Comments on: Office Rat-A-Tat: internal e-mails

By: chad

chad — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:31:47 +0000

excellent send it out

By: Trena

Trena — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:33:07 +0000

1. How did I not know you had a book out. I’m ordering it now.

2. This has made me wonder… if I shart writing less thoughtful, non-punctuated messages, I’ll move up the food chain more quickly. Which came first, the position or the email style?

By: Brandi

Brandi — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:40:57 +0000

I agree as well. However, I think as the higher-ups become familiar with clients their emails get more casual. My boss is very casual with familiar accounts and very correct and punctual with newer ones. But it does seem like she spends most of her day responding to emails so I don’t blame her for being short. I find that putting smiley faces on the end of short and to the point emails helps a lot. :)

By: careyarmst

careyarmst — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:38:45 +0000

I agree this is the case 100%. It’s also probably why I haven’t advanced very far. I have minimal to zero respect for people (rank notwithstanding) who cannot be bothered to respond to relevant inquiries in a comprehensive, courteous, and grammatically correct manner. If the people in power treat their correspondence this way, how do you think they run/manage their organizations? Seat of the pants, cut corners whenever possible, with no thought employed, that’s how. They are not that busy, they are simply not that thoughtful. Many of these folks are simply “masters of the sound-bite”.

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:44:59 +0000

So does this mean that in order to convince my bosses that I deserve a promotion, I should start writing more concisely and with poorer punctuation?

Oh… sorry…

to get ahead, shd i say less?

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:32:34 +0000

My manager is famous for replying to a lengthy email with one word: “Yes”, “No”, “Sure” and is a very intelligent and eloquently spoken person that I have high regard for. Conversely the CEO, that all dispise, trips all over faux pas when writing and circles the subjects line after line until his meaning is so obscured it borders on uninteligable.

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:32:18 +0000

I have noticed the same thing with table manners. I used to be employed in an industry where business lunches and dinners were a daily occurance. The COO and CEO had the most disgusting table manners, with our EVPs and VPs being somewhat improper, and all the underlings with impeccable etiquette.

By: JaneM

JaneM — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:02:39 +0000

I agree with the thoughts regarding the ‘crack-berry’ influencing the email responses BUT I saw this trend before these wireless devices became commonplace. They certainly added to the problem but I think it was there already.

By: Jason!

Jason! — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:44:12 +0000

I agree with the theory. Here’s my theory on why this happens. Nearly everywhere I’ve worked, all upper management seems to do is attend meetings and read and answer emails. With the bulk volume of emails that need to be read and commented on/answered, they tend to develop an abrupt and blunt manner of reply.

That’s my verbose theory…

By: Becky T.

Becky T. — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:58:43 +0000

You guys are right, the Blackberry probably is a factor. It makes sense that the higher-ups would have one and the lower-downs (is that a term?) wouldn’t. My principal doesn’t have that excuse though…she’s just a bad speller :). She probably does have the excuse of being busy.