People Are Sharing The Worst Work Emails They’ve Gotten In This Infuriating Twitter Thread (30 Tweets)
Instant messaging and e-mail make our jobs much easier. Long gone are the days of running to your colleague's desk to have normal, face-to-face human interaction about your project. Now, we can send each other passive-aggressive messages and avoid each other altogether. Yay.
This Monday, Amber Sevart tweeted the ridiculous work-related message she received. "I e-mailed you 3 days ago," it said. Indeed, the person contacted Amber on Friday afternoon at 4:47 pm. However, they followed up at 8:15 am on Monday morning which means they technically gave her 28 working minutes to respond.
Amber's tweet instantly went viral, generating over 295K likes and 823 comments, many of which were written by people who also wanted to share the infuriating and ridiculous exchanges they had the pleasure to be a part of at work.
I don't know whether the thread they have eventually created is sad, funny, or both, but it sure does capture the toxic communication most of us have to endure while making a living.
This post may include affiliate links.
Such e-mails might be a hint suggesting there's something wrong with the company, too. Experts say poor communication between employees and management is another sign of toxicity.
According to a study conducted by SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management), nearly 3 in 10 employees believe their managers don't encourage a culture of open and transparent communication. When this happens, managers and employees seldom interact. Even when they do, the information typically flows top-down with managers giving instructions to their subordinates, who have no autonomy whatsoever.
To make matters even worse, when the communication is poor, the collaboration between management and employees might also be negatively affected and employees become reluctant to ask questions.
Research on leadership has shown that employees look at their leaders for cues on how to behave in the workplace. So, the communication problem between management and employees can spill into the rest of the organization. As a result, employees no longer see value in communicating and collaborating with each other. Instead of engaging in personal interactions, they prefer using other communications means.
Such as e-mails or text messages. It's a closed circle.
I sell on eBay. This happens to me regularly. People need something immediately, but only pay for the cheapest ground shipping. Then the messages start. "I need this by Wednesday" "can you mail this right away" "is there any way I can get this faster?" Ahhhhhhhhh. Just thinking about it makes me mad. Pay for the shipping service you actually need people!!
As a freelance proofreader, I get these projects a lot. I turn them down because they are always such small projects, it isn't worth the time to make an invoice.
Which when working from home I struggled with BADLY. Worked as a middle school secretary during pandemic shutdown, and we still operated with normal business hours. Because I was working from home, I was calling 80+ families on my personal phone. Cool, because they felt heard and appreciated on someone's personal phone. Shitty, because sometimes I worked until 8pm because I just... Was there. And people called me whenever their shift was off with questions about their kid and how school was gonna be, etc etc....
If you don't read or at least skim your received emails, you shouldn't be sending any
Yep. This happens to me on eBay as well. During the year, there is no shipping on Sundays, so I take that as my one day a week off from eBay shipping and messages. People will send 2,3,4 messages on a Sunday, and by Monday morning are full of ' i'Ve sEnT yOU fOUr mESsAgeS wHY HaVEn'T you ReSpONdeD??? ' (During the holidays, I ship 7 days a week, so this isn't an issue.)
Send an email at 11:59 p.m. on Friday. Send an email two minutes later - Hey I emailed you last week. Very unprofessional of you not to reply.
One thing I wish Facebook would do with is send reminders. I manage my work's Facebook page too, and if someone messages on the weekend or after hours, they get sent a message saying we'll respond during business hours, but then by the time I get into the office the next morning, I've forgotten.
Same industry as OP...same thing happened to me all the time. That, plus being told at the end of a 4 week project "oh by the way we need 3 other language versions of this 140 page book", expected to have them all finished in the same timeframe while getting blamed for typos in a language I couldn't even read (literally all I did was copy and paste what was provided).
I used to work for a US company, but I was based in the UK, they would always schedule a Friday afternoon meeting for 12 P.M. , so they could chill afterward, they couldn't understand why I'd be like, "Yeah I'm outa here, as the UK is 5 hours ahead of you guys !"
