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  3. How hard is it to read emails?

How hard is it to read emails?

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  • R Richard A Dalton

    If you are finding this is a problem then take those lemons and make lemonade. Instead of getting pissed off, or worked up, just have some fun with it. Be imaginative. Depending on how well you know the recipient, the following might be a good example. Stick the following words towards the end of the email. "BTW, I'd love to sleep with your wife. Is that something you can sort out for me?" When said person calls back having clearly not read the email (but claiming they have). Just ask... "Did everything in the mail sound ok? You don't have any issues?" You can ad lib it from there.... -Richard

    Hit any user to continue.

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    Terrence Dorsey
    wrote on last edited by
    #25

    I once worked for a guy who didn't always respond to e-mails, even if they contained pointed requests for timely action. Sometimes he'd get on it right away. Other times, it's like he hadn't even opened Outlook. Over time, however, one of my colleagues noticed a pattern: If your action item was either the first line or the last line in the message, you'd likely get a response. Anything in the middle of the message would be ignored. Not having anything to lose, we started writing our messages to this manager using the proposed formula. First line or last line if you wanted attention. Put pretty much anything you want in the middle. And it worked.

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    • S Single Step Debugger

      I just read your message and have to ask: Haven’t you tired from all these Lotus Notes rants?

      The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.

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      G Offline
      Gary Wheeler
      wrote on last edited by
      #26

      Deyan Georgiev wrote:

      Haven’t you tired from all these Lotus Notes rants?

      Until you tell me that the Lotus Notes development team has been executed for their war crimes, IBM's headquarters have been torn down and replaced by a brothel, and every copy of Bloatus Goatse uninstalled and replaced by Thunderbird... no.

      Software Zen: delete this;

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      • E Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

        It seems I am a poor communicator. I am constantly getting phone calls from people who state they have read my email and then proceed with a conversation as if they have never read any of my emails. Why is it that I am the jerk for suggesting they re-read my email and then call back when they are ready. Why is the initial lie O.K. but the cold, hard, honest truth rude? Example Email: "Wednesday at noon is fine. We can meet up at Longhorn's." Example Call after email: "I just got your email. Can we meet Wednesday at noon? Will that work with you? Is Longhorn's O.K.?"

        Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost

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        M Offline
        M Towler
        wrote on last edited by
        #27

        I suggest it matters where in the email the critical sentence is located. Busy people often only read the first sentence of each paragraph. Make it easy for people not to miss the critical part. It would be easier to give a better critique if you posted one of your messages in its entirety (made anonymous of course). I am assuming there is more content than the sentence you quote.

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        • C CalvinHobbies

          input somewhere in the email " donuts". food and money usually get people's attention ( Sex would be a HR no no :) )

          ///////////////// Groucho Marx Those are my principles, if you don't like them… I have others.

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          draghu
          wrote on last edited by
          #28

          LOL

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          • E Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

            The problem with contrived examples is people try to pick them apart rather than focus on the meaning the example is set to portray. I know you are only kidding in your reply, of course, but still :-p

            Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost

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            Naruki 0
            wrote on last edited by
            #29

            Well, yeah, but what do you think the problem is? It was the only line in his email, so it's clear the guy didn't just skip the middle.

            Narf.

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            • E Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

              It seems I am a poor communicator. I am constantly getting phone calls from people who state they have read my email and then proceed with a conversation as if they have never read any of my emails. Why is it that I am the jerk for suggesting they re-read my email and then call back when they are ready. Why is the initial lie O.K. but the cold, hard, honest truth rude? Example Email: "Wednesday at noon is fine. We can meet up at Longhorn's." Example Call after email: "I just got your email. Can we meet Wednesday at noon? Will that work with you? Is Longhorn's O.K.?"

              Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost

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              Lost User
              wrote on last edited by
              #30

              It gets worse. My mother will call 3 times in the same evening to confirm the exact same thing. Do you work with your mother?

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              • T Terrence Dorsey

                I once worked for a guy who didn't always respond to e-mails, even if they contained pointed requests for timely action. Sometimes he'd get on it right away. Other times, it's like he hadn't even opened Outlook. Over time, however, one of my colleagues noticed a pattern: If your action item was either the first line or the last line in the message, you'd likely get a response. Anything in the middle of the message would be ignored. Not having anything to lose, we started writing our messages to this manager using the proposed formula. First line or last line if you wanted attention. Put pretty much anything you want in the middle. And it worked.

                P Offline
                P Offline
                Philip Tyre
                wrote on last edited by
                #31

                There's a particular manager in my office that's much the same. Anything important you need to convey should be in the first paragraph of the e-mail. That paragraph can be no more than 3 sentences. Lately, I've stopped including the rest of the e-mail and just stick with that opening paragraph. He has a nasty habit of printing out the long ones, then coming into my office and essentially doing a "cooperative reading" off the printed copy, reading out loud and asking questions as he goes. Kind of defeats the purpose.

