To mail or not !!
“What is the most important thing you do in office? “
“Work!! “ You say.
“I bet it is e Mail.”
“But won’t that count for work ?”
“ hmm let’s see.”
As you grow out of doing anything hands on, Email keeps you occupied for a good part of your work day. Emails come in all shapes and sizes.
Some emails are like a table tennis match. Usually played when both sides are agitated.
“ You did not to do blah blah so this happened blah blah.”
Re…
“ I did do that blah blah, but your team was sleeping blah blah”…
This usually happens when either of the protagonist is travelling. There is something about travel that seems to induce anxiety.This ping pong can go on for ever. If you are in copy of one of these mails, stay put, see the numbers of mails in your inbox shoot up ! If you are the boss, you take an agony aunt stance,
“ why don’t you guys calls each other ?” most people do take this as a cue to shut up.
Then there are mails written directly from the oxford dictionary.
“ We are honored that your esteemed organisation has chosen us to respond to this opportunity”,
Really !
“You just happened to be in the vendor list bro , nothing else “!
The dictionary can go south as well ,
“ It is catastrophic! The client thinks this is a major setback. This will derail the smooth chugging train of our long standing relationship”,
where did the earthquake hit ?, you wonder.
“ No sir,our release is delayed “ chimes in the project manager.
Then there are the goody goody ones.
“ Delighted to inform that we delivered the code 20 minutes before the deadline, I would like to thank the security guard and the Bangalore traffic …”
The Oscar award winning speech continues.
In such cases you wait for the top most cog in the mailing list to respond. ,Suppose she says
“ Bravo, well done “,
you know the direction of the wind ,you add,
“yes wonderful indeed, I am sure the automation ideas from my team were of some help “
A mail that starts with “sir” or “madam” or “Sunitaji” can be a stinker wrapped in gift paper.
“Sunitaji, request your help (your account has not grown for last one million years!) “.
The best of the mails are when someone leaves the organization,
“ I would like to thank madam X and sir y for all the support. I am going on to explore new horizons “ …
But then you are only going to Ecospace bro!
It is important to find the names that were missed in these mails, topic for gossip over cup of tea.
What would life be without emails? An average escalation would take three days to reach, another three to respond, by then both parties would have found something more local to chew on to. Who knows we might actual get back to working.
