People who don't acknowledge important emails/messages . . .

[usagora]

If they do the job properly, there is ZERO need for them to acknowledge receipt of an email. ZERO. They do the job and everyone moves on to the next thing at hand.

Inherently, you distrust them. You may say you don't distrust them, but you do. Your language and fixation on their "acknowledging receipt of the email" says there is a level of distrust.

I will try to stay out of this from now on, because as others have said, you refuse to see this from any other viewpoint other than your own.

🤦‍♂️I can't believe you still are misunderstanding me. I have no doubt they will do the job properly, but I need to have confirmation that they know what the job is. I can't expect them to act on information that they did not receive, obviously. If they do not reply, then I have no idea if they read the email or it got lost in their inbox, accidentally deleted, etc. So this absolutely has nothing to do with trust. You are simply, 200% w-r-o-n-g on that.

 

[bunnspecial]

If they do the job properly, there is ZERO need for them to acknowledge receipt of an email. ZERO. They do the job and everyone moves on to the next thing at hand.

Inherently, you distrust them. You may say you don't distrust them, but you do. Your language and fixation on their "acknowledging receipt of the email" says there is a level of distrust.

Yes, exactly. Working as an adult in a professional situation(or even in something like a volunteer position, which I do plenty of also), I will do the work assigned to me/expected of me and expect others to trust that I will do so unless I've given them a reason to not.

In return, I trust my colleagues and subordinates to also behave as professional adults and to do the work asked and expected of them. If them not doing it becomes a problem for me, it will get addressed. Otherwise, though, I'm not going to be looking over people's shoulders to make sure they're doing their job, and wouldn't appreciate others doing the same to me.

My first research advisor in graduate school(who is more than a boss-they effectively control your life) quite literally looked over my shoulder at everything I did, and for that matter everyone else in the lab. He was such a micromanager not just in that but in every other way that it was a toxic and honestly mentally unhealthy environment, and I was fortunately able to get out of there in less than a year.

 

[mollyc]

🤦‍♂️I can't believe you still are misunderstanding me. I have no doubt they will do the job properly, but I need to have confirmation that they know what the job is. I can't expect them to act on information that they did not receive, obviously. If they do not reply, then I have no idea if they read the email or it got lost in their inbox, accidentally deleted, etc. So this absolutely has nothing to do with trust. You are simply, 200% w-r-o-n-g on that.

Trust me.....I am NOT misunderstanding you. I am not 200% w-r-o-n-g. You have an inherent distrust of the system that is in place. Whether the distrust is with the people, the email system, I'm not sure.....but you do NOT trust that people received the information and will act act accordingly. Otherwise you would never have posted here in the first place.

Why not start sending them registered mail?

 

[bunnspecial]

🤦‍♂️I can't believe you still are misunderstanding me. I have no doubt they will do the job properly, but I need to have confirmation that they know what the job is. I can't expect them to act on information that they did not receive, obviously. If they do not reply, then I have no idea if they read the email or it got lost in their inbox, accidentally deleted, etc. So this absolutely has nothing to do with trust. You are simply, 200% w-r-o-n-g on that.

No, fundamentally this IS a trust issue.

Presumably this is information they would have expected/been looking for given that you speak of it being curriculum information.

As a working adult, I have had times where I was expecting information from someone and hadn't received it by the time I thought I would. In those instances, I take the responsibility myself to reach out and say "Hey, normally I get X from you by Y date and I haven't seen it yet. Did I miss it?" Again, that's ME taking responsibility for MY job, and something I regard as a professional responsibility.

 

[usagora]

Trust me.....I am NOT misunderstanding you. I am not 200% w-r-o-n-g. You have an inherent distrust of the system that is in place. Whether the distrust is with the people, the email system, I'm not sure.....but you do NOT trust that people received the information and will act act accordingly. Otherwise you would never have posted here in the first place.

Why not start sending them registered mail?