Trust me people expect their attorneys to always be there just for them.... like all our client's aren't busy with urgent matters....
My go-to response when I was a programmer for this type of query was "Six to 8 weeks - and you'll need to transfer a quarter-million dollars to my budget to get it done."
As a 7th and 8th grade teacher, during the pandemic we're working from home. All my students have district laptops and have gotten used to having access to their classes anytime of day and night. I get emails from some of them at 11pm/2am, telling me they just completed the 5 late assignments due about 2 weeks earlier and would I grade them NOW so mom/dad stop being mad at them. Sorry, but I am not a robot, I do have to sleep sometimes too. I make it a point not to respond and I also refuse to check my work email over the weekends either. As it is, with 165 students, I already spent hours grading those paragraphs and essays 2-weeks ago when they were due, sorry, you are going to have to wait.
the only response for these is to set an alarm to wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning and then phone these people up asking for clarification about something.
I used to do that too...sort of anyway. I'd reply to emails like that sometimes on Sunday evening asking for clarification and emphasizing that i needed to know by 8am Monday in order to meet deadline knowing that they all breezed into work on Monday's around 930 or 10am. Sometimes you have to make their problem actually BE their problem.
Load More Replies...
The good thing is that more and more laws are been issued on that particular topic. I don't know for the US and their effed up social system, but here in Europe, it should soon be a felony to contact workers outside of their work hours.
Here in the US it's up to the company to make the policy. When i lived in Singapore, it was a free for all...it got to the point where i felt like they were doing it on purpose, dumping everything on me at 5pm on fridays (which is one reason why i relocated back to the states). But in the US, even though im with the same company, no one expects anything outside of working hours or on weekends/vacation.i have a company mobile, but almost never even pick it up or check it.
Load More Replies... And if you had a weekend out-of-office auto response, these people wouldn't read it...
A while back, I experienced a software breaking error that brought my work to a grinding halt. I was told by my director and supervisor to work with Julie in IT to fix the issue. Every email to Julie was met with a days delayed response of "I'll get to that asap". Two weeks later I informed my leadership that I didn't think Julie was taking it seriously, and it was causing a huge backlog. I was told that I'm "always blaming others" for my own failings. The issue was eventually fixed. Another project upgrade was in the works, and Julie was my contact for working through technical issues. I emailed her a list of issues. Forty-one days later, I received a reply in which Julie stated "I guess I dropped the ball on this one, is it still an issue?". Forty-one (41) days. Of course I didn't report it to my director or supervisor, because why set myself up to take the blame again? But I've saved every single email, just in case I have to defend myself to the higher-ups.
So you are blamed for a co-worker who is slacking and when she does the same thing on another occasion you again decide to keep your mouth shut. Guess who will be fired first when push comes to shove? You, with a reputation of inefficiency and blaming others for your failings or the coworker who gets away unscathed when she does her "Whoopsy, I think I goofed....." ?
Load More Replies...
Three AM my time zone. Person calls from Asia, in a fury that I am not actively online, replying to their barrage of e-mails. I replied to their e-mails with "We are in different time zones, and this was discussed". Fast forward. a couple months. I get a call on my cell. "Come back in and do this." I replied that I was on vacation and no longer in the country. Boss seriously asked, "Can you come back?" Sure. I'll just ask the airplane to turn around... I haven't had a cell phone since (it's nearly 20 years) and that's why. Just. Leave. Me. Alone. If I am off work, I am *off*.
When I went on a two-week vacation, my supervisor asked me to call from the other side of the country in case his team needed my help. So I called the company's 1-800 number three days in a row before he told me to stop calling. Either he remembered that I had the least experience of all the team members or the owner didn't want to pay for the calls. My supervisor was actually a very nice person, so I can laugh it off as a silly lapse of logic.
Load More Replies...
