What do you make of this email response

[Yikitty]

Email sent by newish member of staff to senior staff member - 4 others cc’d in

Reasonable run of the mill email - enquiring about confirming a date. Email first line is “I hope you are well”

response:

”You don’t need to ask me if I am well every-time you email me unless you know something I don’t. Yes”

Totally this. I eyeroll every time I see it. And I never see it in emails from people I admire and respect. You can be polite without being bland and formulaic.

Incredibly rude response to the point that they should apologise.

I apologise. I shall no longer hope you are well.

Can’t be worse than the habit of putting emojis in emails to “soften the tone”

I’ve found myself having to do that after being labelled imperious (unjustly)

I prefer "hope you're well" to "how are you?" as you don't need to reply to it 😂

Neurodivergent not realising they are being rude, probably

I hate it too.

It's a rhetorical question for a start. But if anyone does answer it, the thread becomes chat instead of business.

And what's wrong with women in lower-level roles? Reckon things would pretty much grind to a halt without them. FGS, the arrogance.

In response to the OP: Incredibly rude. If I'd been on the receiving end of that, I would, of course, stay entirely professional, but that would be my goodwill for this person gone for a while, and I wouldn't be putting myself out to help them out.

😂

Please do it 🤣

Wow.

I would never send an e-mail without a banal pleasantry

That's being British, surely.

(Although tbf I am a forriner).

If i do not get an e-mail without a banal pleasantry I would be shocked by the rudeness.

If I had a comment along the lines of the OP's example I would never go out of my way again to do anything for the rude fucker beyond the basics.

I'll raise you with 'Hello, Colleagues'.

Fuck's sake, we're not in ASDA's staff room, Anthony.

1. I'm autistic.
2. I find small talk an irritating waste of time.
3. Especially when the small talk is insincere queries about my health or well-being. I mean, lets take "how are you?" at face value. If I answer truthfully, I get told off. On one memorable occasion, I had my use of the socially-expected "I'm fine" used against me to threaten me with getting sacked.
4. Especially especially when the "well wishes" are coming from the mouth or keyboard of some sociopath manager who sees me as a resource to be exploited and not a person and would throw me under a train in a heartbeat to get a bonus or promotion. I hate being lied to.
5. I used to object to small talk in such strident terms until I got told not to.
6. Small talk still irritates the hell out of me, but I now seethe silently as part of Yet More Masking to burn me out by the end of the day.
7. Email comes across harsher than IRL.

tl;dr: If you aren't prepared to hear an honest answer and offer appropriate support/signposting, don't ask how people are or "hope that they are well". It's insincere bullshit and means as much as the "thoughts and prayers" after every US school shooting.

You should finish your emails to them,

I hope you remain well,

I laughed at that response!

And I totally get where they’re coming from. It sounds like they want it more like a text or Teams message? So just write your question in future.

Seems reasonable to me. It's a little false and out of touch to start a work email with "I hope you are well". You are not my distant cousin or long lost friend, you are my colleague every day. If I'm at work, I am well. Just cut to the chase and ask me what you need to know.
Senior person here isn't being rude, they are giving the other person permission to skip the pointless part of the message, but making a lighthearted joke out of the situation so as to be friendly about it.

Wow, I've clearly been out of office work for too long - I find “I hope you are well” very unprofessional! What is the purpose of opening an email that way?

It literally takes less than a second for the recipient to glance at the ‘I hope you are well’ opening line in an email. However busy/senior/important someone is it really is not going to eat up their precious time.

If I’d received the reply that OP mentions I’d almost be cringing - it comes off as so self important and lacking in any emotional intelligence.

Actually it wasn't a question, "I hope you are well", is just a statement.

Therefore don't be so rude and respond when a question wasn't asked! It sounds like you need to brush up on your email skills.

Sheesh, if that e-mail was sent to me I would be having a quiet word with the sender along with an a telling off.
Back in the day that type of the response would have been met with the sack and rightly so.🙄

If they're on probation, they wouldn't pass it

This sort of pedantic sneeriness fills me with loathing.

How hard is it, really, to refrain from being an insufferable childish fucking smart arse?

This

I agree with this poster