Work Email Pet Peeves

[Neonmoon 38129]

These things make me want to murder things

1. Catching up on the previous days emails missed, and responding to each and every email in an email chain instead of just responding once to the last email

2. Not actually reading the fucking email and responding with a question that was answered in the previous email

3. Only answering 1 of 3 questions asked in an email. 

 

 

[tfoolry 8214]

Thanks in advance. 

[Parliament 14260]

Forwarding me an email I've already received, with an "ICYMI."  As if that makes you not a shithead.

Emails that could be texts/IM's.

Emails with attachments that are protected/I can't access.

Not giving me all the relevant information, thus requiring me to reply for more info.

You describe the problem, at lenght, when a few screenshots would have shown me better.

[Mez2 4023]

"I hope this email finds you well..."

 

 

[PantsTent 2002]

Replying to all:  "Please do not reply to all!" 

 

[mchookem 16336]

i'm retired, but it would really annoy me when people would spell my damn name wrong.

i mean i have a name that technically can be spelled a few different ways, but it's still a common/easy name... but if you're sending me an email THE CORRECT SPELLING IS RIGHT IN THE FUCKING EMAIL ADDRESS 😡

at worst you're being a passive-aggressive jerk and at best you are inattentive to basic detail. either way i found unprofessional.

Edited October 26, 2022 by mchookem

[Kennythetiger 9383]

1 hour ago, Mez2 said:

"I hope this email finds you well..."

 

 

I use this greeting in emails to my wife. She hates it. 

[Guadaloopy 10971]

6 minutes ago, mchookem said:

i'm retired, but it would really annoy me when people would spell my damn name wrong.

i mean i have a name that technically can be spelled a few different ways, but it's still a common/easy name... but if you're sending me an email THE CORRECT SPELLING IS RIGHT IN THE FUCKING EMAIL ADDRESS 😡

at worst you're being a passive-aggressive jerk and at best you are inattentive to basic detail. either way i found unprofessional.

Fuck off, Sean/Shawn/Shon.

[Neonmoon 38129]

If you have an inspirational quote as your permanent email signature. You deserve a special place in hell

[MeerkatBong 115]

With the advent of Slack (or Teams, if you are a heathen), I have noticed emails are more specific, serious, and formal. With that being the case, it's way easier to be a Zero-Inbox guy as well as using email for important/CYA/documented communication purposes which is also why there is a 24 hour SLA on a reply. Maybe 48 hours if you are 2 pay-grade levels or above me. Otherwise, you had better be responsive or else.

Edit to add: If your company doesn't use a messaging solution and still only has emails for all communications, your job sucks and is backwards and the technology, usage, and culture has matured enough to where you own the blame for still working for the backwards company.

Edited October 26, 2022 by MeerkatBong

[Shoxthemonkey 1981]

1 hour ago, Guadaloopy said:

Fuck off, Sean/Shawn/Shon/Chone

FIFM

[tigol 2398]

1 hour ago, mchookem said:

i'm retired, but it would really annoy me when people would spell my damn name wrong.

i mean i have a name that technically can be spelled a few different ways, but it's still a common/easy name... but if you're sending me an email THE CORRECT SPELLING IS RIGHT IN THE FUCKING EMAIL ADDRESS 😡

at worst you're being a passive-aggressive jerk and at best you are inattentive to basic detail. either way i found unprofessional.

Okay, Tiffunee'

[Ten Bears 2481]

I find that if I have more than 2 questions I better put them in bullet points or one or more will be missed.

[GhostOfTomJoad 9324]

I'm guessing all Surly knows that "FYI" isn't an acronym of "For Your Information", it means "Fuck You Idiot", right?

Use it appropriately, friends.

And to be more on topic, although it's a bigger calendar bitch than email, is when someone replies saying that their calendar is up to date so go ahead and send the meeting invite--even though you use the scheduling assistant and verify that everyone is open for that particular time--that same asshole sends back a different time proposal that fits nobody's schedule because they're not available. 

