Why can't people read?!

[auserna]

It's bad enough when an OP on MN says, "I'm widowed, in my 40s, with two children aged 3 and 5. I'm struggling to keep on top of the housework and can't afford to pay for a cleaner," and the first three replies say, "Why can't your DH do his share of the housework," then, "How old are your children? Can't they help?" and, "Why don't you get a cleaner?" but people who are actually answering emails as part of their job, especially if their job is specifically administration, should surely be able to register more than the first sentence! I am so fed up of sending emails with a few related queries - which I clearly number or put in separate paragraphs - and only getting an answer to the first one if I'm lucky.

I wrote to someone recently and, in a new paragraph said, "Separately, could you also advise on..." Totally ignored. And it was not a long email by any means.

Another was along the lines of, "Please could you let me know the procedure for reserving Meeting Room B on a Tuesday?" and the answer came back, "As advised in our staff guidelines, Meeting Room A can be booked on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays."

Anyone else find this? And find it infuriating? Or should I henceforth limit myself to one-sentence emails and words of one syllable or fewer?

I think the problem is schools concentrate on "Literature" comprehension rather than real life comprehension, so all about fiction and poems rather than "everyday" English. When I was in school, we did comprehensions on non fiction, instructions, recipes, technical datasheets etc - but I saw none of that as our DS went through secondary school over the past decade or so.

Sometimes I think it must be because there are standard letters/ responses for certain situations/queries and the person dealing with them doesn't bother to properly read your message they just noticed a keyword and think "Meeting room response" or whatever

Oh lord yes! I honestly wonder how some people function in life on only ever half-reading things.

The worst these days is when they've forgotten to delete the AI prompt at the bottom asking if they want to edit in someway.

Here's an example-

If you’d like, I can help you add a closing line, adjust the tone, or prepare a follow‑up message

I mean just proof read what you've sent me. Im not an idiot I know you haven't answered my query.

Assh*s

Yeah anyway.

Part of the problem is AI.

I thi k it's being used more and more. And it isn't real people who are answering our queries and complaints so you just go round in circles.

I've been trying to get a pension issue sorted for months. But they still haven't even answered my first question. And just keep getting the same replies despite me explaining why that wont work multiple times.

About to put in a complaint just waiting for their next reply, if its the same just going to have to complain.

I am really petty and to combat that i always highlighted the part they didnt read in the original email.

Then forwarded 'please see below highlighted section in answer to your query'

Ouch! A well-deserved spanking for me there, masterfully delivered. My apologies for raising your ire, and my thanks for a lesson not to try to do too many things at once.

I always get this, I spell their name incorrectly in my response and then funnily enough mine is always spelt correctly going forward.

I find that when someone asks me for my availability for a meeting, and I reply "I can do any time this week apart from Thursday afternoon", 90% of the time they will reply "That sounds great, how about Thursday 3pm"?

You can't use the excuse "the email was too long" for that one, it is one sentence, you have just been too lazy to ready it properly.

I now put apart from or except in bold, to aid the comprehension-challenged.

Not related to the email comprehension side of things, but I had someone send me an article recently which they had "written" where they left a prompt in halfway through. Not only had they got AI to write it for them, they hadn't even read what it produced....

I'm right in this situation at work at the moment. Massive ongoing implementation of a new company-wide system that goes live on the 1st April (lol) and the managers are ploughing ahead with configuration regardless, despite not knowing what they are doing re the nitty-gritty of the finance side. I have made dozens of notes, recommendations and suggestions, and I'm having to email them to the bosses one by one. They cannot cope with receiving an email with more than one subject in it.

I sent them one this morning highlighting a specific potential issue and providing a proposed solution. Went and spoke to boss about an hour later. Had he received said email? Yes, he said. I then expanded on why there was a problem and he said 'Ooh, I know, what we could do is this ......(etc etc)........" which was exactly what I'd already emailed him and told him. So he was telling me his bright idea, which was the solution I'd given him already.

There really are not enough eye-rolls in the world...

I find myself wasting time re-wording emails to make them as simple and concise as possible to try and get the answer I need

So you'd rather they waste their time by reading an email that you could have made shorter and more to the point?!

