Some Emailers Simply Don’t Care…

I thought I would share with you an email I received from a site visitor in regard to my Email Etiquette Quiz:

Site Visitor: “In your Netiquette Quiz; QUESTION: 9 in regard to how quickly I should respond to emails you say the correct answer was A: ‘As soon as I can; no longer than 24-48 hours — to not reply promptly gives the perception you don’t care.’

This is the wrong answer!! The proper answer is c. ‘I don’t have to reply’ at all. I WANT the person to perceive that I don’t care! (Name Withheld)”

Wow! I can’t imagine he feels that way about every email, but none-the-less he felt the need to send me the above comment trying to correct me.

Email Etiquette is a set of guidelines for folks to use so that they are perceived as someone who is a pleasure to communicate with. One can ignore every single bit of information on the topic if they so choose.

Responding promptly to emails is simply the courteous thing to do. The answer stands as this person’s response is the exception not the rule. And if one doesn’t care, at least they should have the intestinal fortitude to email the person(s) in question and tell them how they feel instead of hiding behind their screen or expecting me to change the right answer to something that caters to their lack of character and courtesy.

If he doesn’t care or want people he emails to care, it seems to me he is pretty good at getting that across.

You may also be interested in:

• No Time Like Right Now for E-mail Etiquette
• Are You Email Etiquette Savvy?
• Expectation of a Reply
• E-mail Etiquette Requires Your Reply
• E-mail Response Time