The Evans Etiquette Epistle (whoa, that took a while to think of)

Yes, I am back on my high horse once again.

Many of us use emails on a daily, hourly, minutely basis. For work, fun, to relieve boredom (get a life would you) and as a method of communication.

However, I am increasingly concerned at the lack of manners that people (you know who you are) believe they can get away with when using email.

Now I don't know if the University of Sydney has a course in email etiquette but I have decided to run my own (If only I could work how to charge for this!).

And, out of the kindness of my heart, I will be providing this guide for free, nothing, nada - who says you don't get anything for free anymore.

Ok, here goes (of course, none of you need this, but you may know someone who does. I have, for ease of writing, pretended that you need this when emailing me :)

# 1 - I am a person, not a computer. If you send an email, it really doesn't take long to welcome me. So, instead of just launching in to what you want i.e. your message, how bout you address me. I don't need to be addressed as Queen Lisa, Country Gypsies, Your Highness, but a simple "Hi" or "Hello" or even a G'Day. If you phone me, I don't think you immediately launch into the conversation without some type of greeting, or do you. It is also polite and it doesn't matter if you email me 3 million times a day - it is just the right thing to do (Must admit, my boss is quite good at this - on the days when he is replying to the 85 million emails I send him per day, he will normally start with a "Hi Lisa". Although did get a tad awkward when he started all his emails with "Hi Lisa'; when they weren't actually to me

Now THAT'S a pretty hello

#2. See # 1. Again, Yes, it really bugs me. I had an email the other day that started with "WELL, I .......(blah blah blah)"  So not only do you not acknowledge that I am a person but you are also shouting at me.  And when you do that, I DO NOT RESPOND TO YOU. See, I CAN SHOUT BACK if you SHOUT AT ME FOR NO GOOD REASON.

Stop SHOUTING AT ME

#3.  See #1 and # 2.

#4. If I ask you a question in my email, I would generally think you would send me a reply answering it. It does not mean I am just asking you a question for the bloody sake of it, it means I want/need an answer.

# 5. Sometimes I may make a mistake (not often ha ha). So if you decide you want to play Captain Bloody Obvious, then please, send me an email back and point out all my mistakes. But be aware, I may not even bother to open your email and just send it straight to the rubbish bin. But if you are nice about it, THANK YOU , I do appreciate it.  After all, I am only human (??!!)

So, that is it. Not much to ask, I would not think, but just a bloody loud  gentle reminder that it is nice to be nice, and generally doesn't take much.

OK, now how do I get off this bloody high horse????

Cheers

Lisa x0x