[Longhorn_Fan68 33870]

[NorthLoop 14203]

1 hour ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

You should've read his last email

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

Work email is my pet peeve 

[Prepuce of Doom 21073]

Best, 

[TexArcher 37774]

Warm regards,

[Bullneck 19090]

7 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

If you have an inspirational quote as your permanent email signature. You deserve a special place in hell

Or electronic stationery or a cursive font for your name that's not part of our identity package.

6 hours ago, tigol said:

Okay, Tiffunee'

Okay, Trashelle

Edited October 27, 2022 by Bullneck

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

Best, 

One of our female college noobs signs this way.

Best what? Best intentions? Best Buy? Best Blowjob? Best burger?

[Pancho 44803]

Told a friend the other day that I could probably make some bags (like aggy football type bags) by doing business public speaking specifically on what the FUCK THE CC IS REALLY FOR. 

CHRIST!

 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO CC SOMEONE EVERY TIME!

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

7 hours ago, PantsTent said:

Replying to all:  "Please do not reply to all!" 

 

Equally as bad is when someone DOES NOT reply all when it's inferred or even requested.

There's an architect we work with who is notorious for this.  It's actually gotten us into a bind before regarding updated plan sets.

<Project Manager copies whole team plus the owner plus the designer plus the engineer>

Mr. Smith-

Great meeting today!  Please send over the updated plans to the group when the revisions are made.  Thanks!

-Project Manager

Next day, he sends the plans to my PM and nobody else "here you go!".  If the PM notices it wasn't a "reply all", he'll forward them to the group.  But, there's been times where it's assumed that Mr. Smith is a normally functioning adult and has mastered the art of disseminating information via the reply all feature.  Nope.  Every damn time.  Even if "please reply all" is noted in the email.  It's insane.  

[Kennythetiger 9383]

49 minutes ago, Bullneck said:

Or electronic stationary or a cursive font 

*stationery

Regards,

Kenny

 

[Incredulity 11671]

Building on the reply-all bull.

The cheery platitude reply-all to a group email announcement of some mostly innocuous achievement.

”Way to Go!  You Rock, Becky!!”

[Loop 1604 227]

“Dickbutt Williams requested a read receipt be sent when message ‘blah blah blah’ is read. Do you want to send a receipt?”

“This message was sent with high importance.”
 

[South Austin 52504]

7 hours ago, Pancho said:

Told a friend the other day that I could probably make some bags (like aggy football type bags) by doing business public speaking specifically on what the FUCK THE CC IS REALLY FOR. 

CHRIST!

 

YOU DO NOT NEED TO CC SOMEONE EVERY TIME!

People who cc themselves are the worst.

[BladeRunnerRock 33]

Thanks for including your email address in the signature line of the email you just sent me.

[Sam Lin 3559]

6 hours ago, Loop 1604 said:

“Dickbutt Williams requested a read receipt be sent when message ‘blah blah blah’ is read. Do you want to send a receipt?”

“This message was sent with high importance.”

So much this.

8 hours ago, slorch said:

One of our female college noobs

Pics aren't loading.

[TexArcher 37774]

Re: reply-to-all

The week after 9/11, when we all came back to work, an email went out to the entire firm, which had something like 80k employees spread out across a couple dozen countries.  The email was the moving solidarity stuff you'd expect.

Then came the "Amen" replies.  Hundreds per minute.  Several languages were invoked.  Then came the "Please do not reply to all!" replies.  Hundreds of them, too.  Then the servers crashed, as we were all already a week behind on work.

Moral: people are stupid all around the world, not just here.  But mostly here.

Edited October 27, 2022 by TexArcher

[Hammerin Hank 1227]

“Please give me a call “ 

Why don’t you tell me what you want to talk about so I can be prepared for the call?  Or better yet, just type out whatever you were going to say, and I can most likely respond with what you need in 30 seconds 

[Parliament 14260]

5 hours ago, BladeRunnerRock said:

Thanks for including your email address in the signature line of the email you just sent me.

