Sometimes it's the little things that can get me really annoyed at work... I received an e-mail from a colleague in the head office which was basically a forward of another e-mail from another person (no document or anything, just text) and the text in the e-mail was "Please take a look at the self-explanatory e-mail below discussing prioritization of ventilators for the coming year" and the e-mail below contained an explanation about prioritization of ventilators. I just felt the urge to write back in capital letters to the person I received the e-mail:
"NO!!! YOU MAILED ME AN EXPLANATION I HAD TO READ THROUGH, THAT'S NOT HOW YOU USE "SELF-EXPLANATORY"", THAT SHOULD BE USED FOR IMAGES, GRAPHS, TABLES AND OTHER SUCH THINGS THAT MIGHT NEED AN EXPLANATION BUT DON'T BECAUSE YOU UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU SEE IT, BUT IT'S NOT MEANT TO USE FOR WRITTEN EXPLANATION BECAUSE IT'S OBVIOUS THAT'S IT'S EXPLANATORY AND MAYBE IF YOU HAD THOUGHT OF IT FOR A FEW SECONDS BEFORE SENDING THE E-MAIL WE COULD HAVE AVOIDED THIS WHOLE MESS!".
Sigh, I guess sometimes it's just the little things that count and yeah, a few breaths later the information was helpful and I wrote back a simple "thanks for the info".
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4 comments:
Even funnier, I'm sure they meant that the email below explained everything you needed to know, but then the very same sentence goes on after that to explicitly explain that the email is about the prioritization of ventilators.
Considering just how often I encounter texts (formal documents, student writing) that isn't explanatory, self- or otherwise, I'd actually appreciate an encouraging little note that I won't be wasting my time trying to understand the text.
The sentence is redundant in meaning, but is is a pleasantry. They may have felt rude just FWD without typing anything to you.
William - Huh? I didn'T even think of that, it does add another layer of comedy I missed out on.
Janne - Yes, perhaps it would be better to have people write a "please see the non-explanatory graphs and text for further confusion" instead?
jlpt2kyu - In this incident, I think it's fair to say that I play the role of the idiot! The lady who sent it is really nice and sharp normally and I was a bit amused myself by my mental overreaction for the seconds it lasted.
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