Why YSK: These email tips are helpful for people who struggle with boundaries and want to communicate more assertively.
deleted by creator
I’d never say ‘always happy to help’ because sometimes I’m actually not, particularly if a client is a pain and badgers me constantly. I don’t want to invite more interruption
deleted by creator
I attach a goatse to my email communicationsz tonrrally drive home the point of urgency in the face of devastating consequences.
Follow me for more productivity tips.
I much prefer this to the main post. I’ve no desire to email like a boss.
The thank you for your patience one has always rubbed me wrong. There’s honor in apologizing in my opinion. I do like the making a mistake one though and I’ve tried to adopt that mentality when I’m working with QA on something I’ve merged. I want them to feel good about finding the mistakes and I want to avoid an adversarial relationship. I’ve learned that I get way better tickets from QA if they like how I treat them. Treat them like valuable experts and they’ll act like valuable experts.
“Thank you for your patience” should really come after an apology for the delay, depending on the reason. Owning up to the fact that you aren’t on schedule is not a failing at all, and acknowledging that your correspondent is dealing with the situation gracefully just serves to further smooth things over.
I don’t like it, and will always apologize if it is my fault.
Honestly, I think its terrible advice lol. This is the type of shit that makes people not like management.
The thank you for your patience one has always rubbed me wrong.
I wouldn’t say wrong - it is disrespectful since I wasn’t patient by choice. You fucked up, you own it. But then I’m not a native speaker, maybe it just feels that way in my country.
I’m a native speaker, and it comes off as condescending to me.
Its not that simple. Its ok to apologize sometimes. But not so apologize every fucking time like I do for every minor slide. Also I can see the usefulness to just make the shot call instead of staying 1h writing that message/email. Others are ok too.
I write emails for an hour sometimes. Some things you want to have in writing so you can point back to it later. I work in a government position and for a lot of the folks I deal with I need to be able to show I told them this on this date and the trail that goes along with it to be able to take action on what they did that they shouldn’t have or didn’t do that they should have. That hour on an email could prevent or shorten tons of meetings and headaches. Just depends on your job.
Oh I know exactly what you mean. When I was in my government position I would write paragraphs of information as a response to what some may think was a simple question, but you’re right, in those types of positions you have to over explain because it saves a lot of headache going back and forth.
Yeah you’re right. I’m in IT. Some stuff sometimes is better discussed via short call. But in government positions I can see you need to have it all on record sure.
Corpo bullshit. Silverhand wouldn’t approve
YSK, the person that embraces all of these, as written, is RIGHTFULLY perceived as an assholes by their peers.
Some of them are great and can even make things less awkward for the other person. The “small error” one for example. The “I have an appointment” one is necessary when talking with higher ups in big companies who completely devalue your needs. But some are assholish, yeah.
Some of these are good, some are just needlessly assertive nonsense. Especially the two where it’s actively refusing to acknowledge fault or apologize for it, which is standard PR crap. Refusing to apologize and instead saying “thanks for your patience” is what I expect to hear from my ISP when they miss their scheduled install, not from a coworker.
There’s nothing wrong with being a normal human being that is capable of admitting their own shortcomings. If never saying sorry means “being a boss” then that explains why there’s so many sociopaths as CEOs.
“Hope that make sense?” Vs “Let me know if you have any questions.”
The latter is saying “here’s the explanation, figure it out, bother me again if you can’t”. The fromer, while poorly worded, is being helpful, actively attempting to make sure the person understands before leaving them to it. It’s both a kindness and doing your due diligence.
“Thank you for your patience” gives me such a visceral reaction, lol
I’m so happy to see a sane comment at the top here. So many of these are just stupid and border on alpha male don’t take not shit or admit fault crap.
I think it goes the other way too. For people that tend to apologize too much, even when it’s not their fault, mixing in a “thanks for your patience” is a good way to balance it out a bit.
That makes sense. I think that’s a different issue than I was thinking. Ultimately if it’s a sincere comment I think that’s the most important thing.
I’m torn. I feel like admitting guilt and owning up to your failures is a virtue, but I’m not sure the rest of the world agrees with me
Neurotypical enough to read body language, neurodivergent enough to never understand why
I’m with you. Just being honest about a failure is fine. Doesn’t have to be a dramatic apology, just an acknowledgment with a bit of regret perhaps.
Agreed! It’s like…. You know we’re emailing other people too right? Not everyone is a delicate fucking flower that needs to be coddled. Yes there are better ways to word stuff, but typing as a medium often just leaves too much up to interpretation. A difficult conversation should be discussed on a call.
Seriously… and oftentimes just combining both works better. “Hey sorry I’m late, I appreciate you all being patient” or “Hope that all makes sense, but please feel free to ask any questions if they come up”
Non-native speaker here. What are the disadvantages of being straightforward? In my native language, it is considered more efficient and polite to be to the point. I have worked with Americans in the past, and I have noticed that they are not straightforward.
Being straightforward is fine, but often times being straightforward comes with an air of superiority. It’s fine in a boss setting, but you should be careful giving commands to people who don’t answer to you as it shows a lack of respect. People just want to be treated nicely and feel like they have a choice.
Tone is difficult to convey in email. Business normies are presumptuous and oversensitive with communication.
Polite society is to blame. Being passive aggressive and fake is how we’ve learned to communicate in professional settings.
One really important thing I’ve learned is that you need to tell your employer when you need time off. You never request it.
Another really important thing I learned is if you have a good relationship with your boss is to discuss or ask when it would be best for the company to take time off and try to arrange you schedule with those dates in mind.
As an example of this, I like to take a vacation in the summer so I will usually discuss the best week I can do that with my boss because it’s not very importent to me exactly which week I want as long as it’s some time in the summer.
I have very mixed feelings about this. I feel personally attacked, but also might reference this moving forward
I’m absolutely using this moving forward…
Always happy to help!
First rule of email: don’t use comic sans font.
Imma take a second to plug goblin tools. I’m autistic and it has saved my ass.
deleted by creator
Thats an impressive feat.
deleted by creator
How?
deleted by creator
