5 ms·

I used to work in a big company where people would often drop a "hello" and then wait for a response before saying why they were messaging. It was mildly infuri

by wdutch 6y ago

I used to work in a big company where people would often drop a "hello" and then wait for a response before saying why they were messaging. It was mildly infuriating because I would check the internal chat about once an hour in order to remain productive. So the first time I check I see the hello, then next time I check I see what they actually wanted to say doubling the amount of time until they got a response compared to asking in one go. It doesn't need to be a single IM message but it should be sent pretty swiftly after. I always wondered if people wanted to wait until the messagee was sat on the other end of the keyboard giving their full attention. If this is the case a phonecall would be more appropriate imo.

kfrzcode 6y ago
Agreed. Async is async for this reason - if it requires direct attention, synchronised, then spin up a call!
sergers 6y ago
I currently work at a large company where majority of people will drop a hi/hey/hello. One of my biggest annoyances. I have gotten in the habit of just responding "yo" and going back to whatever I was doing. Could be minutes to an hour before I come back to the chat
- jdhzzz 6y ago
  My response is: ? and go back to work. I feel a bit mean if they are exceedingly polite and Start with "Good Morning" I might give them a Hi in that case. Either way I go back to what I was doing until I come to a convenient stopping point, typically between 1 and 5 minutes.
cogman10 6y ago
It's such a weird thing. Most of my coworkers don't do this, but a few will do a "Hi" type message. It wastes so much time for everyone involved. I sometimes wonder if these same people think I'm being rude when I write a message like "Hey, xyz, I was wondering if you knew PDQ about ABC?" Like, are they expecting the convo to go like me: "Hi" them: "Hello" me: "How's your day been?" them: "fine" me: "Crazy weather" them: "yeah" me: "Do you have a second to chat about ABC"? them: "Just a sec" me: "Ok" them: "Ok, shoot" me: "Do you if PDQ about ABC?" them: "Oh yeah, it's 123" Because I've absolutely had chat conversations like that. It drives me nuts because it's stuff that can be solved in 10 seconds but ends up taking 30 minutes worth of disruptions.
- _rs 6y ago
  A Hello wastes my time, but sometimes I go along with it to see if that's what they really wanted - maybe they didn't have a question after all, and when I have time I'm happy to have a friendly chat: them: Hello *hour or two passes* me: Hey how are you? But so far every time they say Good and then ask their question :(. A surprising amount of the time when I wait an hour to respond to a Hello they'll tell me they already figured out the answer to their question too (I would never wait that long to respond to actual questions though).
  - ivan_ah 6y ago
    > when I wait an hour to respond to a Hello they'll tell me they already figured out the answer to their question I used to be part-time sysadmin back in the day, and I fondly remember the benefits of not answering quickly. Morning: "Hey how do I configure XYC in ABC?" Afternoon: "I figured it out, it's in .abcconfig" This was very counter-intuitive for me since I wanted to do a good job and answer quickly, but later I realized it's better for everyone to follow an informal (but well-defined) SLA.
jodrellblank 6y ago
> "It was mildly infuriating because I would check the internal chat about once an hour in order to remain productive. So the first time I check I see the hello, then next time I check I see what they actually wanted to say doubling the amount of time until they got a response compared to asking in one go" But why is that your problem to be infuriated about? If they weren't bothered by doubling the time to a response, why should you be? And if they are ... why should you be?
fouc 6y ago
after a few times, I usually tell them "hey, get straight to the point from now on please"
- DiggyJohnson 6y ago
  Does that sort of approach ever effect your mood at work? I get why you might want to say that, but it comes across as super robotic and...inhumane? Just curious, because I think of myself as being pretty sage but that sort of response would sit with me for awhile.
  - fouc 6y ago
    It's not easy to say, I would try to say it as diplomatically as possible. Possibly something like "Hello, please ask me your question directly instead of waiting for a response to your 'hi'" or depending on person or situation.
yters 6y ago
i used to get straight to the point, but people find this offensive, like i am just using them as a google instead of treating them like a fellow human being once i establish rapport and recognize our mutual humanity, then future engagements i can get straight to the point without people just feeling used of course some people get offended by the preliminary niceties, but they are in the minority, so best to bet on the common case in absence of further knowledge
bonestamp2 6y ago
One of my coworkers put this website as his status message. People stopped saying "hello" and waiting for a reply. Now they write something like, "Hey, I would like to chat when you have a moment". It's infuriating because it's basically the same as just saying hello because it still doesn't say what they want to talk about!!! There should be one like this for email too, if your email is simple... put the content in the subject line! Like, if I'm telling someone the date/time for something (that doesn't warrant an "invite"), I'll put it right in the subject line. When I'm telling my coworkers I'm taking a few days off, I'll put those days right in the subject line...etc.

