i second that. but in phone calls from colleages i hate the “hey, got a moment?” too. i wouldn’t have answered otherwise, or i might have told you i would call you back in a few minutes within my first line?
“Not anymore.” Click.
“Is now a good time?” before a sales pitch
That’s fine. I don’t see what’s wrong with that.
“Hey, I’d like to talk a bit about Project X. Is now a good time?”
I tell people to ask first before calling, because it’s just polite. otherwise they may not get a response
the only people who can call without notice are my boss and the owner, and even then, if you want me in a good mood and to be prepared for whatever project you’re gonna ask about that I haven’t thought about in months, it’ll go better if you just ask if I have time to talk about xyz
some people don’t get it. and those people get to sit there on the line while I bring up the project files in silence
“can I just tell you what’s going on-”
“no. because then I’ll have questions about your shitty description. so we’re gonna wait here until I have the information open for what you’re asking about so we’re not playing tag later”
this is my status message. usually I don’t have it showing by default, but when somebody does this I toggle it lol
The solution to this is to not reply to them.
They will either give you the information you need (and potentially learn their lesson for next time), or they’ll get tired of waiting and ask someone else.
100% this. I got this dude who always messages me “hi” when he needs something but doesn’t bother to include what the fuck he needs. I told him, politely, once you can just include everything up front at once and I’ll answer as soon as I can. I just won’t respond to just “hi”. Like fucking hi yourself.
I do love being in IT sometimes. No ticket? Then the problem doesn’t exist
Works every time
So passive aggressive
Just reply hi
How often does it really happen
I notice there are several similar domains by now. I know a few people who have this is the forever status message in the work messaging tool
I’ve toyed with this a few ways, and my favorite response is waiting 4 hours and replying “hi!” That might mean the next day. Then when they ask the question, wait a couple more hours at least to reply. They’ve set the pace for the conversation this way, and it’s going to be glacial. (Folks who have no urgency get no urgency)
If they ask the right way, I am pretty quick. (Polite people get polite responses)
If it’s something that can wait 20 minutes, I typically wait 20 minutes. (I am a busy person) (Protip: this makes bosses and coworkers think you’re not just fucking around all day, and they respect you more)
Train people using rules, even if they are unspoken, be consistent and it’ll work.
Nah, hi back just before you knock off. As in send hi, log out, go home.
I just write hi or good morning or whatever, follow it by an empty line, and then my question. In the same message.
This probably isn’t an audience that needs to hear this - but you can add a line break with ALT+Enter in Teams.
Getting a flood of short messages instead of 2 paragraphs drives me crazy.
I thought it was ctrl + enter but to be fair most things are muscle memory at this point so I don’t actually remember things, I just do them
I’m the opposite … I put my request in first and then do my pleasantries:
“could you look into this for me?”
“btw good morning”
I’ve done this out of habit trying to be friendly. I’m starting to see the error of my ways. A point has been made.
Shift+Enter or Ctrl+Enter (depending on the platform) will usually insert a line break. You can divide your greeting from the content of the message without actually sending two messages.
You can say it as a polite prelude…it just has to be an immediate part of the message. Not just “hi” then waiting for a response. The latter pisses everyone off.
I don’t answer “Hi” anymore.
If they need help they’ll ask what they need.
I have some people that my entire message history is “Hi” and no answer. Because they eventually realize they should ask in our QA channel instead of dm’ing our team members.
Just reply “hi” then set your status to away and go grab a coffee!
Someone sending just “hi” in a work IM is equivalent to no message being sent at all.
I will respond when I actually receive a message
Proper format:
Hola,
X is Y and we need Z. Did you fuck with the server?
…new server, who dis??
These are your coworkers’ best friends, who send you an email and then immediately run to your desk to tell you that they sent you an email. And if you’re busy, they stare at you until you turn to them and they get what they want, no matter what you were doing.
Can I ask you a question?
Apparently.
You get one a day, try again tomorrow
Coworker: Hi
Me: [Waits for more info, nothing comes.]
Me: Hello
Coworker: So
[Several seconds pass]
Coworker: What’s up with that file from yesterday?
Me: [Waits for more info, nothing comes.]
Me: Which file
[No response for literally 10 minutes]
Coworker: The one we sent to client B
Me: [Rather than keep trying to extract information, search through history and find file which was sent to client B yesterday, find nothing obviously wrong with it, and it was nothing to do with me anyway]
Me: [Sends link to file] You mean this one?
[5 minutes pass]
Coworker: NM I figured it out. Thanks!
My other favourite is the coworker who does the same thing but instead of saying hey types “Pssst” and if you don’t respond within about 5 seconds they start sending GIFS of people knocking on doors and stuff.
I’ve thankfully never experienced that last one, but that is heinous. I would actually engage to tell them not to do that.
Don’t do that.
