To ask how literally you take these statements?

[KneadingKitty]

If someone said to you "can you make a couple of copies of this please?" how many copies would you make?

If someone sent you an email and marked it as "urgent", what does urgent mean to you? How long would you think was acceptable to reply?

First thought of the top of your head rather than properly thinking it!

A couple is definitely two.

But urgent is very subjective and depends on your own working environment. In my job everything is fucking urgent so anything marked urgent I try to reply (holding reply) in the same week, but often the things marked urgent are less urgent than the stuff not marked urgent . Can you tell that I hate my job?

Two copies but I'd probably do an extra one. Urgent, I'd judge on a case by case basis and manage expectations.

A couple is two, but depending on circumstances I may be tempted to do a spare one or two if I thought it likely we'd need more copies later.

Urgent is a bit subjective it could mean drop everything and do it now, do it by the end of the day or even by the end of the week. But I would say generally it means do it that day .

A couple is 2, a handful is 5

Urgent is as soon as I think it needs answering

2 copies

1 hour to reply
Under 24 hours to do the work (if feasible)

A couple is 2.
Urgent where I work means immediately but its very job dependent I think.

A couple means 2 but I'd do 3 or 4 to be on the safe side.
Urgent I'd read, action and reply immediately if possible.

A couple means 2 but I'd do 3 to be sure. Certainly wouldn't do 5!

Urgent means drop everything and do it straight away.

This person doesn't seem to say what they mean. Perhaps they could try that and their wouldn't be further confusion!

"A couple" means two, to me. I know others who use it more loosely though, maybe meaning similar to "just a few", so I'd check howany were actually wanted.

Urgent depends primarily on how long the task will take. An urgent request for a quick answer to a question would get a response right away. An urgent request for me to do a week's work on something I'd try to start work on it in the next couple of days after clearing the decks of other ongoing tasks.

Two copies.
But where I work anything marked urgent is invariably spam.

Depends who's asking.

I'd likely do 3 copies because people always forget a copy for themselves.

But urgent can mean 'urgent - I don't take the piss out of you and never say this unless it actually is', so it gets done right away. Or it can mean 'that fucking twat is shrieking about stuff that is of absolutely no consequence because they need to calm the fuck down and stop barking orders as though they are the CEO. I'll have a coffee and look at it in a minute unless something actually urgent comes in first'

2 copies and I would try to at least read the email almost immediately to see if required a response straight away.

Couple is two but id maybe do four for good measure. Urgent, depends who it comes from, but depending what I was doing id likely do it straight away if possible and it was my boss or within the next couple hours. It really depends on what it is and how long it takes to do.

A couple obviously means 2 but I figure if they'd wanted 2 specifically they'd likely have said, ad a couple is vague so I'd do at least 2 extra. Better to have too many than not enough. My teacher always prints out the exact number of work sheets and for various reasons always ends up short and asks me to go and do more. Just do some spare ffs. Urgent means as soon as possible. Depending on what it is could be right away or within an hour. I'm not my job anything urgent would require immediate attention

I'd consider that if something needed actioning immediately in a "drop everything" way I'd be called, not emailed, as I might not see an email for a few hours depending when I last checked it. So I wouldn't assume it needed a turnaround quicker than about one working day, unless the context included a specific deadline time.

I'd make 5 to be covered but assume they wanted 3 or 4.
And it means do it "now now". Maybe finish a v pressing task if its 5 mins but then it's top of the list.
Nb: I work for difficult male bosses who are obtuse and expect me to read their minds.

If someone told me a couple, I would think two, but I probably would have clarified that they only wanted two.

Urgent, I would assume ASAP.

2 copies
Immediate reply

Top priority. Immediate response.