At a business, a secretary, almost always a woman, would answer the phone for all calls. There were no direct lines into anyone. If you were in she would transfer the call to your office. If you were out she would use this pad to take messages. When you came back in to the office you would always stop at the front desk and you would be handed your messages.
These were great! Instead of having to press a lot of “delete message” buttons on an answering machine or a VM system, you could just sweep these into the waste basket (unread of course) in just a couple of seconds.
You mean wad them up into a ball and shoot some wastebasket hoops. Rookie.
What are the m and of lines for?
My guess would be Mr or Mrs of XYZ Company.
That’s correct
Mr or Mrs
And the of is an optional field for if they have an onlyfans
That’s silly when they already have a for line…
Messages are often both for someone and from someone else.
Haha yeah thanks!
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They’re still used in a lot of places from what I can tell. Healthcare settings for example, where the reception staff might not know what info is or isn’t sensitive.
Write down the message, note the patients file number, and then give it to the recipient when they are available. They can call back to discuss the details.
Sales jobs too, having a receptionist take the message and not having to leave voicemails makes the whole operation feel more personal.
These are still used by secretaries in 2024. I did this up until I quit my office job. Not every company uses a voice mail.
In small offices in particular, separate voicemail for everyone is less practical than a person taking messages. This is reminiscent of people making fun of how ancient fax machines are when they’re still in common usage in the medical field.
I have to fix a fax machine in ICU tomorrow morning 😭
This is heaven. It’s like a looser hotline for business. No one gets my mobile number. Let them call the front office. And it happens I’m always in a meeting or on a business trip.
Remember them? I still have some from when I worked as a graphic designer in a print shop in the 80’s.
I used to flip them over, the back was plain, and write DAVE RANG.
“Dave who ?” “Didn’t say” “Did he leave a number” “No” “What was it about” “He said you know what it’s about”
In those days we called it voice mail when the secretary would answer the phone and then yell out the name of whomever it was for.
“Ew, hardcopy” from the movie Hackers.
I have these at my desk and still use them :)
Why past tense? These remain far more useful than answer phones; or visual voicemail with AI transcription, or whatever. All the info you need, right there. The more I pay for digital services the more I am learning to appreciate how effective these are. Basically we are spending a fortune in development to replicate exactly these.
A receptionist is still a thing, but physical switchboards thankfully are not. Low payed, long hours, repetitive stress injuries and customer facing.
Yes
I was a receptionist about five years ago for a small office. I would check the voicemail in the morning and write these out and leave them on the recipients desks before they arrived in the morning. Then I would use them throughout the day if the person was in an appointment when a call came in for them. It was an alternative medical office and whooo boy did people give me TMI, for the slip and for me personally.
I got one yesterday when I came back from lunch.
They used to have joke versions of those. “Answer your damn phone once in a while. Here’s who called:”
