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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.

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.

#3

Worst-Job-Emails

dvdtrash Report

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Tabitha L
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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!!

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#4

Worst-Job-Emails

WillButala Report

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BluEyedSeoulite
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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#5

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muppitz Report

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Vic
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sender of the email should be reported, this is not acceptable behaviour..

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#6

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psychobetha Report

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Teresa Thomas
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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....

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#7

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karampbell Report

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Ripley
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"A lack of organisation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part". Words to live by.

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#9

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MattyLight_33 Report

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Rissie
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3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just tell them upfront it is not ok behavior. No need to get frustrated, let them be the ones walking through a wall.

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#11

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BGYphotography Report

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Vic
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hey! Cut her some slack, maybe she doesn't know to read.. only knows to write :-p

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#12

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Katherine Boag
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you don't read or at least skim your received emails, you shouldn't be sending any

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#13

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emmiliem Report

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Tabitha L
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.)

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#14

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AquaMarina1987 Report

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Serial pacifist
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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#17

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Chez
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't return phone calls that come through after working hours or over weekends. If it's so urgent, they can call back or send an email.

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#19

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l_juddy Report

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K Miller
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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#21

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janelleharms Report

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SimplySarcastic40
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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).

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#22

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Soph__xxo Report

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Tanja J
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this is the exact opposite of common curtesy. common curtesy is not writing work requests out of business hours

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#23

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OogieBoogie
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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 !"

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#24

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My O My
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had a boss doing this. Re-scheduling the meeting from 8:30 to 7:30 am, nearly midnight. He was really mad when next to no one showed up on time

#25

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MeganAlison17 Report

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Vic
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm sure the supervisor didn't reply "quickly enough" as well..

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#26

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#28

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spjonesy1 Report

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SPQRBob
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please tell me the district office gave you permission to tell them to get bent...

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#30

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Sara_the_intern Report

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