4 ms·
Gods, but this drives me absolutely nuts at work. Like OK, what?! It tells me nothing about the urgency of the matter, let alone what it relates to. So I can p
by GordonS 6y ago
Gods, but this drives me absolutely nuts at work. Like OK, what?!
It tells me nothing about the urgency of the matter, let alone what it relates to. So I can put it to the side and keep working - but it's going to be nagging at me "hmm, what if it's about x?".
So now I've got to break focus and waste time just to find out how important it is, and what it even relates to.
I much prefer "Hi, I have a question regarding how to x, could you ping me when you get a chance pls?", or "Hi, we've got an urgent problem with x, the customer is losing their shit, pls help ASAP!"
The absolute worst is when the person giving you "hello" is someone you don't know (I work at a megacorp). From "hello" I will plainly have no clue what you want, so wtf?!
I wonder if it's a cultural thing. I don't think my colleague in the UK, Norway or Europe have ever done this, but it seems to be just about the only way my colleagues in India start a chat?
- ballenf 6y agoSeems like a great use case for a slack bot. Monitor for naked hellos and show a link to this page. That way it’s not personal.
- _underfl0w_ 6y agoI think you are legitimately on to something. I may actually build that this week if I get some downtime. It would need to be _polite_ though since most people who do this do seem to be generally well-meaning, if unwittingly annoying.
- dvtrn 6y agoSlackbot has an autoresponder / custom response feature built in. Sadly you can’t gate it to PMs. Please share if you do build it, I’ve been looking for a PM auto responder for vacations. They exist but many of them are bundled to other services with features I don’t care about and come at a cost that’s more than I want to pay for just the one feature of actual interest.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- GekkePrutser 6y agoIf it's someone I don't know (megacorp here too!) I just ignore it altogether... They'll eventually give up and ask the actual question. It's harder if it's something I can't ethically ignore like my boss or a coworker. PS: One thing that really helps to get my attention is being someone that's actually nice to talk to. I have a LOT of time for people who are not all business and actually care about people. And the best way to get on my shitlist is asking the same question 3 times in a matter of weeks. Once is totally fine. Great when people want to learn. Two is OK. I get it, you didn't have time to make a note. Three is Shitlist. I'm not your database. Use OneNote. In the same manner: I notice when people ask me a lot of questions but never the same one twice. I really respect that and I have a lot of time for those people. It shows initiative and a capability/interest to learn. Good for a major plus on performance review feedback too :)
- vmception 6y agoI hate it too! For someone I don’t know I want to say “how can I help you” but even then that is presumptuous! Sometimes they reply with “how are you”! What.Do.You.Want?!?! On Telegram I archive them immediately. And I check the archives once a month, maybe.
- GordonS 6y ago> If it's someone I don't know (megacorp here too!) I just ignore it altogether... They'll eventually give up and ask the actual question. This is my tactic too. About 50% of the time, they finally cave and just ask the question within a couple of days, and the other 50% of the time I never hear from them again! Still annoys me though, as it's just one more thing in the back of my mind when I'm trying to focus on something.
- GekkePrutser 6y agoYeah I know right!! Just wondering if some big issue is going to fall on me by the end of the day when I want to sign off. But usually it's like what you say.. Often I don't hear back at all :D
- BMorearty 6y agoDrives me nuts too. When someone does that to me, I ignore them.
- therealdrag0 6y agoI also noticed it being more common with offshore (ESL) coworkers.