I work for an international company and used to work with a manager that refused to respect my working hours. He emailed me on weekends, holidays, even Christmas one time (and he didn't even wish me happy holidays) and would kick up a stink if he thought I was ignoring him. The worst stunt he pulled was when I was back-up to a person on holiday and this guy emails me on a Sunday evening about something that needed to be done by Monday morning. I saw it morning of and it was for a meeting that had been planned weeks ago and he should have worked on it with my colleague who was on vacation. The kicker? It was the Easter holidays in my country, no one in my team was working and he knew that. Messed up my plans for the day and I didn't even get a thank you. So glad I don't work with that person anymore.
I literally took 8 hours of PTO yesterday because I had surgery. I was literally knocked unconscious by a medical professional but got calls on my personal cell phone because I didn't answer my desk phone; AND I got *urgent* emails - all despite my out of office messages stating no email and no phone calls will be taken. I even have a "in my absence call XYZ people" message. People. do. not. care. As long as it fits their agenda, they will assume you will fit it too.
Similar happened to a colleague in emergency surgery - the client called her to say, "Take all the time you want to recover, but make sure our job gets done." I was still pretty new and trying my best to finish her project. I asked the client some questions because there was no one in the office to explain the work to me. He ended up calling her in the hospital to tell her off because I asked him questions. Luckily, when I worked again with him two years later, he was much nicer.
Load More Replies...
Somewhat similar problem - I was a self employed bookkeeper for an IT company. We only have 1 car, so my husband dropped me off in the morning & I had to take public trans to get home (read 2 buses and a trolley - a total of about 1:45 minutes). I left between 2:30 & 2:45 so I could catch my bus. WITHOUT fail, the owner would want to "catch up" on the day at basically 2:30. After missing my bus a number of times, and reminding him I had a bus to catch, I finally just started telling him, "Sorry, you'll have to send me an email - I have a bus to catch" and just leaving. He never really did get it (according to the co-workers who told me how much he bitched about my "leaving early". Um, since I'm self employed you're actually my CLIENT, not my BOSS).
Rather similar. I worked to midnight Friday night on a system upgrade. 19 hours Saturday. Went home after only 9 hours on Sunday. Called the shift supervisor - the system will be down until noon Monday according to tech support. Please make a note so every knows. Emailed my boss - system still down, going home because there is nothing to do per vendor tech support until noon Monday. Come in 8:20am Monday. One of the department heads is yelling because the system is still down and why didn't I stay all night to fix it? My boss had not read his email yet. After I gave the command for the system to reboot and 2 hours later, it had still not rebooted, I called vendor tech support. They said, noon Monday and DON'T touch or it will be to do all over again. Why didn't I email everyone? I guess I assumed the word would be spread. I was grumbled at the entire morning off and on.
Once, product partner from another branch came to visit client. i asked his team in advance if they need anything printed out, because they have the tendency to inconvenience people with short notice. No, they said. Went home later & around 9pm, i was bombarded with frantic calls & whatsapp msgs asking me to print AND to bind 20+ copies of pp for clients. I had to uber to office around 6am next day. Then rushed these to the arrogant higher-up guy at a hotel lobby around 9. Dude was even late but had time to squeezed in a hotel takeout coffee. my arm was sore from all the mad hole punching. Best of all, my expense claim for the uber ride was rejected because it is not compliant with work policy. I basically paid the price for the jerk’s tardiness.
Pre-covid: My boss once sent me an email while I and several others were in a meeting with him and then he had the audacity to ask why I had not yet responded. Sir, I do not have access to my email while I'm physically sitting here in the meeting room.
I missed a call from a client (I was making a drink so not at my desk), came back, listened to her voicemail only to see she had also emailed me saying "I've called and left a message. Phone me back". I waited 3 hours before responding
I still remember when I got an email last thing on Christmas Eve (after everyone had already left) and then they chased it the first working day after Christmas before I even got into the office!
