Get over yourself, it’s a work email, not a love letter.
Improper email etiquette will have haunted most working professionals at one time or another.
From using too many exclamations (or not using enough) to accidentally picking an inappropriate sign-off, there are numerous ways your email can send the wrong message.
Now, it has emerged your email opener can also impact the way colleagues perceive you, with one format deemed especially ‘rude’ and ‘passive aggressive’ on Reddit.
While most people send a greeting to the person they’re emailing, starting an email without a ‘hello’ or any other form of pleasantry can be perceived as impolite and might even suggest you’re angry with the recipient. .
A Reddit user asked the online forum whether a work email that begins with just the recipient’s name would be considered rude in the UK.
‘I tend to find it slightly rude if someone starts an email with someone’s name and comma. For example: “John, could I get an update on this? Ben.”
They continued: ‘No “Hi” or “Dear” or anything, and also no actual sign-off.
‘I often find that if you respond with the same level of abruptness, the person can feel as if you are being rude to them, even though you are essentially matching their energy.
‘Is it just me who thinks this? Or do people actually prefer slightly abrupt and to the point?’
Good God, what is wrong with these people. It’s work. To the point is the way to go. I’ve never started an email – work or otherwise – with fluff that doesn’t need to be there. It’s a means of communication, not flirting. So, yes, I start with a name of the recipient, followed by a comma, then what I want to say followed by my name. I might put ‘regards’ but usually don’t. Succinct and functional. In fact, when people get over friendly, it puts me off. It’s business and I prefer people to be business-like when communicating.
Others revealed that they would find it rude – and that they only open an email without a greeting if they were purposefully trying to convey irritation or anger.
‘I would find it rude, yeah. But mainly only cause when I do it, it’s 100% cause I’m p*** off with the person,’ one user admitted.
If you are pissed off, then the problem is with you.
However, a lack of greeting or what has been termed polite ‘fluff’ – such as ‘How are you’ or ‘Hope you’re well’ – in an email might indicate the sender is autistic, several people pointed out.
One person, who said they were autistic, shared they struggle with adding niceties to their emails because they ‘don’t get it’.
‘I don’t read or care about the meaningless fluff so I spend far too long trying to figure out whether I’ve added the right meaningless fluff in the right way.
‘I would happily drop it completely,’ they said.
I do it and I’m not autistic. I just can’t be bothered with fluff.
So the next time you write an email, it may be wise to consider how you want the recipient to feel when they read it.
A little ‘Hi’ can go a long way – but will you choose ‘Kind regards’ or just ‘regards’? That’s a whole other story…
That’s a ‘no.’
I retired in the mid-00’s, I can’t even remember how emails were then, internal or external. As it was fund management and investment banks, probably very matter-of-fact, no fluff and to the point.
“While most people send a greeting to the person they’re emailing, starting an email without a ‘hello’ or any other form of pleasantry can be perceived as impolite and might even suggest you’re angry with the recipient.”
Bollocks. That’s what the headers are for. “Date:”, “From:”, “To:”, “Subject:”. It’s all there. Microsoft Outlook started adding a superfluous faux-chummy “Hi” to the body of every bloody email (and a pointless HTML attachment; don’t get me started on those) back in the late ’90s and now everyone thinks it’s normal and necessary. Sod that.
And nobody seems to know how email sigs work these days. Two dashes, a space, then your signoff on the next line. Correctly-configured email clients will understand it as the end of the text. It’s not difficult.
First world non problems.
Offense is taken, not given. These days the majority are soft snowflakes and the slightest thing is taken badly.
I generally try to add the same fluff (or lack of) as the other party uses with me – seems the best way to keep them all happy.
What really grates is where some company feels the need to tack a half page or so of faux legalese automatically onto the end of everything, especially as everyone is aware it is completely meaningless.
Thinking about this, I have to admit that I get pissed off about e mails that don’t have correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. I always try to make sure that I get these things right and it annoys me when I re-read one and find a mistake. E mails are normally an informal way of communicating and I get that, but writing in properly worded English is easy and takes little effort really. Don’t get me started on there, their and they’re.
Yeah, I do that. I beat myself up if there’s a typo or autocomplete has made an arse of itself and me in the process.