Demand email: Please hand-deliver so-and-so as attached immediately!
Reply to email: To… ?
(Two days lapse before demander reads and replies email.
So much for urgent and timely communication via email!)
As quick as some are to demand stuff done by email, the same folks might be slow to reply by email. Electronic communication is based on the same principles as usual communication. It is meant to be a convenient channel for 2-way dialogue. Poor email etiquette is to use email for for 1-way dialogue only (e.g. delegation), expecting instant response from others while not responding just as swiftly. If one wants to send email, one should want to check email too. And let’s remember too, that communication is not restricted to email means. But if one started the communication by email, one should follow-up by email – unless other preferred modes of communication have been communicated! Right speech in the Noble Eightfold Path is also timely speech – via any means, virtual or real. Now let’s reflect the other way round:
Are we swift in responding to others?
Can we be more swift?
Let’s realise that the world does require our responses.Are we swift in demanding from others?
Can we be less impatient?
Let’s realise that the world doesn’t revolve around our demands.