John’s response could be rewritten this way:
1. The late samples won’t push back the schedule.
2. No, but we’ve only made one call so far, to Hajiko. I’ll get back to you when we have finished the calls.
3. Ken from Dellacorp is out of town, so the schedule will need to be pushed back two weeks.

Good luck on your trip! By the way, the call to Hajiko went really well.

Alternatively he might reply:
1. No.
2. None yet. I’ll get back to you when we finish calling.
3. Yes, Dellacorp needs two more weeks.

Depending on the context, a response like this might be seen as either admirably concise or impersonal and downright rude.

Back to October 2007 Skill Sharpener