Tuesday, June 17, 2008

What's Up With Diss Email?

Has email become a tool of choice for cowardly behavior? Do you open your email and realize that you were owed a phone call but all you got was a lousy email? The thing about certain emails is that they can out slap a slap in the face because you can't react. You can gasp but you can't yell. 
 
We're not talking about emails that are  downright nasty. Those are easy to delete, both the message and the messenger.  The emails we loathe are the ones that respond to phone calls. For example, you thought about an old friend, you picked up the phone, left a caring message and all you got back was an email. That's not fair and life can be fair when you know how to pick up a phone and respond accordingly. Answering a phone call with an email is a blatant display of rudeness and in some cases cowardliness. It also sends a very clear message, "I really don't want to talk to you."

There are those instances when it's understandable to retrieve a phone message and respond with an email. Maybe you're in Bora Bora and don't have your cell phone charger with you and the hotel charges gazillions of dollars a minute on their phones.

The world of emails is vast and wrought with issues. At the top of the 'worst' list are emails that threaten you with an untimely death if you don't threaten ten other good friends within minutes. There's nothing like getting one of these from someone you haven't heard from in months. 

There's an expediency to email that's very seductive.  Sending a handwritten note seems so yesterday for many. We miss stationery. I don't have to wake up and see a boozy thank you in my inbox written the night before when it seemed like a good idea. Be very careful about drunk emailing. Remember drunk dialing?  The thing about unfortunate emails is the unfortunate forward button. 

We can go on and on about email etiquette and in the future we will.  Have a nice day and feel free to email us your comments.






2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my god...I got into the most ridiculous e-mail argument with my sister-in-law. She thought I did something wrong and decided to reprimand me via e-mail!!! I explained to her that a)I didn't actually do anything wrong, she misunderstood what I did, and b)it really wasn't something that should be taken up via e-mail. I explained that in an e-mail, things can be easily misinterpreted -- especially if you're not a very good writer. It went back and forth for 20 e-mails!!!

Anonymous said...

Boozy emails and calls are a problem. One may want to take a look at their drinking habits