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                • E Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

                  It seems I am a poor communicator. I am constantly getting phone calls from people who state they have read my email and then proceed with a conversation as if they have never read any of my emails. Why is it that I am the jerk for suggesting they re-read my email and then call back when they are ready. Why is the initial lie O.K. but the cold, hard, honest truth rude? Example Email: "Wednesday at noon is fine. We can meet up at Longhorn's." Example Call after email: "I just got your email. Can we meet Wednesday at noon? Will that work with you? Is Longhorn's O.K.?"

                  Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost

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                  Isfeasachme
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #32

                  LOL! You answer your phone? How quaint.

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                  • R Richard A Dalton

                    If you are finding this is a problem then take those lemons and make lemonade. Instead of getting pissed off, or worked up, just have some fun with it. Be imaginative. Depending on how well you know the recipient, the following might be a good example. Stick the following words towards the end of the email. "BTW, I'd love to sleep with your wife. Is that something you can sort out for me?" When said person calls back having clearly not read the email (but claiming they have). Just ask... "Did everything in the mail sound ok? You don't have any issues?" You can ad lib it from there.... -Richard

                    Hit any user to continue.

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    Lost User
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #33

                    So you say this to people that you don't know, right?

                    Hassan

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                    • J Jeff Connelly

                      Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:

                      "Hi this is John Doe I am calling about that thing in that place that we need to do. " add 2 minutes of babble, "call me back at 222 3 *&($" great didn't get that last part now I have to listen to the whole thing again.

                      Exactly. It's a problem with that medium in modern times. Only use v-mail when you *have* to convey tone, it's something they are *really* looking forward to hearing about, or they're so bored they want to listen to v-mail :-)

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                      Stefan_Lang
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #34

                      After the experience of being cut off with 'Thank you for calling. you will hear back from us...*beep*' after about a minute or so without giving me a chance to actually leave a number after the message I made it a habit of either not bothering to leave a voicemail or name my number first thing in the message. In fact, it's a long time I last left a voice mail anywhere. Either I write an email instead or just call again later.

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                      • C CalvinHobbies

                        input somewhere in the email " donuts". food and money usually get people's attention ( Sex would be a HR no no :) )

                        ///////////////// Groucho Marx Those are my principles, if you don't like them… I have others.

                        Richard DeemingR Offline
                        Richard DeemingR Offline
                        Richard Deeming
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #35

                        "Free Hat[^]" would also work. :-D


                        "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                        "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined" - Homer

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                        • R Rutvik Dave

                          Oh, So you are not receiving my emails, otherwise I was going to tell you that, Thursday is bad for me also...

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                          n podbielski
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #36

                          Oh it's seems like I was receiving emails from either of you... So Saturday night is good? At Boobs Paradise?

                          In soviet Russia code debugs You!

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                          • C CalvinHobbies

                            input somewhere in the email " donuts". food and money usually get people's attention ( Sex would be a HR no no :) )

                            ///////////////// Groucho Marx Those are my principles, if you don't like them… I have others.

                            S Offline
                            S Offline
                            Sathesh Sakthivel
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #37

                            ROTFL Sathesh. Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.

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                            • L LloydA111

                              Damn:suss:


                              See if you can crack this: fb29a481781fe9b3fb8de57cda45fbef

                              The unofficial awesome history of Code Project's Bob! "People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid."

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                              Y Offline
                              YSLGuru
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #38

                              "People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." Not everyone who demonds freedom of speech is devoid of freedom of thought. Now the sheeple are a different story. They demand freedom of Prime Time Drama, Comedies and Reality TV as well as weekend sports to replace their need to fill there lives with something that is meaningful and since these are not that they continue consuming and consuming and consuming. That however is aplicable only to the sheeple; the rest of us get it.

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                              • E Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

                                It seems I am a poor communicator. I am constantly getting phone calls from people who state they have read my email and then proceed with a conversation as if they have never read any of my emails. Why is it that I am the jerk for suggesting they re-read my email and then call back when they are ready. Why is the initial lie O.K. but the cold, hard, honest truth rude? Example Email: "Wednesday at noon is fine. We can meet up at Longhorn's." Example Call after email: "I just got your email. Can we meet Wednesday at noon? Will that work with you? Is Longhorn's O.K.?"

                                Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost

                                Y Offline
                                Y Offline
                                YSLGuru
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #39

                                Sometimes its justified but those are rare. When an email is so lengthy that the term verbose does not qualify to desribe it, then its OK for the person to not read it if and when the simple answer they need is burried ion the mess. Otherwise its either just pure laziness or inconsideration of others. I worked at a software company that had a California office and we(in the non-California office) learned that if we wanted anyone in the California opffice to read an email it had to be 1 paragraph only with at most 3-4 (short) sentences no matter what iut was about. Anything more then that and all after paragraph 1 were lost.

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