by wdutch 6y ago

kfrzcode 6y ago

Agreed. Async is async for this reason - if it requires direct attention, synchronised, then spin up a call!

sergers 6y ago

I currently work at a large company where majority of people will drop a hi/hey/hello. One of my biggest annoyances. I have gotten in the habit of just responding "yo" and going back to whatever I was doing. Could be minutes to an hour before I come back to the chat

jdhzzz 6y ago
My response is: ? and go back to work. I feel a bit mean if they are exceedingly polite and Start with "Good Morning" I might give them a Hi in that case. Either way I go back to what I was doing until I come to a convenient stopping point, typically between 1 and 5 minutes.

cogman10 6y ago

It's such a weird thing. Most of my coworkers don't do this, but a few will do a "Hi" type message. It wastes so much time for everyone involved. I sometimes wonder if these same people think I'm being rude when I write a message like "Hey, xyz, I was wondering if you knew PDQ about ABC?" Like, are they expecting the convo to go like me: "Hi" them: "Hello" me: "How's your day been?" them: "fine" me: "Crazy weather" them: "yeah" me: "Do you have a second to chat about ABC"? them: "Just a sec" me: "Ok" them: "Ok, shoot" me: "Do you if PDQ about ABC?" them: "Oh yeah, it's 123" Because I've absolutely had chat conversations like that. It drives me nuts because it's stuff that can be solved in 10 seconds but ends up taking 30 minutes worth of disruptions.

_rs 6y ago
A Hello wastes my time, but sometimes I go along with it to see if that's what they really wanted - maybe they didn't have a question after all, and when I have time I'm happy to have a friendly chat: them: Hello *hour or two passes* me: Hey how are you? But so far every time they say Good and then ask their question :(. A surprising amount of the time when I wait an hour to respond to a Hello they'll tell me they already figured out the answer to their question too (I would never wait that long to respond to actual questions though).
- ivan_ah 6y ago
  > when I wait an hour to respond to a Hello they'll tell me they already figured out the answer to their question I used to be part-time sysadmin back in the day, and I fondly remember the benefits of not answering quickly. Morning: "Hey how do I configure XYC in ABC?" Afternoon: "I figured it out, it's in .abcconfig" This was very counter-intuitive for me since I wanted to do a good job and answer quickly, but later I realized it's better for everyone to follow an informal (but well-defined) SLA.

jodrellblank 6y ago

> "It was mildly infuriating because I would check the internal chat about once an hour in order to remain productive. So the first time I check I see the hello, then next time I check I see what they actually wanted to say doubling the amount of time until they got a response compared to asking in one go" But why is that your problem to be infuriated about? If they weren't bothered by doubling the time to a response, why should you be? And if they are ... why should you be?

fouc 6y ago

after a few times, I usually tell them "hey, get straight to the point from now on please"

DiggyJohnson 6y ago
Does that sort of approach ever effect your mood at work? I get why you might want to say that, but it comes across as super robotic and...inhumane? Just curious, because I think of myself as being pretty sage but that sort of response would sit with me for awhile.
- fouc 6y ago
  It's not easy to say, I would try to say it as diplomatically as possible. Possibly something like "Hello, please ask me your question directly instead of waiting for a response to your 'hi'" or depending on person or situation.

yters 6y ago

i used to get straight to the point, but people find this offensive, like i am just using them as a google instead of treating them like a fellow human being once i establish rapport and recognize our mutual humanity, then future engagements i can get straight to the point without people just feeling used of course some people get offended by the preliminary niceties, but they are in the minority, so best to bet on the common case in absence of further knowledge

bonestamp2 6y ago

One of my coworkers put this website as his status message. People stopped saying "hello" and waiting for a reply. Now they write something like, "Hey, I would like to chat when you have a moment". It's infuriating because it's basically the same as just saying hello because it still doesn't say what they want to talk about!!! There should be one like this for email too, if your email is simple... put the content in the subject line! Like, if I'm telling someone the date/time for something (that doesn't warrant an "invite"), I'll put it right in the subject line. When I'm telling my coworkers I'm taking a few days off, I'll put those days right in the subject line...etc.