Inserting ‘bye,’ ‘talk to you later,’ ‘later,’ and other conversation closing formalities at the end of an answering machine message is an awkward thing to do because the person being addressed isn’t there to reply likewise. And message leavers know this, but they persist with closing formalities, because even though it’s awkward, closing with the telephone click is even more awkward and might be interpreted to be rude. That’s why I make a point to close with the telephone click. Awkward moments are wonderful, if you stay in them long enough they become comfortable. Telephone conversations are a good example. When the other person talks you might dedicate a small portion of your gulliver to the task of finding something to converse over after the person on the other end has stopped. If you’ve nothing to add and nothing new to start, silence reigns. This is very uncomfortable for many people and they will consequently either 1.begin talking about something uninteresting solely for the purpose of avoiding silence or 2.announce that they’d better be going, they are rather busy. I advise cherishing the silent moment and expanding it to great lengths. If you’re opposite sexes, listen to each other breathe. If I were a teacher, I would be the one who comes to class a few minutes early and stands up against the chalkboard looking out at everyone and smiling oddly, waiting for the minutes to tick past and for incoming people to take their seats. Busy with nothing.