Keep Your Replies To Yourself
Maybe it’s the Scrooge in me coming out at this holiday time of year, but if I could have one wish this Christmas, it would be for the “reply all” key within people’s emails to be permanently disabled. Same goes for so-called “group text” strings.
This is mainly a thing that happens at work, and from what I can tell from others, it’s not just where I work.
There will be a mass email on some item, typically one that does not require action. But lo and behold, someone will hit “reply all” to confirm receipt of the message, or show their reaction with an emoji, or something similar. And for some, it’s a challenge to get to be the first to hit “reply all” to show how eager you are to be a good team player.
Or how little you have to do at your job, so you are able to camp out on email…could be that, too.
This one’s always a favorite, especially at this time of year. Perhaps it’s a Christmas gift exchange, perhaps a holiday party…but the email comes to tell you to go to the lounge or kitchen area of the workplace and sign up on the sheet posted on the door of the refrigerator. Simple enough, right?
Oh, no…folks feel compelled to hit “reply all” to tell us all what they are bringing to whatever event. I don’t know if they think it replaces actually following the direction of signing up on the designated sheet, or again, if it’s just a competition to get out ahead of everyone else and set the tone.
Then there’s the new trend of “group texts”…the problem is that often it looks like you are getting a text from a person, and you hit reply…not knowing that you are replying to a larger group. And there’s no “take back” button you can press once you hit “reply all”.
I presume that someone is reading all my texts and emails anyway, so I don’t say anything in them that I wouldn’t—or haven’t—said to the person I’m referencing. But it’s a bit of a time waster, this “reply all” stuff.
In the scheme of things, if that’s the worst issue I have in life, I’m quite blessed. But if you’re listening, Santa…give it a thought.
