Yes, to my admittedly West Coast American ear, the phrase comes across as borderline offensive, especially in the version I've seen more often: "Please do the n

Yes, to my admittedly West Coast American ear, the phrase comes across as borderline offensive, especially in the version I've seen more often: "Please do the needful." Somehow the "please" makes it even worse. Occasionally I hang out in the English Language Learners Stack Exchange. Some of the questions and answers there make me sad. They often revolve around "is this grammatically correct" rather than "is this a courteous and effective way to communicate?"