Changing the Outgoing Phone Message

For reasons too long to go into here, we've decided to drop our land line and switch our existing home number over to a cell phone. This morning as I lay in bed, I could hear Blair in the next room selecting ring tones. Then he recorded the outgoing message.

Hi, you've reached Dena and Blair. We're not in to take your call. Please leave your name and number and we'll return your call just as soon as we can."

"Can we do something less formal?" I shouted from the bedroom. 

Blair walked into the room. "Such as?"

"How about just, 'Hi, you've reached Dena and Blair. Leave a message.'"

Blair dialed into the phone to re-record. Hi, you've reached Dena and Blair. We're not in to take your call. Please leave your name and number and --

"You're recording the same message," I said. "Try again."

He made me repeat the short message, took a breath, and began recording.

Hi, you've reached Dena and Blair. Please leave your name and phone number and... he trailed off and looked at me helplessly.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked. "This is not hard."

"I always leave the same message. Here, you record it."

My voice has been our answering machine for 16 years. It's time to mix things up.

"You do it," I said. "Hi, you've reached Dena and Blair. Leave a message." 

I swear to you, it took four more attempts to get it right. Once he had it recorded, he grabbed my cell phone and called the home number, just to make sure it worked. The recorded message played and Blair left a message: "Hi, this is Blair. Call me. But I'm not leaving my phone number because you didn't tell me to in your message." 

I'm still laughing.