I would like to publicly state that I have never said anything to the effect of "Are you there?" to an answering machine or voice mail, and I wish all of the simpletons who do would stop calling one of my roommates.

Every single time his ex-girlfriend calls, which she does a lot because of partial custody, and gets the machine. which she does a lot because of apathy, we get to hear two minutes of "Ben, are you there? Pick up the phone if you're there. Ben? Are you home? Pick up the phone." followed by a bunch of mumbled "ummm... uh," before she gets to whatever the alleged point of her call was.
She's the worst one by far, but others do it too.

The idiocy of it all. There's a reason someone didn't pick up the phone, people.
A. They aren't home, in which case they can't very well answer your question.
B. They're screening their calls, in which case you should just say who you are and get to the point. They'll decide for themselves whether or not to pick up, you telling them to isn't going to do jack.
C. They just don't want to talk to people. Making yourself sound like an idiot only increases this aversion.

I expect that my household does C more than most people. Sometimes we can't stand the thought of contact with the outside world, or each other for that matter. Two out of the three of us simply hate phones, too. Just remember that when you're using the magic talking device that the little voice that tells you to leave a message is just what we call a "recording" and can't respond to your asinine questions, okay?