Leave your name and number after the beeeeeeeeep . . .

If your answering machine just tells callers to leave their name and number at the beep, odds are they won't. But chances are if your answering machine can make people laugh, they'll leave a message, according to many students. "Regular messages are so boring. I like throwing people for a loop on my machine," said College freshman Andy Newman, whose machine tells callers that he and his roommate are too busy practicing ballet or selling Girl Scout cookies to answer the phone. Other students agreed noting that "boring" messages only yield hang-ups which are annoying to listen to when the messages are played back. James Ingraham, an Engineering and Wharton freshman, said he changes his message every two weeks to ensure variety. "This is your brain on an answering machine," his current message informs callers. "This is your brain on James' answering machine." The background music shifts to static and he dares the caller to "leave a message if you still want to." "It's sort of like 'do unto others' so I try to add a little spice to people's lives," Ingraham added. "I hate talking to a machine. If you have a mechanical sounding message on a mechanical device, it's depressing . . . you want to feel warm, like people actually care about you." But students said that it is not just boredom that spurs recording creativity. "I try to get a little individualism . . . into something which is pretty much mechanical," Engineering and Wharton freshman Eric Fitzpatrick said. Fitzpatrick's message promises that while his answering machine is broken, his refrigerator will assume the recording duties. "If you talk real real slow I can probably scribble it down and attach it with one of these here nifty magnets," the message states. Fitzpatrick added that he hates playing the messages on his answering machine and finding everyone has hung-up. "I feel that if I have something pretty interesting . . . people will listen all the way and leave a message," he said. Other students have labelled answering machine messages a new entertainment medium, like hanging out with friends and listening to music -- only the tape is smaller. "It's a private performance for the public," Engineering freshman Kim Vesey said. Even students who don't bother to come up with an original answering machine messages said they enjoy creative recordings. "I like funny ones," College freshman Greg Grimaldi said. "Especially when they act seriously but the message is really weird." "I think it's the funniest thing in the whole world," College freshman Phoebe Hyde added.

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