As a Communicator, I stay on top of my emails. That is why it surprises me to find out that other people do not. I sometimes forget I spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer, allowing me to read an email as it arrives in my inbox. And if I'm away from my desk (like on the weekends), I check it from my iPhone every few hours anyways.
This week I was called out by a business expert and professional. I emailed him some important information two weeks ago and failed to follow up with a phone call to confirm he'd received it. Turns out he hadn't read it, and I only found out the day before an event he was due to speak at, when he phoned. A little more personal contact would've have been appreciated, he told me. And I agree, even though I have a list of reasons why it managed to slip my mind to phone him, it doesn't matter. I should have phoned him to follow up with in this case, and I accept I made a mistake. Lesson learned. (However, as a Communications expert, should he not have read my email sometime in the past two weeks?)
Another incident I had this week was personal. I was hosting a get together with some of my friends. I emailed them all with all the info and heard back from only one of them confirming attendance. The rest, didn't let me know they weren't coming because they were sick until the day of. It's too bad they were sick, but when you don' reply until the day of, to say they're sick then, really irritated me. I completely understand they were sick and I wasn't mad, but what if they hadn't gotten sick? Would they have gotten back to me at all? Since they're all so busy I made sure to email and text them all, since I know they all check their emails and they all own smart phones. Yes, once again, I should've called. However, since one of them is "soooooooooooooo busyyyyyyyyy" I never get through to her, so in a week I left her two emails, a text, a voicemail, all unanswered. She is always very busy, (oh and always sick too) this I know. But at this point, she is now just being plain rude. Especially because I'm a friend. If she had time to update her status on facebook, she saw/read all my messages too. She's not the president of the United States, a heart surgeon, or an astronaut on Mars, so really, how busy can you be in a 40 hour work week? Therefore, there comes a point when unanswered emails are just plain rude, depending on the person and time. In this case the person was a friend, and the time she received four messages from me via email, text and voicemail was five days.
I thought I was familiar with email etiquette and it was common sense for all. I've come to learn it is not, adjusting your communication mediums according to person you're communicating with is the best way to make everyone happy. But then again, it is 2011, and if you have a smart phone, then you should be capable of using it. But that brings us to a whole new form of etiquette I will touch on another day. Happy emailing!
*UPDATE: The day before I posted this, the New York Times did a very interesting piece on the death of the phoen call. I only saw it the next day, but I decided to post it since it is relevant. It makes me feel a lot better about my mishaps this week!
