Why YSK: These email tips are helpful for people who struggle with boundaries and want to communicate more assertively.
Some of these are good, some are just needlessly assertive nonsense. Especially the two where it’s actively refusing to acknowledge fault or apologize for it, which is standard PR crap. Refusing to apologize and instead saying “thanks for your patience” is what I expect to hear from my ISP when they miss their scheduled install, not from a coworker.
There’s nothing wrong with being a normal human being that is capable of admitting their own shortcomings. If never saying sorry means “being a boss” then that explains why there’s so many sociopaths as CEOs.
“Hope that make sense?” Vs “Let me know if you have any questions.”
The latter is saying “here’s the explanation, figure it out, bother me again if you can’t”. The fromer, while poorly worded, is being helpful, actively attempting to make sure the person understands before leaving them to it. It’s both a kindness and doing your due diligence.
I’m so happy to see a sane comment at the top here. So many of these are just stupid and border on alpha male don’t take not shit or admit fault crap.
I think it goes the other way too. For people that tend to apologize too much, even when it’s not their fault, mixing in a “thanks for your patience” is a good way to balance it out a bit.
Seriously… and oftentimes just combining both works better. “Hey sorry I’m late, I appreciate you all being patient” or “Hope that all makes sense, but please feel free to ask any questions if they come up”
While most of these are a good rule of thumb, I disagree with ‘Always Happy to Help.’ > ‘No Problem.’
‘I’m Always Happy to Help’ is a fine response, if you’re actually willing to make your time available for the recipient at the drop of a hat. Sometimes that’s called for, but I would only reserve it for a few very specific circumstances. I also don’t see an issue with saying ‘no problem’ most of the time. There are situations where something a little more formal is called for, but 90% of the time ‘no problem’ should work imho.
God I hate forced formality like this. This is the kind of shit Gen Z and millennials are rebelling against and I’m all for it. It is stupid for us to encourage people to be themselves and then to expect them to act like a completely different person at work, including the way they talk.
Improving my work emails is 99% of what I use ChatGPT for.
One really important thing I’ve learned is that you need to tell your employer when you need time off. You never request it.
Another really important thing I learned is if you have a good relationship with your boss is to discuss or ask when it would be best for the company to take time off and try to arrange you schedule with those dates in mind.
As an example of this, I like to take a vacation in the summer so I will usually discuss the best week I can do that with my boss because it’s not very importent to me exactly which week I want as long as it’s some time in the summer.
“When can I expect an update” makes you sound like a micro managing POS
My personal ones for corporate use:
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Never use I when you can use we.
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Even if you’re the only one working on a project, never refer to it as yours. Always refer to it as ours.
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Don’t apologize, present solutions.
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Don’t say “read my fucking email again you goddamn illiterate moron”, say “As previously noted in our communications…”
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