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

I think there could be other reasons a person does this other than aggression!

You can set Outlook to 'never send a read receipt' you then don't see the requests.

Isn't there an inverse relationship between the propensity to request a read receipt and the importance of the message / sender anyway? It's like marking an email 'urgent'. No one takes any notice. Both are just passive agressive actions driven by a desire to be seen to be doing something, rather than just getting things done ;)

Ah fab will try that when am back at work!

Me too.

I find it annoying as well.

Can you elaborate? I have never felt the need to send one in two decades of working, so am curious

how do you turn off or know if you’ve got read receipts on on gmail

The other one I hate is copying in a manager when it's completely unnecessary. As if they don't trust me to respond, without the threat of said manager hanging over me. Even though in reality the manager probably doesn't read it anyway!

Oh yeah as a manager of a big team that really irritates me. Fine if you have chased numerous times and not had a reply but otherwise I'm just going to delete it/express sympathy with the member of my team who is dealing with the overly officious person.

Of all the things to be offended about, I don't even give this headspace.

I think you find it annoying because you are competent and efficient in your job. However you would be amazed at the amount of people who are not!

In a previous role (highly qualified professionals) many were making a basic mistake that cost the company ££ daily. I sent out comms about it, created a guide, demo video and posted it on the intranet. It had little to mo impact. I was then asked by senior mgt to directly email the “offenders”. I did. They continued to make the mistake. Mgrs pulled them up. They claimed they didn’t see the intranet post, global email or directed email. I was then asked by senior mgt to send to individuals again with a read receipt.

It then actually have an impact and the number of repeat offenders dwindled as they knew they had no excuse!

It's rude and aggressive. I decide my priorities thanks. Not you dickwad.

And funnily enough allowing you to update your gant chart isn't very high up.

My issue with read receipts is that they pop up before you actually get a chance to read the email. So I can't send to say I've read it as there's this pop up asking for a response and blocking me from reading the email it wants me to confirm I've read!

Sure thing. I've never sent one either, but I've received them and I've never assumed it was an aggressive act. It may have been, of course, but my assumption is that they just want to know, and perhaps they're really eager about that. And I can let them know, or not, and I can acknowledge I've received it and then leave my actual response until I'm ready. I don't feel like I'm being made to hurry or anything. Other alternatives to aggressiveness, in my mind, is that they might be anxious, might be a way some folks organise their correspondence, might be because they want to flag up that they think this is an important email, could be some kind of KPI thing where it's used as evidence to prove that a thing has been communicated. Now, even if it was actually an aggressive act... it's still just email, so I'd call it something else, maybe "forthright", confident or bold, in a way that very mildly irks me but ultimately causes no harm. And then of course it can be aggressive. Just because I can't imagine it and don't think I've experienced it, doesn't mean it can't happen.

On the rare occasion that I get one, I switch it off so they don't get a read receipt. None of their business when or if I read their email.

I’ve got a manager 2 steps above me who puts them on and expects immediate action. He’s a bit of a cock, plays lots of power games. Tedious individual who brings very little to the table.

Anyway. I always switch off the read response and he brought me up on it once. I said oh did I? I don’t remember, I tend to just automatically click no to things popping up on my screen when I’m busy. Was it urgent?

It wasn’t urgent of course, they never are, and I got it done in good time. He still sends with read receipts and I still switch them off every time. We are at an impasse with it and I am of course devastated.

I am too long in the tooth not to trust other professionals, paeticularly where organisational politics abound!

It's so 1999

I’ve also set up a rule to delete the “urgent” flag!

That one sends me into an instant rage. The sender has no idea what is on my to do list. I will decide if it is urgent or not. If it genuinely is urgent pick up the phone and talk to me!!

These are external professionals emailing me, it's nothing to with organisational politics.

Oh I didn't know you could do that! Will take a look tomorrow

IME the only people who do it are the ones who think their request/email is v. important. It's never the people who actually are sending important emails who do it.

I tick the box to confirm I've read it...but I usually don't reply for a few days - mostly because, as I said, their emails are never urgent or important.

It's not to get an instant response. It's to cover themselves like sending a registered letter. I sometimes have to be able to prove that I informed somebody of something. If I don't get a read receipt I may have to spend a whole day calling them and calling again and again if there's no reply and no opportunity to leave a voicemail.

It's got nothing to do with priorities. That would be making it as urgent or high priority.

The read receipt is to check that the person has been made aware.

It's actually quite mean to refuse to give a read receipt for important information. it leaves the sender having to keep emailing you until they get a reply or having to call you.

I don’t like them either. There’s something implied about the professionalism of the recipient when someone is effectively saying ‘I have had to check that you have read this, and when.’