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20 June 2006

I always wonder. If you've emailed some information to someone, does it please you to receive an email reply consisting of only "Thank you"?→[More:]

I usually feel a very small twinge of annoyance when I get a "thank you" email, because I get notified every time I have email, and I stop what I'm doing to check it. But I realize that manners are usually lost on me, so I was wondering how you all felt.

post by: agropyron at: 13:45 | 22 comments

Yeah, I do like it, because it lets me know for sure that the email was received on the other end.

posted by iconomy 20 June | 13:56

I can't stand it, because no action is required on my part.

posted by rainbaby 20 June | 14:04

If I get one that says "Thank you." (note the punctuation), I feel like the person is being curt and maybe the information wasn't what they wanted.

If I get one that says "Thanks!" or "Thank You!" I feel happy.

No response pisses me off. It's sort of like when another driver doesn't give you the thank-you wave after you let them pull in front of you in traffic. That pisses me off too.

But then again, I'm sensitive.

posted by mudpuppie 20 June | 14:08

I'm ambivalent on this. If I've sent someone a fax at a hotel and email them to let them know I've sent it, I like to know that they've received it. I also like to receive "thank you" emails when I do something for someone outside my group/company. But for normal run-of-the-mill email activity amongst my co-workers, it's unnecessary and annoying. And nothing is worse than the lone "thx" email.

posted by mullacc 20 June | 14:10

I am in the camp of liking the acknowledgement and thanks even if the person didn't mean it.

A curt "Thank you" is better than "This is all wrong. Do it again, moran."

And "thx" sucks. If you don't have the energy to type the 3 other letters you should just die.

posted by birdherder 20 June | 14:13

Mud, I could have written your response, and agree with it word for word. I hate not being acknowledged. And I too like exclamation points with my thanks!

posted by iconomy 20 June | 14:14

I don't mind either way. It's nice to get a "thanks", but I myself am often terrible about answering mail, so I'm very loose.

Sometimes I look at something and think "I'll write back to thank them... after I do this one other thing", and then forget to actually do it. Or worse, just because I thought about answering, I then seem to think that I've actually answered. I often have a problem distinguishing between what I've really done and what I've only thought about doing. :)

posted by taz 20 June | 14:16

I usually try top append some pleasant, meaningless verbiage to my thanks. As in,

"Thanks for the information you sent! I'll share it with my co-workers and get back in touch when we make our decision." or "Looking forward to working with you again." Or "I appreciate the quick response." Or "Please let me know if there's anything I can do in return." Varies with the situation.

I like to think that this has some graciousness to it, and honestly, it takes maybe 4 seconds longer than just writing "Thank you." When all you have is a text impression, tone really helps people form an idea of what it is to do business with you.

posted by Miko 20 June | 14:18

I usually respond with a "Jesus God, man, thank you, thank you thank you! We've been waiting for hours on this, and now we can move forward at last! I kiss your feet, oh Prince of All Things!"

This verbiage works wonders when faxing in lunch orders.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 20 June | 14:26

Taz and I were separated at birth. I can be incredibly bad about returning emails, because occasionally I have to go off and orbit the third ring of Saturn or something, and when I get back I'm convinced that it's all been taken care of by mechanical monkeys, so I don't need to worry about it. Therefore, I totally cut others all the slack in the world on the email returning thank you note sending front.

posted by mygothlaundry 20 June | 14:37

Personally, I don't mind getting a thank you email, but I don't get a high volume of email in my position. Senior management people - well, I can imagine they can't stand the emails that are only a "thank you" email.

I am 99% sure that I can see the failure of email as a business medium in my small provincial agency. It is a tool that has failed, or people are failing to use it well, or something.

posted by richat 20 June | 14:37

Huh -- I love my email. It is a huge problem solver for me. I would much rather take communications about scheduling and planning by email than by phone -- much less wasted time in idle chitchat, and much clearer information -- as well, it generates an automatic written record, which I often archive.

Mostly I work at my desk. When I get a new email, the ringy-dingy lets me know. I look at and either delete it or file it into a folder right away, unless I need it again later that day, in which case it stays in the inbox. So I don't mind the short little 'nothing' ones -- I just register that they came in and move them along with a clickety click.

posted by Miko 20 June | 14:45

I get a lot of e-mail (I'm a senior management type), and I like those 'Thank you' e-mails.

As far as I'm concerned, they're a more accurate version of read receipt. More of a "read, and the contents were correct" receipt.

posted by I Love Tacos 20 June | 14:47

Yeah, I send them for the reasons Tacos describes. Besides, my job involves a lot of people telling me stuff, but generally I don't need to tell them anything. So it feels right to acknowledge receipt.

I will never, ever, ever, ever put an exclamation point in there. And if you do, I will secretly doubt your intelligence forever. It's not logical or right, but there you have it.

posted by dame 20 June | 15:10

Great tip on the exclamation point, dame. Thanks!

posted by Hugh Janus 20 June | 15:25

I too dig that "Thanks" reply. I do it myself and I appreciate it from others. For example, the boss deals with lots of 'mails a day. Sometimes, the fact that he can even reply at all is something of a miracle. That he read it, understood it and approves is good to know---I can go on to something else now. It's way better than yelling down a well and hearing nothing back.

Also! Exclamation points! I have to disagree. They're smiley-face o's and hearts on your i's---fine in a personal setting, but they make you look like the giggly preteen at work.

posted by bonehead 20 June | 15:29

Since we've moved from discussing etiquette to discussing imbecility, I'll add that I hate email signatures that meet any of the following criteria:

* Silly font
* Font size greater than size of email text
* In color different from text of email
* Includes Bible quote

posted by mudpuppie 20 June | 16:16

I hate workplace sigs that include any quote. Or any graphic.

posted by agropyron 20 June | 16:26

* Includes Bible quote

Yes, especially the ones that are 2MB of Shealtiel who begat Zerubbabel, who begat Abihud, who begat Eliakim, who begat Azor, who begat Zadok, who begat Achim, who begat Eliud, who begat Eleazar, who begat Matthan, who begat Jacob, etc.

posted by taz 20 June | 16:38

What mudpuppie said. I wanna know for sure that it was received and that it was correct.

posted by deborah 20 June | 17:51

All that begatting is getting me hot.

I like acknowledgement. Hurts nothing.

posted by jrossi4r 20 June | 20:35

They annoy me, but I get a lot of e-mails. Apart from being a sad indication of the state of my life that I am logged in to work on my day off, it made it convenient to note that, so far (12.00 noon), I have received 27 e-mails even though I am not there to generate anything that would be replied to. I keep my e-mail open in a second monitor so I can just note what a message is when the ding-dong happens and keep working. I also have a rule that sets read receipts to "read" when they are received to lessen the annoyance, but e-mail is a constand interuption in my workday. Except, if it wasn't for e-mail, they would all be phone calls, so e-mail is my favourite application of technology, becaue it cuts down on the number of tiumes I have to speak to a human.

posted by dg 20 June | 21:04

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