How do you communicate?

I think what matters to me most is responsiveness rather than how I take the course of action whether to call or email. I usually email people and depending on the urgency if I don't get a response by certain times (due to timezone differences) and I need a response by end of business that day, I'll call. Either way, if the person doesn't respond back to me by email/fax, doesn't answer my voicemail, or doesn't bother to answer my phone call when I know they're there, I start losing interest in that location/vendor/person and find other ways of getting the job done. Especially for pressing matters.

Or if the above problem continues to proceed, I'll start bypassing those unresponsive people and start contacting their boss or immediate supervisor. Sometimes this takes much more effort and goes into a heavier toll, but eh, you gotta do what you need to; it's all about getting the job done. I can't waste my time on people who can't help me do my job.

I'll typically email for most matters. Like most others have said already, it's more efficient for multi-tasking. Very often, I'll start / work on other matters or email/other IE windows while I'm on hold with some vendors, which is quite typical. Since I don't have headphones for our phones in our office, I'll put the receiver down and put the phone on speaker whie I'm on hold so I have both hands free to type up another email to send to other vendors.

Urgency and need for response for a report to Tokyo headquarters is what I look at most to put a priority on which case needs most amt. of effort/time when it comes to taking communication with vendors. There are certain issues that need constant follow up. For matters reporting to Tokyo, it's usually done by email because...uh....I honestly don't feel like staying an extra hour past 5 PM PST to get an answer from Tokyo...

Jam it back in, in the dark.