If you can make an email shorter, do it. If you can put the whole point of the email in the subject line, do it.

I loved reading comprehension in primary school! We had different coloured cards, which I think were called SRA cards, I can't remember what the top colour was as I get them confused with the Ginn reading books which we also had, but I was very pleased when I reached it.

It’s annoys me more on here, and I thinks it’s down to people being know it alls. They need to be so quick to provide an answer they feel they know best about that they don’t bother to actually read any details.

You see it all the time in Style and beauty.

OP “I’m after a fitted white t-shirt. Max budget £20.

Ignorant poster - “X shop has lovely red oversized t-shirts for £75”.

Our English teacher was fab. One fine day she asked us to write down the step-by-step instructions for making a cup of tea. While we did that, she disappeared into her cupboard and brought out various tea-making supplies, laying them out ready for the practical element.

Then she asked people one at a time to read out their instructions while another pupil followed them. 😂😂

It was the funniest and most entertaining English lesson we ever had, and one we would never forget.

This one I understand, people working down their inbox so they always see/reply to the most recent one first.
Many times now I have drafted the attachment email and the instruction one together and sent the attachment followed about 2 seconds later by the instructions saying "I've just sent you..."

Which is what that poster said she did?

Hence her, ‘please see previous email regarding actioning this’.

Yes, I was at primary school mainly in the 80s and we did them frequently.

I've just remembered another really serious example. A few years ago I was erroneously diagnosed with a personality disorder because someone didn't read my notes properly (they simply saw the word "personality" and leapt to their own conclusion.

Not only did this cause me considerable distress at a difficult time, but it also prevented me from receiving treatment that I needed. I did manage to sort it out, through tenacity and deploying my best detective skills, but my goodness I could have done without that additional stress.

Yes. See my post a minute ago about personality disorders.

I know what you mean OP. These days I send separate emails if I have more than one question to ask. I don't mind so much on MN threads, but it's very annoying when it's about work or something important.
That's awful about 'personality' = 'personality disorder'!

This is the perfect response- it should be listed as one of the reactions we can use with the React button- maybe there's an emoji for this!

Apology happily accepted. I am suitably mollified!

I have noticed this many times on MN and other social media sites.

On social media sites people tend to have a predetermined, very fixed idea of what you are writing about and can't think beyond that. They see, two kids, overwhelmed with housework, so, their standard answer is, get the kids and husband to pitch in.

On SM, I wrote about something my former daughter-in-law did, and without reading what I actually wrote, I was jumped for things I never did and never would do. It's all due to laziness, narrow mindedness and low IQ.

On one particular SM site, not here, there must be a lot of liars, as I was accused of fabricating my entire OP. Some offered up 'proof' I was lying by misquoting what I'd written in the OP. It was bizarre and frustrating to say the least. I've concluded, these people must live very boring & predicable lives & are desperate for attention - so they think we all are.

As far as work emails etc goes; I believe people are being hired for certain positions who are not very intelligent, just qualified. They managed to get a degree, and ticked all the right boxes. I'm in my 70's now and remember when most of us didn't go to university and worked our way up the employment ladder on our own merits - proven on the job skills and achievements.

I know many well educated people who are not doing well in life. The most stupid, narrow minded person I know has a Phd. She lacks basic common sense. She's now on her 40's and working at a glorified call center.

One other woman I know, also in her 40's, just struggles at life in general. She struggles writing a letter or email. One of many examples; she doesn't understand the difference between 'our' and 'are' . Life is so stressful for her she now sits and does hobbies all day. This woman has a BA from a well known University and could probably get a job at your doctor's office. The results would be disastrous. This is what we are expected to tolerate when dealing with the companies, doctors etc they work for.

A woman, a few years older than me, still runs a huge medical clinic. She has worked there since graduating high school. She started out as a file clerk. They place would be lost without her. When she finally does retire, they will probably hire some young over educated fool and it'll be a disaster.

Surely it ends up costing you more time overall though?

It's excusable (although still annoying) on MN, but simply not good enough in a work context when you're being paid to do a job. It infuriates me most with one particular woman whose specific job is to do administration. The number of administrative mistakes she makes is astonishing, and even pointing out and correcting the error often doesn't resolve the problem.