Rude and ruder...

Hi Marion,

I'm so sorry to do this to you but as you know I've just been thrust into this new position and I've got wall to wall meetings. Please forgive me and I'll make sure my PA gets back to you soon with a new 'firm' date.

Regards,

This didn't happen. What I received was a Meeting Notification cancelling the meeting. Not a single word with it. Just that.

I was pretty peed off so I called his PA and told her so. I could tell by her tone (very off) that she was indignant at my call and couldn't understand why I didn't understand just how important her boss and his situation was. I would have understood if I'd received a decent email.

A thin line

This is the problem with the way we do business today - there's a thin line between efficiency and plain rudeness.

At school we were taught how to write a 'proper' letter. We were told to start with 'Dear ....., Well, that's largely been replaced today with the more familiar 'Hi ...'. This is fine, providing the other person has addressed you this way. At least it's a greeting.

Then there's the body of the message, which in many cases (mobile phones, iPads, tablets etc.,) is barely legible, as people tend to think you don't need to spellcheck an email. One I've just received has the following spelling mistakes in just five lines of copy:

I am by no meens the final decesion maker. I took the liberty to add to youd invoice. Thats why. Unfortunatly. However I will follow up them. And last but not least - telefonic.

This was from an English first language speaker holding a top administrative position in a major corporate organisation.

Going back, once again to school days, we were taught to end a letter in one of the following ways, yours sincerely, truly or faithfully. Ja, these do sound a bit old fashioned but the words, thanks, kind regards, etc., work well in their place.

It just takes one

Often when dealing with the PA mentioned above, she just sends a one- or two-liner with no greeting and no sign off. That's rude. Plain rude! Now, I have to admit I do leave off the greeting when it's a case of a volley of back and forth emails on a topic. But again there's a thin line here.

I've just had a whip through the current batch of emails sitting in my inbox and have to say they're all polite to a fault. But it just takes one to make my hackles rise.

So the moral of the story here is: it doesn't matter if it's just a two-line note, think about what you say and how you say it. And if you're about to send a message request or cancellation, think whether it needs a note with it. Relationships are easier to break than fix...