Manners, Timothy!

I have noticed something - lots of people write very rude emails, almost out of habit. It seems to be especially prevailent in larger organsiations. The standard example would be:

Alex,

We need XXX. Could you supply us with timescales.

John

Now it may be just me but I always find such emails grate. There is no greetings, no please, no thankyou, not even (which I hate) "rgds".

In the old days of letters you would put Dear Sir, even on a complaint. Now basic interaction seems to have fallen to terse, impolite little sentences. I used to think it was because they were annoyed with me, but I now feel its just the general atmosphere of receiving hundreds of these makes people immitate.

So I want to start a campain: be polite in emails. They are just as important as letters, so think before you send.

Going back to my example I always word such emails:

Hi Alex,

Please could we have timescales for XXX.

Kind regards,

John


Now how much extra time does that take? There are few extra words (if any), and it is far more friendly. It makes me think "yes, I might actually respond to that", rather than "seeth". Ultimately the same will be achieved, but it is more pleasant on both parties.

Interestingly I have found it to be infectious. These days everyone I converse with regularly tends to respond in the same fashion, but new people seem to still be out there writing unfriendly emails!

So for anyone that reads this, think before pressing send. Would it be so bad to put "Hi " infront of the greeting?

If you really cannot be bothered, don't greet at all - I tend not to with friends. Save the terse stuff for arguing with customer service departments, and only then after email 3!