Abstract: A telephone answering device (“TAD”) (10) is disclosed that enables a user to record a general outgoing message, which is played to all callers upon receipt by the TAD (10) of an incoming call on a telephone line (14), and one or more special outgoing messages, each of which is played only in response to receipt by the TAD (10) of a code associated with the special outgoing message. The TAD (10) comprises a control circuit (12) connectable to the telephone line (14) and a storage medium (16) connected to the control circuit (12) for storing the general outgoing message, the special outgoing messages and the incoming messages.