English 420Y - Business Writing Online

The signature information on page 616 was very helpful for me. Being as a lab intern, I have recently received and sent out numerous emails to co-workers. I never noticed the signature from the person writing the e-mail, but after reading this section I realized I did not have one and soon created one. I have also used some of the steps from the Ten Habits of Successful E-mailers on page 606. I already knew about half of the steps, the other half being very insightful information. Regardless of who it is one always has to reply rather promptly because in my eyes it shows responsibility.

A few weeks back at work there was an email out to the entire company about a guest speaker that was being hosted later in the week. This speaker was for Gay Pride week. One person found this email very offensive and responded to all people in the company expressing his anger in the fact that there was Gay Pride week and not a heterosexual week, soon after this person was fired. I think this person broke a lot of the ten habits of successful emails, and caused him his career.

First, I would like to comment on the Boss' Angry E-mail (Cerner Company). I didn't understand what growing up on a farm had to do with what he wrote. "You can take the boy off the farm," he said, "but you can't take the farm out of the boy."That puzzled me. I work on a farm and I work for someone who grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, and I just don't get the connection. Also, nothing about that whole situation surprised me. If that teaches anyone anything is becareful what you write because it's not like talking, all they have to do is print it out and show someone.

The “Ten Habits of Successful Emailers” on page 606 of The Thomson Handbook were great tips to follow. I definitely agree with the first one, reply promptly to email that requires a response, ideally within 24 hours. I always try to respond to emails as quickly as possible and one of my pet peeves is when people ignore my emails or choose not to respond. However, I felt that the list was missing one of the main criteria when communicating with anyone. You must know your audience in order to respond properly.

After reading about the CEO at Cerner that lashed out at his employees, I felt that this topic would be the most interesting for me to discuss for this week’s reading response. It is alarming that a person of that high powered position would think it was appropriate to express himself to his subordinates in that way. People our age are told time and time again that we must not send an e-mail that we wouldn’t want a particular person or group of people to read, because e-mail is in writing, and therefore it is proof of whatever statement is made.