Last week, as I was sitting at my home, enjoying the weekend by watching batman returns on Star movies, I heard my phone beeping. There was an Email notification.

Half-lying on the bed, I casually glanced at my phone’s screen. The menu bar of my phone said that the mail was from my team leader. I could never ignore an official mail.

But another part of me frowned over it, because office work couldn't leave me even on a much deserved holiday.

I opened my mailbox. The subject line was: wrong information!

The mail read, “Why is your number being displayed in other person’s contact information?”

The tone of that mail suggested that I had done some serious mistake.

I frowned at it. And then I realized that while I was making an employee’s account on our Company’s portal, I had entered my mobile number in his contact information, since I did not have his contact number at that time. And I was in too much hurry to ask someone for that information. I also knew that one of my juniors would definitely update the number later, since they updated employee’s information on weekly basis.

But this time, they missed it!

Batman returns now lay abandoned by me, since I immediately opened my laptop to correct the information.

In those 4 seconds, my phone beeped again. There was another Email notification.

The subject line was: Paid leaves have been added?

The mail read, “Have you added extra Paid leaves in Hussain’s account?”

Shit, I had missed that too!

Another 5 seconds, and there was another beep.

Forget the horrible subject lines, the mail read, “Why all the bugs haven’t been solved yet? Who is the responsible person for this?”

Now I was more angry than I was guilty 5 seconds earlier. Because the tone of all those mails was so authoritative. Come on, I was a human, and I could oh-so-easily make mistakes. I had been associated with the Company for years. And it actually hurt when somebody talked to you in that tone.

I missed 5 minutes of my favorite movie in thinking that there could have been a better way to write all those Emails. My mistake wasn’t so big that I should have been talked in that tone.

I sat straight on my bed, corrected the mistakes in some 20 good minutes, replied calmly to all those Emails, and half-lying again I resumed the movie. Batman looked in deep trouble.

Monday morning, I was happy, because I got to sleep exactly two hours extra since I didn't have my tennis class that day.

Later, I left for the office. Monday blues, you may call it. Because you have a heap of unending work to do.

As I was going through the Google spreadsheets, I came across 3–4 sheets which were still incomplete. I had reminded one of the fellows to complete it some days back, but it wasn't paid any attention yet. Now the work of a few people was dependent on the completion of those sheets, which made me a little mad.

Being his team leader, I began typing an Email, intended to be sent to that fellow. I was seething in anger.

The mail read, “Why isn't November’s attendance sheet updated yet in all the person’s attendance sheets?”

I wished to add some more lines to it, justifying my anger, but I don’t know why, something in the back of my mind made me stop.

I immediately deleted the entire sentence, which I was on the verge of sending to that fellow. And I retyped it. “Please add November’s attendance sheet in all the person’s attendance sheets.​”

As I was retyping, I realized, yes, there could have been a better way to type a mail. This was it.

A change in tone.

A bad Email makes you think 5 minutes more than usual.

It then wastes your another 5 minutes while you are sulking, unless you are cool and composed enough like Osho, and the worldly things are unimportant to you.

Then, if you have been associated with your Company for many years, such Email makes you doubt your responsibilities. Hmm, are you really responsible enough?

It reverses your mood chart for the day, and you are done. Your productivity goes a tad down.

Next time, when you write an Email, do ask yourself this one thing, “Is my tone right?”