13
Alt-Tab
3y

Ok, I am actually losing my mind at this bad excuse of a work place.

This guy, that I had only briefly talked to in email twice before, never met or even had a video chat, opened a ticket like this:

"Hi Alt-Tab,

I hope you enjoyed the end of last week, the weekend, and the beginning of this one! All well here. I ventured to [random place in London] for the first time on Saturday – liked it."

Now. I already can't fucking stand when colleagues that are not at all close start emails with "how was your weekend?" shit because then I have to waste another minute addressing that. But this guy took it to such another level that I literally had to read his email 3 times to believe what I just witnessed.

And of course he then went on and described the issue as folows:

"Just a quick note about the issue I have - could you let me know why the calendars are not syncing?"

Maybe if you fucking spent half of the energy of you writing a polite bullshit "hello" and instead used that to actually describe the issue I could help.

Fuck off.

Comments
  • 3
    I still haven't processed this. What the hell?
    Did he maybe confuse me with someone else from the team? I have never even been to the place he was talking about...
  • 1
  • 0
    @Ranchonyx you mean he confused me or this also happened to you?
  • 1
    @Alt-Tab "This" per se rather means that I highly agree with your point.

    But yea, coincidentally this has happened to me as well
  • 1
  • 4
    I may be daft, but is this a cultural thing to be angry with people who are friendly? I mean it wasn't weird friendly, or creepy. Maybe he confused you for someone else like you said. Or maybe he is just more personable. Is this a social faux pas in the UK?
  • 1
    @Demolishun well, I definitely found it weird friendly, but that may be personal.

    Naturally, I also did not respond in a rude manner. I really am trying to focus on that he probably meant well. However, it did piss me off to a great degree because he failed to address every single point requested when opening a ticket and wrote this instead. And yes it does piss me of when I get a ton of tickets most failing to address the details and then I have to spend extra time explaining my weekend.

    Basically, it seems that he tried to compensate with this for not caring to write down the issue in detail.
  • 0
    Have you worked with indians? A lot of them ask you "how is your day?" before getting to business.
  • 0
    @iiii No, but if they actually care I find that nice.
    We normally do the "hope you are well" thing but it's the extent of this that I have a problem with + that it's in email. In meetings I wouldn't mind
  • 0
    @Alt-Tab not sure whether they care that much. I haven't made a friend of any indian programmer/tester I've had to work with to ask that.
  • 1
    As for myself, I find even the basic "hello" in a reply message excessive. As well as those "best regards" footers in replies as well.

    It's fine as an initial message or if someone was added to the list and was addressed for the first time,but otherwise it seems redundant.
  • 2
    @iiii oh I had thought you disagree with me.

    If they are meaningless formalities, I hate them. But when I talk to those colleagues with whom we are on really good terms, we actually mean these questions and I like that. But even with them we wouldn't waste time doing this in an emails..
  • 1
    I don't like when strangers call me friend due to their cultural norms. They are strangers, not friends. That makes me highly distrustful to them from the start. Why are they trying to force friendship, are they trying to fool me?
  • 0
    @darkwind "I'm not your friend, buddy!"
  • 0
    @iiii "we ain't buddies, bro"
  • 1
    @Alt-Tab Hello! My last week, weekend and week was nice up to the point I got a ticket that ignored all conventions.
    I hope you had a nice time in [nice place] but this info can't help with your issue. I will close this ticket so you can open a fresh one using the required info. Have a wonderful day!
  • 1
    @hjk101 lol this is what I should have responded
  • 2
    Small talk has no value and especially not in a ticket system.

    Private chats exist for a reason.
  • 1
    Next time he sends a treacly false I-luvs-ya-bruv email like that, don't answer it. Wait till he comes by your desk and tell him the feel good cruise hostess jumped the fuck overboard and if he wishes to behave like a fucking adult in professional communication you'll consider opening his next shower of shit.
    Then smile, look down, and go back to work. Do not look up if he starts to speak. Ignore him.
  • 0
    @bols59 you've said "hostess"? I'm all ears 🤔
  • 0
    @bols59 thankfully we work from home so I can avoid him even better
  • 0
    @iiii I made an obscure reference to a Noel Coward character named Mimi Paragon in his musical "Sail Away." I was referencing the over the top cheerful layer of cavity inducing slurry covering the purpose of the email.
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