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”

Embarrassingly rude

yes I do know something you apparently do not - be polite!

That's a perfectly normal thing to put in an email and the responder is so fucking rude. I'd have felt humiliated.

This! Thank you! Someone else understands.

"I trust you are well" when I've just come back from a month of with suicidal levels of stress makes it worse, whether the sender knows why I'm off or not.

I have a colleague who still signs off her emails with "stay safe". I always read it in a faintly threatening, mafia type tone.

But if you don't include some small talk in your emails, you get told you are abrasive*.

You can't win really.

*especially if female

Emails starting 'I hope you are well' are usually unsolicited spam and get deleted.

very rude- it is just a polite opening

if it’s someone you haven’t seen for a few days or more

"It's good to see you in person" is honest, likewise your idea of "nice to see you in the meeting".

I dislike emails which ask this. Mainly as I am not well at the moment and feel pressure to say "I'm well thank you".

But I'd never respond like that either!

I d really want to reply 'but I didn't ever ask are you well? You have clearly misread, nevermind, no harm done.'
The email sender was making a statement, not asking a question, they aren't expecting a response of 'yes I am well thank you for asking' 😂

I dislike most of the email lingo. I read most of them as some sort of fuck you type thing. But I also acknowledge it is a thing you do and part of the email tennis.

The recipient should not have Said anything. Just mumbled to themselves. You did nothing wrong. And don't stop!

Extremely rude.

Would they send that response to a customer or external contact?

Even if I person is nuerodivergent and/or doesn't like small talk, it's still not an acceptable response.

I would love to line manage the sender just to see how the conversation would play out.

This is also true.

And also, autistic and female? Good luck with that.

Rude reply bit I do wish we would do away with such crap. I am forever having to write put emails of relevant content then go back and flower it up. It annoys me so much and is a waste of time. If someone has emailed me 10 times already that day, they really don't need to wll.me they still hope I'm well.

Completely uncalled for. Rude. Bullying.

Don't take it personally. It may be rude but it's to the point and they are being clear about what they want/ why. Some people are just like this.

Make all emails short and to the point to said member of staff. Short simple sentences, no waffle.

It doesn't warrant a reply unless you just say, "Noted". And any response to the remainder of the email if required.

You will be seen to be very professional and unfazed. The other cc'ed members of staff will see everything for what it is anyway.

I don't agree with the people who say this is an unusual/offensive/junior introduction - I see it at all levels. To be honest, I think people who have strong opinions on it need to focus more on something that matters!

I attended some training recently re how to work with different personality types in the workplace. We did a personality test and then discussed how people might clash in the workplace as a result of their differing personality traits and how you might adjust your communication style to get results depending on who you are dealing with. Chitchat/niceties was one of the examples used actually! Person A values friendship and connection in the workplace whereas Person B is direct and results oriented.

Regardless, this is an unspeakably rude response. I'd find a way to feed back about their working style if possible - this isn't an appropriate way to speak to someone in the workplace. If not feasible because of your roles I'd focus on keeping it cool and professional.

Oh god, the opening is pretty standard.

The response....🙄. Pretty rude. Are we really at the point where people need to be taught email and letter etiquette?

I'm assuming the answer to that is yes......

Actually so did I. It's a very fake question to a colleague. Just wastes time. I work in a school and the amount of time last week and this spent on "did you have a good holiday?" No, the fucking timetable still isnt complete.

But I did like the Duly noted reply suggested by a PP. Because that is so passive aggressive its lovely!

It doesn't really matter whether you think it is right or wrong to start an email with this sort of line, it is still really shitty for someone senior to reply to a junior on an email chain in such a curt way.

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

Depending on how brave you are… “Thank you, but the first line of my email didn’t contain a question, so I wasn’t expecting a reply” - but if they are likely to cause trouble then just ignore / report to HR if it carries on.

what on earth is unprofessional about it?
It's hardly 'I hope you've had a healthy bowel movement this morning?'

Senior person was very unprofessional. Even if it is that office's convention/style to just go straight into the topic without pleasantries, they should communicate that politely the first/second time. As this thread shows, every office culture is slightly different, and if a junior person misjudges it the role of a senior one is to teach them, not insult/embarrass/jump down their throat.

There may/may not be offices where 'I hope you are well' and other pleasantries is standard/expected but I can't imagine there are many offices where that sort of reply is normal - and if there are I wouldn't want to work there!

I would be tempted to go with a response like 'Thank you for clarifying, I no longer hope you are well,' or 'I take your point on board and will not be hopeful of your health in the future,' but a complete ignore or duly noted would probably be more professional. However I'd be tempted to start every new email with

'Dear Cunt Manager, I hope today finds you inching one miserable step closer to the grave....' or ' Dear X, I hope the large stick up your arse isn't causing you any more pain than usual' or similar (and then delete it before sending!) for my own private amusement....

Also, include ‘hope you are well’ in every single email to them going forward.

I would take a very dim view of someone who replied in such a rude way especially when others were copied into the email. Its that supercilious clever clever that really only reflects badly on them. I would be having a word. I do not care how anyone opens an email to me and yes I do start my emails sometimes with hope you are well, if I haven't spoken to someone for a while.

Does the respondent work in IT? I passed a relative “nicety” comment to one of our IT guys today and he suggested shooting people and hanging them to a post in response. A tad overkill literally. He’d happily email the same suggestion.