There is a point in everybody’s life when we have to grow up professionally.
Today’s Triangle is specifically directed at points of contact.
-Having a clever email address-
In highschool it was awesome. In college it was funny.
Even now it’s still funny and a bit nostalgic especially if it was ‘awesome’ in highschool.
For example: MulderIbelieve@aol.com or nsync4eva@aol.com,
maybe you were a bass player and received gig info at Myhighschoolgaragebandname@yahoo.com, or maybe you had the sameemailaseverybodyelsebutimgoingtoaddalotofnumbersattheend@hotmail.com,
or you signed up for livejournal with xxxiwearblackeyelinerxxx@aol.com
but just like the aol cd’s, we don’t need them anymore.
I get it, I mean look at me: traceyevidence
It’s funny because trace evidence is like that whole csi thing and my name is trace – y.
Even odannigirl is a play on that song. But you know, she’s a girl.
But those are by far our professional emails.
If not before, It should dawn on most people when they're putting together their first resume. You make your name nice and big to catch people’s attention, then you have to put down your contact information and you realize that you don’t want your potential new boss to know you were once a punkrockprincessss or a StJimmy420 or a PokemonMster
And it hits you, this is it: You’re a grownup. Then after you cry a little on the inside- or maybe a lot on the outside- you make an email probably something with your name.
Tracey.X @gmail.com,or DLAwesome@ gmail.com 3rdroommate01@ gmail.com
Hint You don’t have to get rid of the email, just get another one. They’re free.
-Same goes with voice messages.
It was funny when you said “Hello?...Oh Hey...Uh huh...Yeah...Leave a message at the beep. “
Or to have the theme song to Rugrats as your ringback tone. Having any ringback song actually is unprofessional in my opinion. Even if it’s classical music it comes out as a shrill version of what ever it was suppose to be. Besides why are you paying for something you’ll never hear? When do you ever call yourself? Besides as the caller I lose track of the three ring policy.
Tangent 1: do other people do this? or is it something I made up in my head as customary that if you’re not planning to leave a message the wait time for someone to answer is three rings maybe four.
Tangent 2: why does everyone insist on saying “Leave your name and number after the beep.” I think this is a throwback to the days of answering machines with cassette tapes. kinda like how we still say ‘roll down the window’ most phones have caller id with name and number. But that’s beside the point. Everyone on the planet who has a phone knows the protocol for leaving a message. you don’t need to tell me like you're the only one with this magical capability
POINT BEING
When I call my intern from my professional job at a number she gave as her point of contact MEANING she knew that this is where I was going to call her, having a message like ‘hey this is Lulu so yeah leave a message and um a name so I could maybe call you back and thanks um have a great day.”
First off her name is Lucy. A pretty kick ass name anyway but whatever. Never has she said that Lulu is a common place nickname that she would like to be called. I can understand calling you by a nickname like Kate or Kathy for Katherine, AJ DJ etc for a Jr. Libby, Liz, Beth, Betty, Betsy and so on for an Elizabeth. But Lulu Really? I would like to think that you would be cleverer than Lulu. You’re setting yourself up for failure. That’s a stripper name. In fact it’s the prostitutes names in Janet Evanovich's One for the Money series.
Tangent 3: Don’t get me wrong I love nicknames. Love them. No joke Atrain, Edawg, Fbomb and Ro-Tang were my besties in high school. (I was Tbone, I knew you were wondering)
So Jojo, B-raz, and Lil George is all fine on the street, high school reunions, and signing off from an email you sent from your sexxxybballer@yahoo.com account ALL fine. Just not self proclaimed on your point of contact for your job!
Secondly it’s a recording; many people will hear this message, not just once or by one person but several times by several people. And you can RE-Record this as many times as your little heart desires until you get it right. It’s not like you’re leaving a message and you didn’t prepare what you wanted to say or you were caught off guard by an answering machine that didn’t wait the three rings before it went to machine. No. This is yours, this is who you are, be confident. Say that you’re not there in a way that I think you’re off doing something important, not just sitting at home afraid to answer the phone because you never programmed your job/internship’s number into it so it’s an unknown number and you’re too young to remember a time when a phone call was a mystery, when saying hello was a question not a statement, so you’re afraid of who’s on the other end and I have to leave a message like this ‘Lulu! What good? This is TrayTrey. No need to come in today, the Big Dawg isn’t in the hizzle and I don’t feel like babysitting yo ass. Word.”
Come on America, go to bed at a reasonable hour, wear a tie, and growup…for work. Be fun afterwards, take ridiculous pictures, write a blog about it. But professionalism needs to make a comeback in the work place.
The Offside, The Blind Side, and My side.
