Returning Messages

I am floored by how people find it acceptable to not return business or personal phone calls and or emails. I understand that everyone operates on his or her own time schedule and may have extenuating circumstances, but not returning communication to someone you know who has contacted you directly for some explicit purpose seems to becoming more socially acceptable. I don't really understand why? It goes against everything I know and how I was raised. Don't get me wrong. I am completely guilty of doing this myself. I can't say I have not done it or don't do it still today from time to time. Sometimes, time just gets away from me, too. But to just ignore people is downright rude. I will say that returning Email and Voicemail messages is crucial to the success of business for me so I strive to return my messages in a timely manner. In my personal life, if someone calls or emails me, I try to do the same although not always successful in getting back to someone immediately, I do get back in touch with people as soon as I can. It is just common courtesy to call or email someone who has contacted you.

The reason for my semi-rant on this subject is that I am noticing so much more lack of response from people. If they don't want to answer you, they won't and this could be someone I have talked to or know quite well. I ask - At what point did this become ok? If this was your spouse, would you ignore them? How about your family? It seems to me like we have made a decision to throw common courtesy out the door with the rest of our family values today. It not only frustrates me, but saddens me, too. What happened? ET phone home when we call.