God I hate those things! I much prefer a simple, mannered email to a fraught phone call. I've gotten to the point of explicitly requesting that from recruiters

God I hate those things! I much prefer a simple, mannered email to a fraught phone call. I've gotten to the point of explicitly requesting that from recruiters if I sense that's the way it's going. I don't care if it wastes the caller's time as a misplaced (and insincere) gesture of respect. They've wasted enough of my time at this point and don't deserve any more.