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Admin
Anyone outside the company isn't going to know that company policy is that customer emails have a 50/50 chance of being read if they're not CC'd to the secretary, while anyone in the company just has to remember a "policy" that only exists to cover up the fact that no one knows how to give the secretary access to the boss's email.
Not to mention the complaint is that the request is isolating the boss from the rest of the company. If that's the intention, there are stille asier ways to let the peons know that the boss is too busy to read their email.
The smart way to do it is to have the secretary just read his damned email. You can even use the "from" and "sent by" headers correctly for a change.
You don't address snail-mail to the secretary, you address it to the boss and the secretary opens it. You do the same with email.
Anything so confidential that the secretary can't be trusted to not read it shouldn't be sent by unencrypted email, anyway. There's a better than 50/50 chance that it will be CC'd to the wrong mailing list instead of being sent to the boss anyway. And if the boss is requesting that only confidential stuff is emailed to him personally, then admiting that he probably won't even read it is pretty stupid.
Admin
Personally, I always use the 'Reply All' button, especially on all-in emails - so long as my name is heard throughout the company often enough, I'm bound to move upwards.
But seriously, I always use 'Reply All' so that important things notify all people required. If this means I frequently annoy people by replying to a mass email (it's rare that I would reply, I suppose), hopefully they'll direct their anger at the person who sent the original mail, not me....
I remember one of my co-workers used to reply all to a daily reminder to change backup tapes (sent to a rather large number of people across much of the globe). He received a 'Please do not reply all'. He copied in everyone who had been on the original list, and sent a reply "Sorry, I didn't realise it annoys people. I won't do it again"..... And then accidently forgot not to reply all the next day....
In a nutshell (as I think you were saying) the problem is that people are allowed to use organisation wide distribution lists that all users can see.
Admin
If you're that insecure, don't trust the interwebs at all...
I absolutely hate people who ring me the second they've sent an email - email is not an instant technology. If you want instant, you can ring, or come see me, or use IM or something. The idea of email (like ordinary mail) is to send something that can be addressed in the OP's own time + why bother emailing (other than it's easy record keeping) if you're gonna discuss anyway....
email sux dogs balls
Admin
Bloody hell, that was far too accurate a reply.
Everytime some muppets start a company-wide email thread you have people saying crap like that.
Last company was a multi-national made up of ooh...about 10,000 people and this happened far too often.
Admin
Back in 2000, after 22 months of development, the startup I was a part of released our first video game (moderately good, moderate success) and the first bit of memorable "fan email" we received was succinct and to the point (quoted precisely, because it's been easy to remember all these years):
Admin
Admin
Admin
When I handed in my master thesis a few years ago, it included 70+ pages of printed sourcecode.
And I wasn't just having a bubble, I was actually instructed to do it.
Admin
Admin
We'll work on that right after we get off your lawn.
Admin
Unfortunately, you've pretty much just described my work day. It seems that the SOP is to open a trouble ticket then send an email to my supervisor, his manager, and the SVP of the department. Screw the process, I CAN'T GET ON THE INTERNET, DAMMIT!!!11!!eleventy
Admin
Admin
Hi Joan,
Have you tried turning the solution off and on again?
Please leave it off for at least five minutes to allow the solution time to condense.
Thanks, -Oli
Admin
FTFY
Admin
Admin
I have never accepted the sending of a read receipt, no matter who it is from. It's the same as someone sending you a letter and expecting you to write back immediately to them stating when you opened the envelope (which is, after all, before you've even read the letter).
Oh, and since "ask" is a verb not a noun or even adverb, there cannot be such a thing as "an ask". I know language evolves but that shit is not to be countenanced under any circumstances. Especially when a perfectly cromulent word already exists: "request"
Admin
Oh let me guess, CVS?
Admin
I personally would have stated 'request' as opposed to 'ask'. Nonetheless, according to Washington State Univ:
If you want something you can request it or you can ask for it. Many people like “request” because it sounds more formal, more elegant; but to other people it just sounds pretentious. There are many instances in which plain old “ask” works better: “I'm asking my buddies to go camping with me.” “She asked him to walk the dog.” Except on wedding invitations, try to avoid “request” where “ask” will do as well.
Admin
Beautiful...
Admin
Surely the solution to that is to set up the mail system to send all the stuff to his receptionist. (I could do a shameless plug of our own mail server software which has this as a standard feature, but won't)
Even if you're using a crappy mail server like Exchange, you could surely just set up 'Bill.Smith' as being an alias for 'Carrie' and have a secret email address for Bill which only Carrie (and probably Bill's wife) knows about. Not rocket science.
Admin
What, get drunk at work, or get a cat to walk on your keyboard?
Admin
Ozz FTW.
Admin
You guys need help. Desperately. The phrase you're looking for is "Is that too much to ask?"
Okay, can you please fight about something less boring now? I'm not paying good nothing to read inept language flames.
Admin
Admin
The Cables that Store the Internet? It's in the mice, stupid!
Admin
Except that ask doesn't work in the original context. They are saying 'An ask'. It sounds retarded to say "Is it too much of an ask to pick up the garbage?" Instead, you would say "Is it too big of a request to pick up the garbage?". If you really wanted to say ask, you could say "Is it too much to ask to pick up the garbage?"
Saying "of an ask" should never be correct. Either use the word "ask" correctly, or use the word "request".
Admin
Yes, one of the grammar rules I learned in high school was, "Don't verbize your nouns."
I think it came right between "Never use a preposition to end a sentence with" and "About sentence fragments."
Admin
That applies to "request" used as a verb, in which case it's (nearly) synonymous with "ask". But "request" can also be a noun, and "ask" is never a noun. In the example under discussion, a noun is required.
Admin
It's a common idiom in my part of the world.
Admin
And for the person quoting Washington State University over "ask" vs. "request" - the examples quoted still use 'ask' as a verb, not as a noun. Perhaps you need to dialogue with a subject-matter expert about the appropriate methodology to apply for this use case.
Lastly, the text runs slightly off the page on my view too, and I'm just using standard Firefox on XP, no grandpa mode for the text in my case.
Admin
CAPTCHA: tristique: a threesome with Mystique?
Admin
While reading the "I forgot to CC Carrie" message, this question popped into my head: "Can I have Carrie's phone number?". Thanks for not blanking it out in the Boss's signature. You're a star!