You just blatantly shifted the goal posts. You CLEARLY said in your previous reply, without qualification, that I distrusted THEM (the people) and now you're saying, "Oh, well maybe it's just the system that you distrust." Sort of a world of difference, there, don't you think? smh...

Of course I don't trust that people received a critical email - thus why they should reply (if they indeed got it) to confirm. If they don't reply, I have to err on the side of caution and assume they did not receive it and have to then follow up with them.

 

[mollyc]

You just blatantly shifted the goal posts. You CLEARLY said in your previous reply, without qualification, that I distrusted THEM (the people) and now you're saying, "Oh, well maybe it's just the system that you distrust." Sort of a world of difference, there, don't you think? smh...

Of course I don't trust that people received a critical email - thus why they should reply (if they indeed got it) to confirm. If they don't reply, I have to err on the side of caution and assume they did not receive it and have to then follow up with them.

Okay, to be honest, I was trying to be polite and let you say you distrust the system. I do honestly think you distrust the people. You have never even given them a chance to fail.....you pester them too often! You don't allow them to do their job without oversight. That is not trusting them. Or the system. That is you being controlling.

 

[dk001]

I'm not sure how you could have been following along and not know the answer to this, as it's in my OP and in plenty other of my posts. Responding is important because the information being sent to them is important and directly affects what they will be teaching or doing. I need to be sure we're all on the same page.

I have been unlike your assumption. My numbers make your “requirements” a completely unworkable solution for me. There are not enough hours in the day.

 

[mollyc]

Meanwhile, your colleagues don't even KNOW WHAT THE GOALPOSTS ARE. They are just supposed to divine from the magical world that you want them to acknowledge receipt of these emails, but you don't ever tell them that.

 

[usagora]

Okay, to be honest, I was trying to be polite and let you say you distrust the system. I do honestly think you distrust the people. You have never even given them a chance to fail.....you pester them too often! You don't allow them to do their job without oversight. That is not trusting them. Or the system. That is you being controlling.

Oh, now this takes the cake. I "pester them too often" by waiting sometimes a freaking MONTH before asking for confirmation? Are you even for real with this crap?

Ok, I'm done with this thread for good now. Some of you are just too much.

Apologies to anyone in the future who might reply with a sincere question directed at me in this thread, but I'm not going to get sucked into this chaos again. Yikes!

P.S. Actually, I guess I should thank you because you've made me realize dealing with people who don't reply to emails is far better than having to deal with people like you (and several others in this thread) in a collaborative environment who can't even comprehend what you're saying (or refuse to comprehend it) and twist your words. Truly astounding behavior here!

 

[beach bum]

@usagora I’m curious if you’ve taken or have reviewed courses on email etiquette and that is why your expectation is to receive a timely response—usually within 24 hours or a reasonable timeframe? At my agency, we’ve taken those courses and it is mandatory that employees respond to all actionable emails within 48 hours re: status, but not required to send an acknowledgement receipt… as a matter of fact, acknowledgement receipts are discouraged.

I do understand that life/work/etc gets in the way of responding promptly, but at the end of the day, your frustrations are relevant—yes, BUT, if your colleagues haven’t taken or reviewed the informational courses on email etiquette, they may feel that it is perfectly normal not to send a response when a response isn’t requested by you, or necessary in their opinion.

 

[mollyc]

P.S. Actually, I guess I should thank you because you've made me realize dealing with people who don't reply to emails is far better than having to deal with people like you (and several others in this thread) in a collaborative environment who can't even comprehend what you're saying (or refuse to comprehend it) and twist your words. Truly astounding behavior here!

trust me buddy. the feeling is mutual.

 

[44267547]

I’d say the OP is arguing for the sake of arguing shoveling semantics versus accepting others counter points, likely because he is being ‘hounded’ by others, therefore it’s ‘This is why I am right’. He’s not willing to be open minded to others who are experienced who have proven years of diversity with professional careers in this thread.

 

[chown33]

Locking the thread.