To really dislike people putting read receipts on work emails

[Itissunnysomewhere]

I mean, I always tick to say I won't give one. But I think it's a really aggressive move and really inappropriate.

There shouldn't be an expectation of immediate response to emails

It's more to let the sender know it's been read, rather than demanding an immediate response.
V useful when politics come into play or issues arise

Before someone asks - I got a request for one this morning just before I was leaving to go to a hospital appointment.

I have read the email. But won't be able to action or reply today

Wouldn't bother me. It's so they know you've received it so someone can't later say they didn't get it/see it.

I just always tick no as I usually read my e-mails straight away then flag them is I need to do anything.

As someone in a highly regulated profession given a huge amount of trust, it's actually quite offensive for someone to effectively be implying that they expect me to lie though. So if that is the reason it is an outrageous one.

I expect the actual reason is to try and make their request "jump the queue" , but I am too long in the tooth to be put under pressure by those sorts of techniques

Why do you think you need to action it as soon as you've read it?

If it's not that you think you should, but you think that the sender will think you should, I'd suggest that the sort of person who'll give you a hard time for not acting as soon as you've read it is also likely to give you a hard time for not reading it as soon as you've received it.

In which case, your problem isn't the technology, it's the arseholes you work with.

I suppose there's also the possibility that you think you should action it as soon as you've read it because you expect other people to action those you send as soon as they've read them. If that were that case, then you'd be the arsehole they work with. In this case though, I don't think that applies.

Still, I don't think read-receipts are essentially a bad thing.

some of the people i dealt with had hundreds of emails each day which they had to read during meetings. so they would ignore loads. If i had to have something actioned (especially quickly) or had to prove they had opened it then that was the logical way to do it.

I also think it's aggressive. Really bugs me.

Definitely not my expectation of people. And yes you are right, the handful of people who do it are all generally arseholes about everything (not my colleagues, external people I deal with)

I agree OP. It's rude and annoying. And pointless, because everyone just clicks "don't send".

Definitely not my expectation of people. And yes you are right, the handful of people who do it are all generally arseholes about everything (not my colleagues, external people I deal with)

I think people do it when they need to know it's been read! It's not to say they need a response, they just want to know 'have you read this?' because probably it's important.

I use it occasionally because my job involves referring patients onto other services- I use to ensure that the referral has been read by somebody and isn’t sitting in a disused mailbox somewhere. It’s my responsibility to refer and therefore my responsibility to make sure someone has seen it.
I’ve never heard of them being used PA. It all sounds a bit dramatic and petty.

I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill. So far you've described it as aggressive, inappropriate, outrageous and done by arseholes. It's just a minor annoyance, easily dealt with by one click, which you do anyway.

I always refuse to give one on principle.

As I seem to be hitting a lot of spam filters recently I ask for one to ensure that I know my email has got through.

I could understand that but in these instances we have already been corresponding regularly on the matter so they can't be worried about that

Oh yes, it's just a momentary annoyance, but it definitely adds to a picture of those people (it's part of a pattern of being overly aggressive I guess)

People who do it all the time annoy me. I don’t care if it’s a justified one off though. I sometimes request one if I’m sharing a large file by email and want to be sure it was received.

That would be understandable but in these instances we have been in regular correspondence over a period of months

I don't like it either.

I think it's because I've seen it used as a way of transferring responsibility. "I've made you aware lf it so now it's your problem". Even though it may be unexpected, urgent and you are already hopelessly overcommitted and unable to deal with it right then.

However, I just click "don't send" and forget about it.

I always decline to send a response. I disagree with the idea that it shows the sender the message has been read. Often I skim the first line of an email then flag it for looking at properly at some point in the future. A read receipt is not appropriate because the message hasn't been read fully.

If I'm sending a message, and it's really important it's received and read, I would probably ring to alert the recipient of its imminent arrival.

Back in the day, when e-mails first landed in the workplace, we had a very simple system which allowed you to check who'd read your messages and call back any that hadn't been read. I miss that very simple system!

Yes same, I don't normally ruminate over it I just click "don't send". I think it was just the timing of this one coming in as it did that made me ponder the implied pressure that comes with a "read receipt" while waiting for my doctors appointment

Yes same, I don't normally ruminate over it I just click "don't send". I think it was just the timing of this one coming in as it did that made me ponder the implied pressure that comes with a "read receipt" while waiting for my doctors appointment