Pet Peeves

[Kahns Krazy]

Now that I'm thinking about a specific boss I use to have:

Bosses and co-workers who receive emails relevant to you, but instead of simply forwarding the email with a note, they print it up and hand the message to you. Um...

Who does this?!?!? Seriously, what kind of animal would do that? That would drive me nuts.

When I first was handed a printed copy of an email, I was so dumbfounded at the stupidity of it that I accidentally spoke my mind a little, politely calling it "a little archaic." Even this moderated criticism got my supervisor pushed my supervisor to such an unprofessional level of snappiness. She was an idiot in general, the type of idiot who wasn't aware of her own shortcomings and couldn't handle any feedback that wasn't straight praise.

My experience is that people who do this intentionally are unethical. Not just the act of printing the e-mail. The fact that these are people that prefer to not leave a trail. Unethical people behave differently in almost every way because they are concerned first with covering their own ass and second with getting the job done in the best way.

I'm sure there are people that are just idiots, but I'll bet you find that more of them have ulterior motives.

[XUFan09]

That's good to be aware of in general (I never really though about that before), but this person simply was an idiot.

[D-West & PO-Z]

My experience is that people who do this intentionally are unethical. Not just the act of printing the e-mail. The fact that these are people that prefer to not leave a trail. Unethical people behave differently in almost every way because they are concerned first with covering their own ass and second with getting the job done in the best way.

I'm sure there are people that are just idiots, but I'll bet you find that more of them have ulterior motives.

YeahI have seen the exact same thing. I know of a person in power but not at the top in a work setting that has told people under her to not send any emails to her, some BS about it starting drama or something, its a story from someone I know. I have known other people like this. Only reason is like you said, they dont want a trail. That way they can deny you ever told them, informed them, asked them, made them aware, etc of a situation.

[PM Thor]

Wait, you guys are surprised that there is no email trail for correspondence? Hell, I thought that was a regular thing, where it's just an unwritten rule whenever any "sensitive" item comes up, there is no electronic trail for it, just in case. Guess I'm jaded.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Wait, you guys are surprised that there is no email trail for correspondence? Hell, I thought that was a regular thing, where it's just an unwritten rule whenever any "sensitive" item comes up, there is no electronic trail for it, just in case. Guess I'm jaded.

Its not even sensitive items, the person I was talking about wanted ZERO emails, haha. Why have an email?

[XUFan09]

Wait, you guys are surprised that there is no email trail for correspondence? Hell, I thought that was a regular thing, where it's just an unwritten rule whenever any "sensitive" item comes up, there is no electronic trail for it, just in case. Guess I'm jaded.

I work in education, and it's more often the other way around because of the excessive demand for documentation. You send emails to cover your ass, rather than the other way around, avoiding email in order to maintain plausible deniability.

[paulxu]

Having to watch a 30 second advertisement video in order to see a 14 second video clip of anything.

[LadyMuskie]

Parents who think the result of a grade school sport tryout is what's going to make the difference between little Suzy or little Johnny making the Olympics or playing pro ball. No one's getting a scholarship to Duke based on 5th grade basketball tryouts, people. Take a deep breath and try to let your kid enjoy his childhood despite having you for a parent.

[DoubleD86]

Parents who think the result of a grade school sport tryout is what's going to make the difference between little Suzy or little Johnny making the Olympics or playing pro ball. No one's getting a scholarship to Duke based on 5th grade basketball tryouts, people. Take a deep breath and try to let your kid enjoy his childhood despite having you for a parent.

Not to mention, although middle school may be too early to tell, but if you are even questioning whether your kid is making the team there is a good chance professional/Olympic sports are not in their future.

[GoMuskies]

Wait, you guys are surprised that there is no email trail for correspondence? Hell, I thought that was a regular thing, where it's just an unwritten rule whenever any "sensitive" item comes up, there is no electronic trail for it, just in case. Guess I'm jaded.

There are certainly some communications that are best to have by phone.