen to voicemails. If they see that she’s called, they’ll call her back.
I don’t think that’s particularly efficient. Or considerate.
I usually don’t return calls if the caller doesn’t leave a message. I figure that if they don’t specifically ask me to call them back, they don’t want me to.
Maybe they need information and they’re going to call someone else for it. Maybe they’re not going to be available and they would rather call me again when it’s convenient for them. Maybe they called me by mistake.