FWIW, it makes it easy for a later fwd:fwd:fwd: recipient to find your email address if they need it.

2 hours ago, TexArcher said:

Re: reply-to-all

The week after 9/11, when we all came back to work, an email went out to the entire firm, which had something like 80k employees spread out across a couple dozen countries.  The email was the moving solidarity stuff you'd expect.

Then came the "Amen" replies.  Hundreds per minute.  Several languages were invoked.  Then came the "Please do not reply to all!" replies.  Hundreds of them, too.  Then the servers crashed, as we were all already a week behind on work.

Moral: people are stupid all around the world, not just here.  But mostly here.

Bcc: how does it work?

Don't put a image (like the company logo or something) in your sig line.  Shows up as an attachment on my phone email app.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Parliament

[Celery Man 20949]

5 hours ago, BladeRunnerRock said:

Thanks for including your email address in the signature line of the email you just sent me.

actually a thing that drives me fucking nuts is how difficult it is to copy paste an e-mail address from an e-mail in outlook. Right click copy on the account that sent you an e-mail? "Legible Name <emailaddress@clownpenis.fart>" . Double click on the name, it opens up the contact card, don't highlight the address but instead right click and select copy. I mean, I guess it's not that difficult, but that should be a two click thing and not a thing where you're opening new windows and clicking in multiple areas. Having an e-mail address in the signature seems stupid but sometimes grab it from there if I'm hunting for contact information.

 

 

[Gene Parmesan 4007]

Reply all got a lot of heavy action at my company during the shutdown.  Everyone was trying to make sure that you knew they were online and in front of a computer.  Getting 5 thank yous and another 5 your welcomes in an exchange that you shouldn't even be part of to begin with was fun.

[Sbbruin 21853]

23 hours ago, MeerkatBong said:

With the advent of Slack (or Teams, if you are a heathen), I have noticed emails are more specific, serious, and formal. With that being the case, it's way easier to be a Zero-Inbox guy as well as using email for important/CYA/documented communication purposes which is also why there is a 24 hour SLA on a reply. Maybe 48 hours if you are 2 pay-grade levels or above me. Otherwise, you had better be responsive or else.

Edit to add: If your company doesn't use a messaging solution and still only has emails for all communications, your job sucks and is backwards and the technology, usage, and culture has matured enough to where you own the blame for still working for the backwards company.

[retsevlys 408]

18 hours ago, Loop 1604 said:

“Dickbutt Williams requested a read receipt be sent when message ‘blah blah blah’ is read. Do you want to send a receipt?”

 

You can set your Outlook to never send a read receipt and never request that you do.

[NorthLoop 14203]

21 minutes ago, retsevlys said:

You can set your Outlook to never send a read receipt and never request that you do.

Just reply "I didn't read this"

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

I always request a read receipt on the read receipts

[tx ind 7013]

17 hours ago, South Austin said:

People who cc themselves are the worst.

I don’t like it either but have an awesome former colleague that did that from time to time.  His explanation was that it was a reminder to himself in his inbox if something was important, which I kinda get.

 

I hate when people draft a super long email with 8 paragraphs, etc. for something that could be hammered out in a call in 10-15 minutes over the phone/video.  Probably took 30 minutes to write up something that could be discussed quickly.

[Bullneck 19090]

14 minutes ago, tx ind said:

I don’t like it either but have an awesome former colleague that did that from time to time.  His explanation was that it was a reminder to himself in his inbox if something was important, which I kinda get.

At my age seeing my email in my inbox reminds me that, yes, I sent the email.  

[High Plains Drifter 11049]

 

After several weekly staff meetings devolved into hour long back and forths over minutiae that didn't concern 90% of the people in the room, my boss changed the format of the meetings into "get and go" meaning he talks, you listen, everybody leaves. If you have questions or comments on anything he said, you talk to him later. Then someone suggested that if that is how the meetings are going to go, then why not just send an email with all the info, and we wouldn't even have to have these meetings at all.

