I hope you are well?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

wemorgan

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 5, 2008
Messages
8,106
Car
A205 C220d
I seem to be receiving increasing genuine professional emails (not scams) that begin; I hope that you are well? Should I have a medical from my GP to confirm, or is this the new etiquette amongst professional circles? Just curious.

ps. I hope you're all well. :)
 
I seem to be receiving increasing genuine professional emails (not scams) that begin; I hope that you are well? Should I have a medical from my GP to confirm, or is this the new etiquette amongst professional circles? Just curious.

ps. I hope you're all well. :)

It could be worse and begin; Get well soon. ;)
 
Better to be well than down one.

It is also better to be ****** off than ****** on.
 
Classic passive aggressive approach.
 
What do you find objectionable about this? Always seems like a fairly uncontroversial way of avoiding leaping straight into the underlying work issue the email is about. Better than 'how are you?' as no response required.
 
It is better than the standard greeting in this neck of the woods which is "Hiya,alright? followed inevitably on parting by "see you later",no matter how unlikely that event is.It took me some time to realise that they were not genuine enquiries as to my health and promises of further contact in the near future. Still it is always meant kindly and is part of the friendliness of northerners
 
Usually
"I hope you are well" means
Dont bother telling me your crap I dont care now listen to my BS for the next 20 mins about how were lobbing a thought grenade into the meeting and optimizing our no profit tanget applications in the neutral market thats arising from the last meeting due to authoritatively visualize covalent ideas that were currently holisticly synergize B2B methodologies to correct.
 
I love the spam mail openers we get from Chinese suppliers touting for business. They usually open with something like "Nice Day!" or "Happy Week for you!" - far more cheerful than the typical Brit version "Dear The Manager" or "FAO Mr Director"

Sent from my iPad using MBClub UK
 
In a professional context I see little reason to be enquiring after other peoples health. I did used to get quite annoyed with my American colleagues who would preface every telephone call with "how are you?", to which you were not expected to reply in the negative - got a bit of a cold, my corns are playing up something rotten and my little finger is gangrenous would get the same response, good, as saying fine. Totally formulaic and silly - but much of a conversation is like that, we have the weather to break the ice.

The liberating opportunity of email is to pare away all the extraneous stuff and get straight to the point. In a professional context one should be terse and efficient. Emails proliferate to the point of absurdity, most are a monstrous distraction from the work in hand (indeed I took the view that people who generated large quantities should be the first on the list for the chop) but those that are essential should be considered and efficient. As an engineer Will, you should pare away all inessentials to achieve the optimum result with the greatest economy of effort. So ignore this flim flam and keep to the point.
 
The liberating opportunity of email is to pare away all the extraneous stuff and get straight to the point. In a professional context one should be terse and efficient. Emails proliferate to the point of absurdity, most are a monstrous distraction from the work in hand (indeed I took the view that people who generated large quantities should be the first on the list for the chop) but those that are essential should be considered and efficient. As an engineer Will, you should pare away all inessentials to achieve the optimum result with the greatest economy of effort. So ignore this flim flam and keep to the point.

I think that really depends on the culture/location. I do a fair share of work in the middle east; and that approach gets you nowhere. It can be quite frustrating when you have pressing matters to discuss, but, lest you appear rude, you need to take the time to enquire (and appear genuinely interested) in the other persons welbeing, personal life and that of his children (but never that of his wife - lest you offend).

This spreads to emails - and "getting straight to the point" by email, can proverbially shut down people in many cultures.

M.
 
Perhaps you're being sought by a long lost relative, with a spelling affliction :confused:.
 
For my first few months in Australia I was always a bit caught out when if you said "all right?" to a stranger as you passed in the street (just being a polite Englishman) they would answer in a full sentence and then quiz you back if you were indeed all right today.
 
In a professional context I see little reason to be enquiring after other peoples health. I did used to get quite annoyed with my American colleagues who would preface every telephone call with "how are you?", to which you were not expected to reply in the negative - got a bit of a cold, my corns are playing up something rotten and my little finger is gangrenous would get the same response, good, as saying fine. Totally formulaic and silly - but much of a conversation is like that, we have the weather to break the ice.

The liberating opportunity of email is to pare away all the extraneous stuff and get straight to the point. In a professional context one should be terse and efficient. Emails proliferate to the point of absurdity, most are a monstrous distraction from the work in hand (indeed I took the view that people who generated large quantities should be the first on the list for the chop) but those that are essential should be considered and efficient. As an engineer Will, you should pare away all inessentials to achieve the optimum result with the greatest economy of effort. So ignore this flim flam and keep to the point.

I'm not sure. An organisation that I work with one guy got himself quite an unpleasant reputation by the tone of his email.

Having said that by reputation his meetings did not help, although whenever I have met him he's been perfectly pleasant.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom