However, I have a friend who likes to leave stupid, long, nonsense messages on my answering machine. I never want to call him back.
Actually, I call back the annoyance at five or six o'clock in the morning. That's how I get my revenge on him, since I hardly ever sleep. I call him right before the time I know he has to get up for work. Then, when I get his answering machine, I leave my standard message. Then I try his cell phone. I don't have a cell phone. I really don't think they are necessary. I think that cell phones are just the big corporate way to eat away at our self dependance.
Anyway, my friend Sean just has as his answer message something that sounds like EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. That's good enough for me. I know what to do when it's over.
I just don't see why it's so important to have a professional, polite or sincere message. After all the person is talking to a machine. We are talking to an inhuman object. Something that neither feels or reasons. It doesn't care if you say the wrong thing. The human interpreter will be able to reason it out of whatever babblings you leave on the machine. If they can't, then they will call you back. If nobody calls you back then you are not important. Deal with it.