Behind The Times

I don't get to speak to my Grandma on my Dad's side of the family much, but when I do she cracks me up. She called me this morning and left me a message that I just had to laugh at. Poor Grandma. She's just not up with today's technology.

See, for my cell phone voicemail I don't use the normal voicemail service that comes with Verizon. I use a free service called YouMail. Not only is it free, but it gives you a lot of options for your voicemail service.

There's the option to "ditch" callers from numbers you don't know or don't want to hear from. This is also handy if you receive a lot of calls from telemarketers or debt collection agencies. Basically the ditch function hangs up on the caller after playing your chosen voicemail message, and they're not allowed to leave a voicemail. I have my ditch message setup to play the "Verizon Wireless, this number is not in service" message before hanging up on them.

You have the option to setup individual messages for each person in your address book. When Hubby calls I have a pre-recorded message that tells him to leave a message because I'm probably too busy blogging to answer the phone. You can upload your own messages, or you can choose from 100's that are already on the site.

For most of my family members that don't call me a lot, I'm using what is called the "Smart Greeting".

"Smart Greetings" is the newest way to personalize your voicemail with YouMail! Your Smart Default Greeting will greet your callers with their first name if it is one of the thousands of names that YouMail recognizes. For example, if your name is Bob and your caller's name is John, it will play:

"Hello John, (your name) can't get to the phone. Please leave a message after the tone."

I've got my Grandma listed under "Nana Mattie" in my contacts, and apparently Nana is one of the thousands of names that YouMail recognizes. When she calls a computerized female voice greets her with

"Hello Nana Mattie, Jenn can't get to the phone. Please leave a message after the tone."

She left me a message all right! She left me a message yelling at me wanting to know exactly who that girl was that answered my phone and why she wouldn't let her talk to me! LMAO!

I guess I should call her back and try to explain that it's a computerized message.