You Can Keep The Dime

I work in a sub-basement. Down in the the bowels of the earth where the cellphone signal doesn't go. This is point one.

Point two is that I don't have a phone on my desk. My first computer job since 1998 where this is true. Co-worker/supervisor right next to me has a phone. Has said I can have people call that number, but twice my wife has called and been told she has the wrong number. This is not a solution.

And, if I could receive calls hat the office with my cellphone, that's no problem, but see point one.

I have Google Voice. If people leave me a voice mail, it gets transcribed and recorded and left in my inbox. That's great. But it is not reaching me directly, which is what I want.

One thing you can do with Google Voice is set phone numbers for it to forward. I set the office number (which is not ringing off the wall by any means) and the forward. So far, two people have called and gotten the office line. Neither liked it. I was able to talk via voice, so I liked it, but if they now won't call me,

So, what is etiquette? Have I breached Miss Manners' guide for the 21st century? Is it right and good for me to keep my phone pointed at the voice mail even though it could ring directly down?

Also, I have a new AIM account and email. The name of the account is the name of the blog, so if you want to try to contact me ... well, it might work.