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R.Hunter
Preparation is the Advantage

 Email Etiquette
With overflowing inboxes and little time, it's tempting to cut corners in the name of e-laziness before clicking send. After all, with so much bad email bouncing around who is going to notice? Trust me-we notice. Because it can be difficult to know what the rules are, here's a cheat sheet of popular missteps and how to correct them quickly and painlessly.

Use Sparingly:

Multiple Question Marks - i.e. Huh??? These read like an over-the-top eye roll. They're snooty, unprofessional and won't win you many fans around the office.

Exclamation points - Come on! You can't possibly be that excited. Besides, there's something juvenile about too many on a page.

ALL CAPS - These are the email equivalent of yelling and really- since when was it acceptable to scream at work?

Reply All - Abusing this is the single fastest way to irritate an entire mailing list simultaneously.

Forward - The cute, the funny, the heartwarming-No. None. Save them for family and non-work friends.

Proofread Everything-and I Mean Everything. Make a habit of treating each email like it matters and you'll be less inclined to take shortcuts that can negatively impact your image. Remember, spell-check isn't failsafe. Reread email before sending, and print and read all critical or sensitive email. Printed errors seem to leap off the page whereas they often slip by unnoticed on the monitor.

Keep it Clean By this time we should all know that nothing we type in the office is completely private. If you composed it on a company machine it's company property-plain and simple. You have no right to call foul should your words be used against you at a later date. We've all heard office gossip about what was found on so-and- so's computer after they left the company.

Tone Deaf The slipperiest slope of all email debacles is tone. It's so open to interpretation that a single crossed wire can set off an avalanche of hurt feelings. Solution? If you receive an email that rubs you the wrong way, try reading with a huge smile on your face. Chances are it won't sound nearly as bad. Still unclear? Pick up the phone or walk to the sender's office. It's much easier to judge intention if you can hear or see the other person and it's a way to guarantee that nothing gets misconstrued.

Anger Management Tempted to fire off a sarcastic or snotty email? Ask yourself, "Would I speak to someone this way if we were face to face?" Work is a place where you get paid to do things you don't always want to do - like be respectful to everyone regardless of personal feelings.



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