Dan's Papers - August 1, 2008

You were out late last night at The Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett. The last thing you remember was dancing. You wake up somewhere, to the sound of people eating lunch on the beach. It looks like Montauk. It's 11 a.m. You were supposed to be at work two hours ago. You don't know the person whose couch you're on or the reason why the couch is on the beach. You need to call your boss and let him know you're under the weather and not coming in to work today. But rather than fall victim to a massacre of awkward questions - you wisely decide to leave a message instead.

Solution: Slydial

You and your partner have been dating for a few months. But it's not the holding-hands-in-a-movie-theater type of dating; it's a modern, casual relationship. Recently, your partner has been leaving multiple Facebook messages and completely blowing up your text-message inbox. Before things move too quickly, you want to explain that perhaps you're just not that into him or her, perhaps you've met someone else, or perhaps it's just that you want to watch the Mets game tonight, alone. A message is the way to go (and Facebook doesn't count).

Solution: Slydial

You've had a really long day at work and it seems that your "to do" list is ever growing. You just remembered that it's your friend's birthday. You want to call her but it's almost 11 p.m. and you're under the one-hour mark of what's left of her birthday. You opt not to take the chance of calling her because she's either sleeping, partying with her good friends or waiting by her phone for the call, and prefer to leave her a message instead.

Solution: Slydial

You receive a polyester sweater from your Aunt Marie for your birthday. She neglected to remember that it's July and that you're allergic to polyester. She's what they call "old-fashioned," and your mother explains to you that you have to call her and thank her. But before you get stuck on a three-hour verbal tour of polyester, Metamucil and how all doctors are bastards, you think it through, opting to leave a message instead.

Solution: Slydial

There's no other way to put it. We all encounter awkward moments and there are very few of us who can pull off a Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"-esque moment with grace and wit. With Slydial, all of that just became a whole lot easier. It's my belief that people want to do the "right thing" and tell the truth. But when circumstances arise and you'd rather experience Chinese water torture than have that exchange of words, Slydial is truly a miracle.

Slydial connects you directly to someone's mobile voicemail. By calling (267) SLY-DIAL from any landline or mobile phone you can enter the US mobile phone number of the person you want to Slydial. You will then be connected directly to their voicemail and you can sit back and relax knowing you did the "right" thing.

The service is completely free and you don't have to sign up to use it. You do have to endure an advertisement, but it's well worth the wait. There are many reasons and situations for which Slydial comes in handy, allowing you to maximize your time, create the illusion of communication, let friends know you didn't forget, and have your cake and eat it, too. It's the first of its kind, because while there's a feature built into your cell phone that allows you to record a message and transfer it into someone else's voicemail box, you must have the same cell service provider. So, without Slydial, if you have AT&T and your boss has T-Mobile, you're out of luck. With Slydial, that doesn't matter. Even better, the person you are Slydialing will receive a "missed call" from you, because after all, you want it to look like you tried.

Personally, I think it's really going to catch on. Especially here in the Hamptons where there's always a reason to skip out on the job and hang at Main Beach. Just be smart and don't tell your boss about this article.