Caroline,
I thought I'd post a copy of two email messages I received at the end of last year. At the time, I contacted several hundred people from a well-known and international organization (I won't reveal which one) in an attempt to find candidates for our beta trial. The email address of each person was posted at the organization's website; by sending an email request to so many people, I was breaking with etiquette, but I was certainly not doing anything wrong.
In response to my polite but wordy email request (and followup email message), here are two responses I received. Remember, both respondents received the very same messages from me.
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Subject: About your beta trial
Hi, Dr. ****.
Your original email and its sequel went to my office email, so I just read them this morning. Your use of the language is laudable, a nice mélange of scholarly and familiar, and I've never read as long an email with absolutely no typographical errors! I'm also warmed to find another proponent of the final series comma.
I am interested in learning more about your courses. Are descriptions of the classes available?
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Subject: You are a complete idiot
Steve,
I just got your junk mail and I am shocked that such a poor writer could try to start up a company that teaches other people how to write. Your junk mail was MUCH too long for a marketing piece. There are punctuation errors. You show your complete lack of knowledge about the business communication training. I am confident that your company will go under. Go back working in an industry that you have some training.
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The first response is polite, respectful, and the writing style is both relaxed and sophisticated; there is not even a hint of a grammatical error. The second response is rude, dismissive, and almost nasty; it is riddled with errors.
I must admit that, at the time, the second message upset me. I took it to heart because I go out of my way not to offend anyone. I wondered what I must have done to cause this person to be so upset. I thought about responding, but I did not. After a while, I realized that this was just one of hundreds of responses I had received and that everyone else had wished me well. If anything, I became more determined to succeed!
Funnily enough, I posted these messages as examples in our course entitled Electronic Communication. I asked the class what conclusions we draw about a manager based on the tone, the choice of words, the correctness, and the organization of email messages written by that manager. The consensus was that the first writer was a well-educated professional and that the second writer was short-tempered and had had a bad day.
I wrote too many words to say this
but don't take the email message you received to heart. We all have bad days, so be forgiving too. Take it as a helpful lesson about the importance of attitude in business.
