The amount of telephones possessed by an individual is inversely proportional to the amount of effort it takes to actually talk to that individual. Just ask anyone who has been trying to get in touch with me this week. One person left voice messages on my cell phone, then left messages on my office phone, then more on the cell phone and more on the office phone. I could not even get through all the cell phone voice mails until Thursday this week and the office phone (30!!) until after 5 on Friday. No, I will not be calling anyone back after 5:30 on a Friday. That would lead to very unrealistic expectations, not to mention a divorce.
There was the additional problem that there are several callers that traditionally leave messages lasting multiple minutes, using up the time allowed for everyone. Learn to share, folks!
So the State gave us Cell phones and call us Mobile caseworkers so that people can always reach us. The State forgot that we cannot answer those cell phones in court, and we can't chat on cell phones while driving with children in the car, and we can't document those calls even if we did feel comfortable using the phone while driving other people's children. Which I don't.
All this to say, one week of vacation and then when the week you return involves two full days of court and two days of traveling, there are going to be "Voice Mail full" messages on every phone, and "Email Hell" where the inbox can't take anymore. Which might be helpful when the ombudsman complaints start coming.
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