It's really inconsiderate. Unless I am physically more than a mile from my laptop, I can probably reply to your e-mail within a minute and a half.
I expect the same courtesy in return. This whole "wait two days and then reply" thing is totally unacceptable. Maybe if you have some complex response to formulate that involves getting a large number of ducks in a row, but, other than that....
It never helps to have e-mails hang around in one's inbox. Once they're there for a couple days, I just forget I have to answer them. So the whole deliberation thing kind of backfires.
I can't believe people aren't always on tenterhooks to see if I've e-mailed them.
6 comments:
I sent you an email this morning, and you haven't responded to me yet. Come on now, get on that. Spit spot!
anonymous, i love you! brilliant response! this is a somewhat silly blogger, but it amuses me to read blogs and imagine the shape and features of the author. red wine or beer? jogger or cyclist? south beach or Mediterranean dieter? born pompous or learned behavior? tongue in cheek or between lips? and how many divorces? we can't all be perfect, just perfectly human.
I'll spare attempting to visualize the physical and mental traits of the blogger -- unfair advantage, you see -- and simply respond with the thought that a lot of old folks (read: anyone who didn't really grow up with a computer) who are still trying to catch up with this e-mail thing. Because of that learning curve, I can be patient and wait at least 24 hours for a response. That's a reasonable length of time, assuming some people -- I know, seems unreal, right? -- actually only check their e-mails (gasp!) once a day.
But in a few years, that grace period runs out. If in 2018, you're not getting back to me within a few hours, you're cyber-dead to me.
What you need is a better approach to email. Letting crap you're waiting for pile up in your inbox is a sure path to insanity. Think Inbox Zero.
Sometimes I feel like I should wait to reply to email simply so that people don't think I sit at the computer all day waiting for it. There were also times in college when I wanted to email professors at odd hours of the morning, but I didn't want them to know I was thinking about their classes at 3 a.m.
Sometimes I like to, y'know, actually consider my response. There's nothing so important that it can't wait until tomorrow. That at least gives me time to consider the earth shattering implications of the latest piece of inane dribble to land in my inbox.
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