So he started doing that, then the comments and questions started rolling that were....

 

 

 

(see if you can guess where this is going....)

 

 

 

reply to all

[SurlyBDR 22791]

Inbox: Need ASAP

Phone call: Hey, I just emailed you, can you take a look at it?

 

[Celery Man 20949]

7 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

After several weekly staff meetings devolved into hour long back and forths over minutiae that didn't concern 90% of the people in the room, my boss changed the format of the meetings into "get and go" meaning he talks, you listen, everybody leaves. If you have questions or comments on anything he said, you talk to him later. Then someone suggested that if that is how the meetings are going to go, then why not just send an email with all the info, and we wouldn't even have to have these meetings at all.

So he started doing that, then the comments and questions started rolling that were....

 

 

 

(see if you can guess where this is going....)

 

 

 

reply to all

Teammates in a meeting answering a simple yes or no question 

 

[Spankytoes 1739]

“I hear you’re having problems with your TPS reports. Did you get the memo?”

[Radical Larry 28619]

Have a blessed day

[Ogie Ogilthorpe 639]

Not email but Teams or any instant messaging, just sending "Hello".

If you have a fucking question ask it, don't say hello and wait for me to respond. If you can wait send me an email.

[Tom 2959]

We somehow have more than one person in the same regional office who have the image icons for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. at the bottom of their signature as if to link to our company's social media pages.  Except you can't even click on them.  They're just images.  And they send this out to customers daily.

[NorthLoop 14203]

39 minutes ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said:

Not email but Teams or any instant messaging, just sending "Hello".

If you have a fucking question ask it, don't say hello and wait for me to respond. If you can wait send me an email.

followed by "can i call you"

 

OR the random incoming call on teams without any heads up. 

[Baboontyme 2812]

On 10/26/2022 at 6:43 PM, GhostOfTomJoad said:

I'm guessing all Surly knows that "FYI" isn't an acronym of "For Your Information", it means "Fuck You Idiot", right?

Use it appropriately, friends.

And to be more on topic, although it's a bigger calendar bitch than email, is when someone replies saying that their calendar is up to date so go ahead and send the meeting invite--even though you use the scheduling assistant and verify that everyone is open for that particular time--that same asshole sends back a different time proposal that fits nobody's schedule because they're not available. 

Years ago, when I was a couple of years out of college and the job market was not so hot, I worked with the dumbest person I have come across in any workplace. And that includes teenage stints as a bus boy, dishwasher, McDonald's, and doing skilled trade work in large auto plants. We were both contractors for a temp agency at a major automotive company. It was embarrassing to be an 'equal' in the workplace with this person, frankly. Anyway, she routinely sent emails with the Subject line "FYI" that would just contain a question.

 

TO: Baboontyme

Subject: FYI

Hi Baboon, what time do we have our Operations meeting?

 

She was also studying for her *Associates* degree (n her mid 40s) and she would ask me all of the time for help with her "algerbra" homework. It was like trying to teach math to a dog. "So all it means is that X is a fill in the blank number and you have to figure out what that fill in the blank number is" Looks at me wide eyed. "So in this example 2 + X = 3, can you figure out what number X is supposed to be?" Blank stare. Algerbra is tough. 

[shakahorn 1645]

On 10/27/2022 at 2:38 AM, South Austin said:

People who cc themselves are the worst.

There's actually a good reason to do this, at least with Microsoft 365.  If there is a shared mailbox for a team, then cc'ing the team makes sure everyone sees it otherwise, it will just be in the sent items of the actual sender.  For example, AR@treefiddy.xxx everyone in accounts receivable sees all the messages that come in, but won't see replies from others on the team unless AR@treefiddy.xxx is cc'd.

Sometimes the shared mailbox is in the name of a person, but actually monitored by a team, often when someone no longer works there, or was a fictional person to begin with.

In all other cases, the sender is an idiot.