I always email saying "please enjoy your vacation, not looking for a response yet" or similar. My realtor emailed back asap anyway regardless of vacationing. I was really surprised and actually wished she did just take her vacation! I am the type to email back at all hours-I even told coworkers to not hesitate during my honeymoon. Nobody called|emailed, no need to anyway. I started emailing on weekends despite company advising not to because I did childcare and had parents who needed Mon AM care last minute. But what got me to do that was a frantic call from a a parent inquiring what their daughter ate at care because she was having an allergic reaction and was at the hospital.
the only response for these is to set an alarm to wake up at 2 or 3 in the morning and then phone these people up asking for clarification about something.
I used to do that too...sort of anyway. I'd reply to emails like that sometimes on Sunday evening asking for clarification and emphasizing that i needed to know by 8am Monday in order to meet deadline knowing that they all breezed into work on Monday's around 930 or 10am. Sometimes you have to make their problem actually BE their problem.
Load More Replies... The good thing is that more and more laws are been issued on that particular topic. I don't know for the US and their effed up social system, but here in Europe, it should soon be a felony to contact workers outside of their work hours.
Here in the US it's up to the company to make the policy. When i lived in Singapore, it was a free for all...it got to the point where i felt like they were doing it on purpose, dumping everything on me at 5pm on fridays (which is one reason why i relocated back to the states). But in the US, even though im with the same company, no one expects anything outside of working hours or on weekends/vacation.i have a company mobile, but almost never even pick it up or check it.
Load More Replies... And if you had a weekend out-of-office auto response, these people wouldn't read it...
A while back, I experienced a software breaking error that brought my work to a grinding halt. I was told by my director and supervisor to work with Julie in IT to fix the issue. Every email to Julie was met with a days delayed response of "I'll get to that asap". Two weeks later I informed my leadership that I didn't think Julie was taking it seriously, and it was causing a huge backlog. I was told that I'm "always blaming others" for my own failings. The issue was eventually fixed. Another project upgrade was in the works, and Julie was my contact for working through technical issues. I emailed her a list of issues. Forty-one days later, I received a reply in which Julie stated "I guess I dropped the ball on this one, is it still an issue?". Forty-one (41) days. Of course I didn't report it to my director or supervisor, because why set myself up to take the blame again? But I've saved every single email, just in case I have to defend myself to the higher-ups.
So you are blamed for a co-worker who is slacking and when she does the same thing on another occasion you again decide to keep your mouth shut. Guess who will be fired first when push comes to shove? You, with a reputation of inefficiency and blaming others for your failings or the coworker who gets away unscathed when she does her "Whoopsy, I think I goofed....." ?
Load More Replies... Three AM my time zone. Person calls from Asia, in a fury that I am not actively online, replying to their barrage of e-mails. I replied to their e-mails with "We are in different time zones, and this was discussed". Fast forward. a couple months. I get a call on my cell. "Come back in and do this." I replied that I was on vacation and no longer in the country. Boss seriously asked, "Can you come back?" Sure. I'll just ask the airplane to turn around... I haven't had a cell phone since (it's nearly 20 years) and that's why. Just. Leave. Me. Alone. If I am off work, I am *off*.
When I went on a two-week vacation, my supervisor asked me to call from the other side of the country in case his team needed my help. So I called the company's 1-800 number three days in a row before he told me to stop calling. Either he remembered that I had the least experience of all the team members or the owner didn't want to pay for the calls. My supervisor was actually a very nice person, so I can laugh it off as a silly lapse of logic.
Load More Replies... I work for an international company and used to work with a manager that refused to respect my working hours. He emailed me on weekends, holidays, even Christmas one time (and he didn't even wish me happy holidays) and would kick up a stink if he thought I was ignoring him. The worst stunt he pulled was when I was back-up to a person on holiday and this guy emails me on a Sunday evening about something that needed to be done by Monday morning. I saw it morning of and it was for a meeting that had been planned weeks ago and he should have worked on it with my colleague who was on vacation. The kicker? It was the Easter holidays in my country, no one in my team was working and he knew that. Messed up my plans for the day and I didn't even get a thank you. So glad I don't work with that person anymore.
