265
votes
Accepted
Is it okay to slightly modify a forwarded email?
Can I modify it instead of rewriting it?
Absolutely not.
Is it frowned upon?
Absolutely.
When you're forwarding an email, it's implied that you're leaving the original email chain untouched or ...
- 59.4k
238
votes
Accepted
Response to a bugfix suggestion said to just report bugs (not suggest solutions). Is this typical?
No, this is not usual. You have run across a fairly common beast, however, the Elitist Super Entitled Developer. He's smarter than everyone else in his own mind and is entitled to be rude for the ...
- 37.2k
234
votes
Accepted
Angry email from customer insisting he didn't get a refund
First thing to do is double check and make certain that you issued the refund on your end. You say that his account says he has been refunded, but also go and find the actual bank transaction to be ...
- 30k
228
votes
Accepted
Does a one-line email response from a job seeker show a lack of interest?
My problem with his response is that I am offering him a job interview
and he replies with 5 words.
I don't think this is a big problem. Yes, a salutation would be better, yes, thanking you would ...
- 23.4k
221
votes
How should I tell my colleagues that my family name comes first?
Just one more suggestion I don’t see mentioned. Sign your email with the name you’d like people to call you and put your full name below.
Best wishes,
Mr. Hong
———-
Hong Gildong
Director of Cultural ...
- 13.2k
212
votes
I'm being blamed for not responding to an email from a client that was directly addressed to coworker
Ask your boss: "How do you want me to respond to e-mails when I am only CC'd?".
I do not think you did anything wrong, but you can reach a more effective solution to the real problem by putting all ...
- 5,697
211
votes
What can I do to avoid potential charges for bribery?
At my job, we are told to immediately report potential corruption/bribery to our line manager/a specific person depending on the scenario.
If you get ahead of this and own up to it with your boss, ...
- 961
204
votes
Accepted
How should I respond to a colleague who refuses to email me task requests?
If the designer doesn't want to e-mail you, you can take down notes when you're on the phone and then send him an e-mail with what you discussed.
Hello Designer,
As per our discussion I will ...
- 27.9k
199
votes
In a company crossing multiple timezones, is it rude to send a co-worker a work email in the middle of the night?
You might want to assure your co-worker that an immediate response is not expected to emails. Email facilitates "asynchronous" communication, letting people read and respond to them at their ...
- 47.3k
189
votes
Accepted
How to politely tell someone they did not hit "reply to all" in an email?
Hi Bob - just so you're aware, seems like you haven't hit reply all there.
No need to dress it up any more than that.
- 34.8k
186
votes
Accepted
Is it professional to write unrelated content in an almost-empty email?
Just leave the email with the attachment and state
This timesheet refers to X.
Please see attached.
Regards, Bracco
Just leave the quote out of it and keep the email basic. Your emails are for the ...
- 19.3k
181
votes
Accepted
Take me off the endless email threads
So set up a folder for each project like that one and a mail rule to direct the emails there.
Then once a day, or every other day, a quick gander will keep you up to date.
Leaving the inbox for more ...
- 17.9k
173
votes
Is it legal for company to use my work email to pretend I still work there?
Regarding the first question, "is it legal?" questions should always be posted on Law SE, not here.
As for your LinkedIn account, LinkedIn has the ability to change your email address associated with ...
- 45.6k
168
votes
Accepted
One of my subordinates' child passed away, how can I inform my team?
First send out the email about the loss separate from anything about rearranging duties. It should include any information you have about the funeral or visitation or even if there is a charity they ...
- 142k
160
votes
Accepted
Should I use my personal e-mail address, or my workplace one, when registering to external websites for work purposes?
You're not accessing the sites for personal reasons, you're accessing the sites to perform a work activity - ergo, use your work email address.
Furthermore, some companies require verification of an ...
- 5,873
158
votes
How should I respond to a potential employer thanking me for my application and telling me they'll be in contact?
Don't send any reply. They told you they received your application and will contact you when they're ready. There's nothing for you to say, and any email you send with a non-message will just clutter ...
- 5,229
154
votes
Accepted
Co-Worker Overreacts to Request for Clarification
From what I understand, here are my answers to your questions:
Did I say anything wrong?
In my opinion, yes:
In asking for clarification on whether or not there was a program to do what the ...
- 946
153
votes
Accepted
How to react to an unusually informal first contact from a recruiter
What is bothering me is the use of "tu" instead of "vous" :
I don't really know how to react to this. Why being so informal ? Am I
over thinking this or does it scratch you too ?
You are ...
- 385k
140
votes
Colleagues routinely only answer the first of my questions?
I'll usually enumerate my questions if I have more than one, like
Can you tell me more about XX?
I saw YY and infer ZZ. Is that correct?
Am I also right that Peter should take care of task A?
This ...
- 776
139
votes
How to get domain experts to answer questions correctly, completely & concisely
You don't ask open ended questions. You ask concise, directed questions for specific relevant information pertaining to a task or project they care about or have some stake in.
People are not there to ...
- 224k
137
votes
Accepted
HR at my new job just sent me an email saying that I am a volunteer. I've been working here two months under the impression that it's paid work
Like Kozaky said, check your contract. Any paid position would have involved signing an official job offer that would have specified your salary. Find that document and read it again to make sure ...
- 11.6k
130
votes
Accepted
How should I respond to a (positive) email about my career path that I don't think was supposed to come to me?
Here's an alternative to Philip Kendall's excellent suggestion:
Do nothing.
Don't tell anyone (at work or at home). Wait and see if you are in fact promoted.
Normally notifying the sender about ...
- 31.5k
129
votes
What's the politest way of writing when you have not received a reply?
While I also think your mails are reasonable, I'd like to provide a different perspective:
You are telling them that they failed to reply. While true that might be considered rude, no one likes ...
- 587
126
votes
Accepted
Is it strange to ask someone to ask someone else to do something, while CC'd?
It looks to me like it's just a matter of style. I don't think it's rude but I do think it's a little peculiar, though I wouldn't go so far as to call it strange.
Alice is simply making a trail and ...
- 43.3k
123
votes
Accepted
How to respond to people who overuse punctuation marks?
I consider this to be the written equivalent of screaming to somebody.
I find it rude, unprofessional and uncalled for.
How do I point this out (politely)?????!!!??
Unless your role in the ...
- 385k
123
votes
Does a one-line email response from a job seeker show a lack of interest?
This looks to me like Smart Reply usage, a feature available on GMail clients for both Android and iOS. You can see a sample below from my own inbox:
The options may also change contextually, so a '...
- 4,433
122
votes
Accepted
Need to respond to rude email. How do I do it?
This is a fairly simple one I would have thought;
Good Afternoon Alice, Bob,
I hope you're both well.
It's come to my attention that there are some further technical documents you need for the ...
- 2,594
119
votes
Did I make a mistake by ccing email to boss to others?
was I wrong in copying in the other directors in the email?
Yes, you were wrong.
It's not clear what your goal was in copying others, but attempting to embarrass or undermine your boss is not a good ...
- 385k
116
votes
How to deal with a manager who doesn't read emails and calls you out as incompetent as a result?
There seems to be either a communication problem or an overreaction here.
To begin with, email chains are not at all an effective means of communication, even within the course of a day. When the ...
- 47.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible