Monday Musings - January 25

Another Monday....more random thoughts from me. Aren't you lucky? ;)

I'm honestly viewing these posts as a way to make myself write something that isn't work-related. Why? Because I need to write. I love to write. And it's a lot easier to be passive aggressive in a blog post than on Facebook.

Kidding.
Sort of.

Anyway....

1. January. Seriously this month. It really feels like the LONGEST MONTH OF THE YEAR. Every. Single. Year. I know there are only 31 days in January - just like March, July, August, October, and December - but damn. This month just goes on forever. And I can't really dislike the month since BOTH girls celebrate January birthdays. It just feels really, REALLY long.

2. I make a ton of lists. Honestly you should see my desk right now. I have a "to do" list for work. I have several sticky notes for things I can't forget to do (one of which I already forgot to do today). I have lists in my head. It is ridiculous. So man lists, so much shit to remember. Do you ever feel like maybe you're trying to do too much?

3.I'm disturbed by the increasing lack of common courtesy online. I just don't understand why people have to be rude to others whether it is on Facebook, Twitter, or even in an email. I wish everyone would stop and think "would I say this to this person's face?" or "would I use this tone (usually the "you're an effing moron" tone) when speaking to this person face-to-face?" I'm gonna bet that NO for the most part you would not behave like that if you were face-to-face so WHY IN THE WORLD is it OK to act like that just because there is a computer/smartphone/iPad between you and the other person. Think before you hit send.

4. This is how my week usually goes:
Monday - Long list of things to do and the mindset "I have all week to do all of this stuff!"
Tuesday - Still have a lot of time. Oh look, Pinterest!
Wednesday - Oh man. Just a couple more days. Better get busy.
Thursday - Crap.
Friday - Looks like I'm working on a Friday night.
Saturday - Time to do the laundry.
Sunday - Relax. A little bit.

Here's to a stress-free week.

Mid-week Annoyances

I woke up today in a mood.

Shocking right?

I am blaming the midterm election on my current mood, which is 'meh.' I'm feeling totally disillusioned by the results of the election - across the board, not just in my home state of Ohio. Which yes, is THE swing state and will be THE battleground for president again in 2016.

So I'm already in A MOOD today when I check my email and see a message from someone and it contains the following: "make a note to do this every month TFN."

TFN?
WTF is TFN?

I actually had to Google "what is TFN?" because I have no clue WTF 'TFN' means.

Now I'm not stupid. And I am OK with emails that have EOM in the subject line because I know that means "end of message" and it saves me from having to read a long email. 

But please for the love of all that is holy, don't use things like TFN in emails that are sent my way. Use words.

I like words.

FWIW, TFN means 'till further notice' which apparently was too many characters for the person who composed the email to actually type.

Here's the thing - I speak English. I like grammar. A lot. And I don't speak text or bingo.

So unless you and I have the kind of email relationship where we can comfortably end our messages with smiley face emoticons (and there are only a few people in that category), please don't send me email messages with bingo-speak in them.

Don't use TFN in an email to me.

Like ever.

Just hit send. Or Reply. Or Reply All. It's so simple.

Today was one of those days when the entire concept of email made me want to throw my laptop across the room.

First at 8 am, I was locked out of my Hotmail account because someone (NOT me) had sent out a ton of spam emails. Once I was allowed back in to the account I had so many "undeliverable" emails it was ridiculous.

I quickly posted an apology on Facebook and Twitter ... letting everyone know it wasn't me who spammed their inbox. My former boss (the good one!) replied to my Facebook post "I knew it wasn't you. The writing was terrible."

That made me laugh.
My day went downhill from there.
By about 3 p.m. I was completely out of love with email. 

Here's my issue with email. When you receive an email, the proper thing to do (in my mind) is respond. As quickly as possible. Or at least within 24 hours if it's a work-related email. I don't understand what that is such a difficult concept for people to grasp.

It's so simple. When I email you with work related questions, please respond. Today. When I send you a project that I took time out of MY day to complete - for free - please respond. A "thank you" is sufficient. When you say "I'm going to email you" and it's about something important, please actually send me an email. I can't respond to the important message if I don't have your email address. And when we have a conference call scheduled and I sit on the phone call for 25 minutes listening to really crappy on-hold music because you FAILED TO SHOW UP for the call....don't email me FOUR HOURS LATER and say "Oh, I got pulled into a meeting." That's isn't an excuse to not email me BEFORE the conference call to tell me you can't make it. Unless of course it was zombies that pulled you into the meeting and you spent the last four hours fighting them off with your bare hands. That might be excusable. Maybe.

It's so easy to do.
Just REPLY.

Just "reply"

OK. I'm going to vent for a few minutes.

I have several (many) pet peeves, but there's one that just sends me over the edge every time - and that's when people don't respond to email.

I mean really.
How difficult is it to hit "reply" and type up a quick response when somebody sends you an email that obviously DESERVES A RESPONSE?

If I send you an email that poses a question (or two or three) it is COMMON COURTESY to reply. In a timely manner. You know, within 24 hours or less. 

I don't care if you don't have the "right" answer - just respond with ANY answer. Tell me that things are still progressing. Or things are at a standstill for some unforeseen reason. Or tell me to quit sending you emails.

Just reply.
It's the proper thing to do.