parent driving me crazy on voicemail

[asdf]

We have voicemail at our school and I have 1 parent who calls almost every day! It's driving me crazy! I'm constantly having to check my VM because she calls at the most random times. Her VM's are over the dumbest things that I feel I really don't have time for. She leaves the longest VM's as well that I have to listen to 5 min of her rambling before I know if she needs me to call me back. We have had VM at our school for 3 years and I only had to check it like once a week and usually there were no VM's now if I do that I'll have like 10 calls from her. Don't get me wrong she's nice and they never are a big deal, but she for example will call to let me know her son is bringing birthday cards to school (even though I have had not to) she'll say I know we're not supposed to, but this is the only way we can invite friends, will you help him pass them out? Then when school starts she'll write a note saying the same thing. I'm venting but I'm really getting sick of her VM's all the time. I can't not check them because what if there was an emergency or problem with another parent, but I'm so sick of hers. I'm thinking of asking the secretary to just take a message (it would be quicker for me to read, but then I could see her wanting me to call her back) Sorry, I just need to vent but if anyone has any ideas I would sure appreciate it besides knowing I only have 6 more months with this mother Aggghhhhh!!!!

 

[phoebe611]

send a note

Our school uses email instead of voice mail, but I always send a note home at the beginning of the year stressing that I may not always be available to check my email each day. Sometimes we have server and/or computer problems that prevent me from getting emails as well. Therefore, if there is an emergency ALWAYS speak with someone in the office so the matter can be taken care of, otherwise, there is no guarantee that I will be notified of the situation.

In your case, I would blame the holidays, testing, whatever, and send a note home to each parent informing them that because of the increased work, holiday planning, testing, etc. you will not be checking/responding to voice mail each day. Important messages will need to be taken by the secretary or written to you. Maybe that will cut out on a lot of the unnecessary messages you are forced to listen to. It's a lot easier to scan a note than listen to a 5 minute message about NOTHING!!! Good luck!

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[Mollie]

mother

It sounds like this mother is looking for attention and maybe recognition that she is a good, caring parent. Maybe she doesn't have a lot of adult interaction. Is she a stay at home mom? Is she recently divorced? I would suggest encouraging her to get involved in the PTA or a school fund raiser.

 

[Connieg]

another excuse

Hi,

This mom's problem is that she thinks the sun revolves around her kid and that everyone else should think so too. I would send a note, maybe through your newsletter or an email to all that 1. you respond best to email, 2. if it is really urgent, send a note or call the office and 3. that your voice mail light is unreliable and you may not get the message and 4. that voicemail is the least efficient of all the ways to communicate. Please remind them that the time you spend listening to long and nonurgent voicemails during the day is time away from their child's education.

I go through all this at the beginning of the year. If you do this with a smile on your face, you communicate the idea effectively.

I can't think of any parent voice mail that I ever received that couldn't be done through email.

 

[NETeacher]

You're too kind....

I would not check my voicemail everyday. When she finally sends in a note, kindly tell her that you didn't have a chance to check it. I do that with phone messages. Once upon a time, I use to break my neck to get back to parents immediately....not anymore. I just have too much to do and not enough time to do it. Don't get me wrong, I don't ignore the messages, I just don't jump through hoops like I use to.

 

[dramacentral]

Can you change the outgoing greeting on your voicemail? If so, you can say something like,

"You've reached the voicemail of Ms. ____. For matters requiring immediate attention, please hang up and dial the front desk. Otherwise, please leave your name, number, and up to a 30 second message, and I'll be happy to get back to you. I check voicemail on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between the hours of ___ and ___. Thanks and have a nice day!"

Maybe that will cut down on the sheer number of voicemails? This parent is probably doing what is convenient for her (she may prefer communicating via phone) and may not realize that it is too time-consuming for you.

You could also tell her that voicemail tends to cut off messages after the first 30 seconds, so if she thinks it's going to be longer, she should simply say, "Hi, this is ____'s mother, there is a note from me in his backpack" and you'll be guaranteed of getting the entire message then.

She sounds anxious and eager for a listening ear. Good luck!

 

[km]

I think I have the other son in my class

I just had to laugh....I have been having the same problem this year. I have a mom who leaves these insanely (is that a word?) long voicemails and marks them urgent when she calls at 10pm or even after midnight...like there is anyone at the school to listen to an urgent message in the middle of the night! She also writes really long notes to explain absences and such. I pretty much just ignore her unless it really requires my attention....it seems to be slowing down so maybe the rest of the year won't be so bad

 

[KW]

I had to laugh!

Not the same situation at all, but...
My own mother (75 years old!) does this constantly. (At home--thank goodness--not at school!) She goes on and on and on and ON in her voicemails mostly to say not much of anything. It can get very tiring when I'm trying to get other messages--particularly when I'm coming in late and want to get to bed--but I don't want to not listen to the whole message just in case. I just have to remind myself I love her and should value this interruptions--I'm sure I'll miss them when she's gone!

P.S.: My voice mail goes off after two minutes and she has been cut off numerous times. She keeps saying on the message, "I don't want to use up all your tape"--I've never told her that isn't how my system works!

 

[ejs]

I feel your pain!

I know what you are going through. I have a parent last year that calles every single day at 7:00 on the dot. To let me know who her child was that morning and where he needed to go that afternoon. I stopped pickin up eventually and she would start to leave 5 - 10 minute messages (NO JOKE!) She was a great parents, but I she told me way too much!

 

[English]

Maybe you should be honest with her.

Tell her that she's the only one that calls you, and she calls you everyday!