Monday's Question Of The Day - December 11, 2017

[MoochNNoodles]

Only 2 weeks till Christmas!!


Do you prefer phone calls, texts, or e-mails?

I prefer texts for most things. Several of my doctors are under the local hospital system; so I get text reminders for appointments. My kid's pediatrician does them this way also. It's handy. No misunderstanding or struggling to hear when it's noisy in here and it's easily entered in my calendar. Time zones aren't as big of an issue. My BFF and I don't really have time to talk; but we text a lot. I keep up with a few friends this way I wouldn't without it. I've worked several jobs that had me at the front desk. I'm not a fan of the phone.

But sometimes; ya gotta call! If it's a last minute cancellation or you need to reach me right away, I need the phone to ring! My kid's dentist always wants a call back to confirm. Our hair dresser always calls.

E-mails are good for some stuff; but it's so easy for things to get lost in all the junk that comes in. Especially this time of year!

Right now we have MagicJack for our home phone; but it stopped working right and DH and I have decided to just get rid of it. It's nice not having telemarketers call. The voicemails were going to my e-mail; but sometimes even that doesn't work. So I just found a voicemail from a week ago from my new doctor's office calling to reschedule my appointment. They are also under the hospital system and I could swear I changed my cell to my primary number. We're luck it went through at all! It's really hard to understand the voicemails played on the computer. They always sound scratchy.

Funny enough; my mother and I were just discussing this right before I found that voicemail. The contractor who redid their siding last summer was supposed to be at her house this morning to fix what he didn't do right. (She has squirrels in her attic and now her garage...And now an electric line that runs to near where the squirrels get in is not working!) She sat home all morning, missing work so not getting paid, and he didn't show. (Again!) She decided to check her e-mail and found a cancellation from him there. She didn't know he even had her e-mail. How hard is calling someone!? She's livid. It takes a lot to rile my mother up; but hes gonna get an earful. I find that COMPLETELY unprofessional. But then again; so is dragging this on for about 6 months now.

 

[Margret]

I prefer a call to my land line phone, since I frequently have trouble accessing or understanding voice messages on my cell phone. Second best is a text message to my cell. Third best is email. I have all my phones on both the state and federal Do-Not-Call list (in the U.S.), and both my cell phone and my land line phone allow me to block calls from certain numbers.

E-mails are good for some stuff; but it's so easy for things to get lost in all the junk that comes in. Especially this time of year!

Oh yeah. Definitely! I have Yahoo! mail and I set up "filters" so that mail from certain people goes directly to certain folders, which I check religiously: Books, Family, Online Commerce, Health (these are my important folders -- yours will be different, of course). That way I don't have to wade through everything in my Inbox looking for something that's easy to scroll right past and may not be there at all!

Margret

 

[kashmir64]

It depends on who it is. Doctor's appointments and the pharmacy need to be texts. Relatives can email me. I prefer friends to call me.

 

[cassiopea]

Definitely favour the written word via text or email if given the choice. I never liked talking over the phone for a variety of reasons, ever since I was a wee one.

 

[amysuen]

Texts for short things, email for longer ones. I HATE making and receiving phone calls, unless I'm chatting with my mom or a friend.

 

[neely]

I prefer a call to my land line phone, since I frequently have trouble accessing or understanding voice messages on my cell phone. Second best is a text message to my cell. Third best is email. I have all my phones on both the state and federal Do-Not-Call list (in the U.S.), and both my cell phone and my land line phone allow me to block calls from certain numbers.

I agree 100% except I have no problem accessing or understanding my voice messages. Like you, 2nd choice is text followed by e-mail.

One of my pet peeves is when I specifically give a doctor's office my preference for home vs cell and they call the wrong number, e.g. if I'm at work we can't have our phones on so I never hear or get the message. However, since I'm one of those oddballs who still writes everything down on my calendar if I don't get a confirmation via phone or text I call the doctor's office to confirm myself.

 

[artiemom]

I prefer phone call first, then an e-mail, and lastly a text. I am not a texting person.

I guess you could call me old fashioned.

 

[Mother Dragon]

I'm a dinosaur. Even though I spent a huge amount of time on the phone in my job, I still prefer to talk ear to ear. And there's nothing like talking to a friend.

I have tremors and find texting almost impossible, even with spoken text because much of it has to be corrected, thanks to spell check and the mumbles. Therefore, I definitely prefer email that I do on my full keyboard. It drives my daughter bats and I almost never hear from her because she essentially refuses to email or call.

We have a land line and have NoMoRobo on it. The phone will ring once for a spam call and then hang up. And best of all, it's free! We love it! We're on the No Call list but that almost gives the spammers a new list to call. There's no way to enforce it.

 

[Max's Human]

Since I work at a 800# call center, I am on the phone 8hrs a day. FAMILY and FRIENDS phoning is great. Everyone else texting works for me or emails THAT GET TO THE POINT, I hate getting an email and it takes reading the whole thing before I figure out that you do not know me, and I just wasted 20 minutes I will "never" get back!

 

[Merlin77]

I like phone calls best, texts in second place and emails last. I always forget to check my email.

 

[muffy]

I prefer emails and than phone calls on my land phone. I don't have a cell phone and I have never used text.

 

[nansiludie]

Depends on the reason and who is trying to contact me. Anyone important or urgent, phone call. Just checking in, text. Holiday or birthday wishes, email is fine.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Phone call to my house phone. Nothing else. I hate texting. E mail is not very conducive to business. Just call me please.

 

[miagi's_mommy]

Texts for sure!

 

[jcat]

That's easy to answer. I probably send/receive 50 texts and 20 emails for every phone call I make or get

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

hmmm......i don't have a cell phone, so no texts -- yes!!!

i prefer either emails or phone calls, depending on what it is.

if it's important that i get the info quickly or is time-sensitive, then it needs to be a phone call. sometimes a second call is necessary, depending on what i'm doing. for example, i was outdoors moving firewood last wednesday when our vet called, after i'd gotten back inside the house i got a second call from them. they needed to ask if i might be willing to change the time of my cats appointment (for the following day) or reschedule it, as they had an emergency come in that needed surgery. i had no problem with rescheduling the girls annual physicals appointment (no shots needed this year), but i wouldn't have checked my answering machine for messages for quite a while. so it was really good that they called a second time.

 

[Winchester]

Depends on what it is, but usually texts. It's easier to deal with and I don't feel that I have to get back to the person right away.

I'm not one or being on the phone that much anymore. After hanging out on the phone all day at work, the last thing I want to hear at home is the phone ringing and most of the time we just let it go to the answering machine.

 

[MeganLLB]

IT depends. At work, I prefer emails. For most other things text, but for talking with my family, I always call. And with friends we always facetime or skype, though that wasn't an option.

 

[jtbo]

E-mails always, I don't tolerate phones at all, if I need to talk, I rather do it face to face, however I do prefer textual communications like E-mail over any other form of communication.