For many moons I have had a love/hate relationship with E-Mail. It’s such a great way to pass on information, data and thoughts in such a short time. However, I hate E-mail because of the loss of personality.
How did it become a binding contract in the business world? You spend more time trying to explain what the message says, just pick up the phone, or better yet walk down the hall and meet face to face. Have you ever been CCd on a string of Emails where some idiot always responds to “Reply All?” I have many times interrupted a string by stating, “It’s clear to me that the addressees in this Email don’t understand or can’t seem to agree. Please pick up the phone and stop wasting everyone’s time and space.”
When Voice Mail came in everyone thought it was a great way to communicate. It seems once someone leaves you a Voice or Email it is gospel unless they hear back from you. People screen their Emails just like they did and still do Voice Mails. Many folks put the Microsoft “Reply to Messenger” or “Read Receipt.”
Did you ever get an Email message back that says “Deleted Not Read?” It stings when it comes from your boss and they don’t know that the message exists if you have Read Receipt on.
My biggest dislike of all is the loss of meaning. It’s bad enough when you are talking face to face and can’t seem to get your point across. Email takes the nuances of any language and destroys their intent.
My favorite was putting the “Block Message” on when you went on vacation. Well it was fun once. Now you just put a message stating the time you will be gone. Upon return almost every Email starts out with “Upon your return…” At one point in my career I was getting 200+ Emails a day. Don’t you just love the Emails your boss sends in the middle of the night, and worse yet one of your cheesy co-workers responds?
Hate the attachments that you have to go through umpteen versions to get to it only to find some useless message.
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