Office e-mail both a blessing and a curse

By Andrea Kay
Gannett News Service

Few things annoy me more than the way some people handle e-mail. This inconsiderate behavior comes in the form of:

1. Last-minute responders.

This person waits until about three minutes before the phone or face-to-face meeting you've scheduled to send an electronic message with a list of seven issues they want you to be prepared to discuss. They wear the disguise of being a busy person who uses electronic tools to be efficient. They are really just procrastinators who waited until the last minute to prepare for your meeting. And now it's your problem.

Other times, Last Minute Responders wait until an hour or two — even less — before you're to meet to tell you they can't meet. Unsuspecting, you're on your way to the powwow while they're stringing you along to keep last minute options open — easy to do if you don't actually have to talk to somebody to tell them you're bailing. When you show up for the meeting, they'll be apologetic and say, "Oh, didn't you get my e-mail?"

2. Emergency e-mailers.

These are people who have immediate deadlines or crucial issues that they need you to do something about pronto or there's going to be a huge problem. They send e-mails like this:

"Need you to write new copy for ad deadline at 4 today. Must get approved by lawyers, Bob, Jean and team first. Send ASAP."

Emergency e-mailers assume you're sitting there with nothing else to do. And that you got their e-mail the very second they sent it and are hopping right to it.

These types do not like to be held accountable and when the deadline doesn't get met, they say things like, "I don't know what happened. I gave it to Steve."

3. Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink e-mailers.

These people are responding to your e-mail in which you asked one or two questions that required a yes or no response. But their response dances around your questions with vague and confusing information that doesn't tell you want you needed.

They typically don't want to answer your question. If, in response to this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink e-mailer, you restate your questions, they will usually turn into the next type.

4. Nonresponders.

These people usually don't want to talk about what you want them to address and ignore you because they can. If you do get to actually talk to them, many of them will say they never received your e-mail.

E-mail has become a critical business tool. But it's only as effective as the people who use it. E-mailers all over could be much better at it if they were more considerate of the recipient and applied these five principles:

• E-mail recipients are not sitting there twiddling their thumbs waiting to respond to your e-mail.
• E-mail recipients don't necessarily sit at a desk all day with a computer in front of them checking e-mail or being alerted that your e-mail has arrived.
• E-mail recipients may be out of town and not have access to e-mail.
• E-mail recipients have other priorities besides you.
• There's a human being on the other end who should be treated with care.