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”

I’m another poster who appreciates a banal pleasantry from a colleague. I’m a bit like one of those French cafe owners who refuse to get a tourist’s coffee until they say ‘bonjour’. It’s a simple acknowledgement of someone’s humanity rather than just walking in and saying ‘get me this’

Baffled by half the comments on this thread. It is a pleasantry that doesn’t even require a response. The email was rude imo, and the sender has shown themselves up to both the recipient and the four others who were copied in. If I was cc’d into that response I’d definitely judge the sender negatively.

I do find ‘I hope you are well’, pointless, boring and sometimes sarcastic

This is masterclass level.

same here but I would never ever respond with any rudeness whatsoever, I just used to sigh inwardly, especially when I used to always get this from a colleague who I sat next to and who would just be emailing an attachment over to me. I would simply have put "hi, please see attached" with my signature whereas that colleague would put:

"dear Life on Mars

I hope this email finds you well

I have attached the document you requested

Kind regards"

I like that response. They were incredibly rude.

Genuine question here - a quiet word about what exactly? It seems to be to be just a nice remark as a run in to an email, surely just someone being pleasant.

if I got that snide reply to an email, I would earmark that person as a massive A- hole

Sounds like the psycho director I worked for once. He got the sack for his psycho ways eventually.

It’s vaguely annoying and a bit trite/fake but it didn’t deserve that unpleasant reply. Hopefully the sender isn’t too upset.

I would start every email I ever sent the fucker with that.

Maybe expand it each time.

I hope you are well
I hope this email finds you well
I hope this email finds you well and you are enjoying the sunshine

Like pop to the shops.

Who are you that you're so important you haven't got the millisecond requires to gloss over a pleasantry.

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

I would be so tempted to reply (all):

"Yes, I do actually. Inbox me, hun."

I think it's hilarious.

To be honest, in my role, the only people who use it tend to be women in lower level roles. I very rarely receive it from men and never from anyone senior. It tends to be a marker of someone fairly junior or in a support function.

This is probably true to an extent, but it demonstrates how impossible it is for some people to win!

When - as a female working in junior support roles - I emailed senior often older men, some of them definitely expected a subservient ‘hope you are well type’ email opener. Emailing ‘Dear Martin, Can you confirm your availability this afternoon, Thanks” would’ve been taken by some of them as too blunt.

🫨🫨🤣🤣🤣🤣

Perfection 🤣

How about just,

"I hope this email finds you."

Just to make the receiver question if their communication is secure.

I think that, if you’re sitting a couple of desks away from the person you’re emailing all day, this kind of introductory statement is probably superfluous. On the other hand if it’s someone you haven’t seen for a few days or more (perhaps because of WFH) then a chatty sentence such as I hope you are well/ I was nice to see you in the meeting last week/how was your holiday? eases into things like asking them to do something you need!

I was commenting on a class of similar statements, which have in common a feigned interest in the wellbeing of a colleague. I made this clear. Perhaps brush up your reading skills?

It sounds like you need to brush up on your email skills.

I have training booked for that through Access To Work. You know, what with autism being a disability.

I mean if you had the balls, you could reply...

"You don't need to answer a question I didn't ask, as this was a well meaning statement. Not an enquiry. The lack of a question marks indicates this. Unless you know something I don't."

The thing is you absolutely have to be on email these days

Stick to the etiquette

I'd run with it and say "well I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag but....😬"

It's a rude response but I don't mind rude. It means I can be rude back mwahaha

Just to be clear- it was the senior person who said this “no need to ask if I am well”?

and the newish junior person who sent the one opening with “Hope you are well.”
Right?

I suspect the senior person was trying to say in a jokey way that there was no need to waste time and energy on introductory small talk. But the time was wrong. Message would have been better delivered in person next time they chatted.

There is nothing at all wrong with starting an email with a pleasantry. You don’t usually approach someone at their desk and ‘get straight to the point’ if you have not greeted them first in some way. I’d rather someone start an email with ‘I hope you are well’ than a
demand!

The sender of that email has appalling manners. Very impolite indeed. If I was having a bad day and sent a rude email like that I’d be mortified. The recipient deserves an apology and an explanation. They did absolutely nothing wrong. Hopefully the people copied in are also mortified and will say something.

I would have respected the emailed more if they had replied,

"Sadly I am riddled."
Then address the rest of the email