I literally took 8 hours of PTO yesterday because I had surgery. I was literally knocked unconscious by a medical professional but got calls on my personal cell phone because I didn't answer my desk phone; AND I got *urgent* emails - all despite my out of office messages stating no email and no phone calls will be taken. I even have a "in my absence call XYZ people" message. People. do. not. care. As long as it fits their agenda, they will assume you will fit it too.
Similar happened to a colleague in emergency surgery - the client called her to say, "Take all the time you want to recover, but make sure our job gets done." I was still pretty new and trying my best to finish her project. I asked the client some questions because there was no one in the office to explain the work to me. He ended up calling her in the hospital to tell her off because I asked him questions. Luckily, when I worked again with him two years later, he was much nicer.
Load More Replies... Somewhat similar problem - I was a self employed bookkeeper for an IT company. We only have 1 car, so my husband dropped me off in the morning & I had to take public trans to get home (read 2 buses and a trolley - a total of about 1:45 minutes). I left between 2:30 & 2:45 so I could catch my bus. WITHOUT fail, the owner would want to "catch up" on the day at basically 2:30. After missing my bus a number of times, and reminding him I had a bus to catch, I finally just started telling him, "Sorry, you'll have to send me an email - I have a bus to catch" and just leaving. He never really did get it (according to the co-workers who told me how much he bitched about my "leaving early". Um, since I'm self employed you're actually my CLIENT, not my BOSS).
Rather similar. I worked to midnight Friday night on a system upgrade. 19 hours Saturday. Went home after only 9 hours on Sunday. Called the shift supervisor - the system will be down until noon Monday according to tech support. Please make a note so every knows. Emailed my boss - system still down, going home because there is nothing to do per vendor tech support until noon Monday. Come in 8:20am Monday. One of the department heads is yelling because the system is still down and why didn't I stay all night to fix it? My boss had not read his email yet. After I gave the command for the system to reboot and 2 hours later, it had still not rebooted, I called vendor tech support. They said, noon Monday and DON'T touch or it will be to do all over again. Why didn't I email everyone? I guess I assumed the word would be spread. I was grumbled at the entire morning off and on.
Once, product partner from another branch came to visit client. i asked his team in advance if they need anything printed out, because they have the tendency to inconvenience people with short notice. No, they said. Went home later & around 9pm, i was bombarded with frantic calls & whatsapp msgs asking me to print AND to bind 20+ copies of pp for clients. I had to uber to office around 6am next day. Then rushed these to the arrogant higher-up guy at a hotel lobby around 9. Dude was even late but had time to squeezed in a hotel takeout coffee. my arm was sore from all the mad hole punching. Best of all, my expense claim for the uber ride was rejected because it is not compliant with work policy. I basically paid the price for the jerk’s tardiness.
Pre-covid: My boss once sent me an email while I and several others were in a meeting with him and then he had the audacity to ask why I had not yet responded. Sir, I do not have access to my email while I'm physically sitting here in the meeting room.
I missed a call from a client (I was making a drink so not at my desk), came back, listened to her voicemail only to see she had also emailed me saying "I've called and left a message. Phone me back". I waited 3 hours before responding
I still remember when I got an email last thing on Christmas Eve (after everyone had already left) and then they chased it the first working day after Christmas before I even got into the office!
I always email saying "please enjoy your vacation, not looking for a response yet" or similar. My realtor emailed back asap anyway regardless of vacationing. I was really surprised and actually wished she did just take her vacation! I am the type to email back at all hours-I even told coworkers to not hesitate during my honeymoon. Nobody called|emailed, no need to anyway. I started emailing on weekends despite company advising not to because I did childcare and had parents who needed Mon AM care last minute. But what got me to do that was a frantic call from a a parent inquiring what their daughter ate at care because she was having an allergic reaction and was at the hospital.
