What is it with people who never answer emails?

[Bouncy Ball]

I'm talking about at work. In an email system where you get a notification from them that they opened it.

In my job, I have to make appointments (sort of, they are pretty casual, but we do it through email) with people I need to see. They are people *I* am helping. It's my job to go out to their buildings and see them but I have to have some communication by email first.

There are two new people at one building. I emailed them both this morning. BOTH opened the email, only one has responded.

I told my boss, "I bet you anything person A will respond and person B will not."

I hate to say this, but the people who never respond are ALWAYS male. There have been four this year. They open my emails, I have specific questions, they never ever email back. They never call (I give my phone number, too).

Why is that? The two new ones I emailed today were one male and one female. I won the bet that the woman would email back and the man would open it, but not respond.

There have been some I have waited and emailed again. Then waited a few weeks, then emailed again. Called the secretary at their building to make sure they actually work there, yes they do.

I am in a psuedo-superior position to them. Why would you not email a person back like that?

[brainshrub]

1. It's because we are bombarded with penis advertisements.

It takes a lot of time to sift through all that spam and decide which penis enlarger is the best one.

There simply aren't enough hours in the day to compare all the products! Have mercy!!!

[Bouncy Ball]

2. Not in our email system.

It's really hard for spam to get into your inbox with my employer.

(I know you were kidding, though. Or I hope you were!)

[steve2470]

3. I can only speak for myself. I don't like to type emails some

time, but hell, if you were in a pseudo-superior position to me, you'd be damn sure I'd write you back. Sometimes I get lazy about it. Sometimes I wait to talk to them in person IF it's not urgent. And (gasp) some people may have irresponsible tendencies.

[Bouncy Ball]

4. Yeah that's the part I don't get.

If someone from administration emailed me and said they wanted to meet with me (that's the situation), I'd damn sure email them back.

And I wonder if they realize (since they're new) that you get a notification email saying the person opened it up.

[steve2470]

6. They probably don't know that. Only net-savvy or IT types

know that. You're better off just calling them and leaving a firm, no-nonsense message

[Bouncy Ball]

8. I've done that. Voice mail (they are teachers so it automatically

goes to voice mail). No response.

I would just GO out to their campus, but that would most likely be a waste of time, as you have to guess as to what is just the right time to catch them not busy. Hard to do.

[bettyellen]

14. i knew that, and i am not net savvy at all. "dealing with your email"

every day you are in the office is part of the job description.
maybe since they are mostly coaches they resent that part of their job, and are being passive agressive about it. ain't your fault the school didn't give them a secretary to deal with the crap they don't want to be bothered with.

[Bouncy Ball]

16. A lot of coaches are very resentful of ANYTHING

they have to do outside of teach and coach (and don't get me started on some of their teaching skills...).

At my last school, they refused to even go to faculty meetings, because they said they were too busy with practices. Then the principal asked if they could just send a different coach each time to take notes and communicate the information. They did that once. So she switched the meetings to before school and they STILL refused to come (but at that point they had no excuse, so she nailed all of them on their evaluations).

[bettyellen]

19. more childish behaviour.. too many workplaces are like fucking playgrounds

and it's hard to punish the bullies, isn't it? bleeech.

[Nikia]

5. Are they aware this is how you communicate with them?

And that it is part of their job to respond to you?
Some people like to be harassed by phone or in person.
If it is part of their job to get back to you promptly via email though, then you shouldn't have to harass them by other means.

[Bouncy Ball]

7. Yeah it's pretty much SOP around here.

We're talking about school campuses and we don't usually like to just show up unannounced. It makes teachers nervous and I can understand that.

Plus you never know what they have going on with regard to last minute parent conferences, etc.

So we try to give them the courtesy of setting up a date and time. In my second and third emails I let them know I NEED to set up a time and day via email before I come out.

With one guy I started blind copying his principal and now I just out and out cc his principal. I wonder if he even notices.

Anyway. I said "pseudo-superior" because I'm a content area person and I don't have anything to do with their contract, but still......we definitely know who is on the ball and who isn't.

[Misunderestimator]

9. I've had people I've managed do that to me...

and though it's usually the guys who do it, I recently had one woman
who would argue with me when I asked her for status of her tasks...
she's gone now. I put up with it for two weeks. Now I found out that
she had lied about the status I was finally able to drag out of her,
claiming that she had completed certain things that are nowhere near
complete.

I think that people who don't answer emails that they SHOULD answer
are doing it either because they are lazy, or because they are afraid
that if they are the first to answer, they will be responsible for
something. Often those same people respond after the first one
responds, and say something like "I agree."

It's flabbergasting isn't it? You can't do your job without them
responding, and the longer they take responding the more your work
stacks up and you have to remember to follow up with them repeatedly.
It's completely unacceptable, and when I have any actual authority
over the people not responding, I let them know how I feel about it...
they either do their job, which includes responding to me, or they
aren't on the project.

If I don't have direct authority, I have been known to blind-copy
their supervisors if it goes on long enough with a message like "I
have asked you for such-and-such for two weeks now, and have had no
response. Please respond as soon as possible." That's when it's
really bad... usually I will talk to the supervisor separately.

And ALWAYS save all of your emails... I have had to go back 2 or 3
years to drag out an email proving that someone said something that
they now say they never said. That's another reason many people don't
respond... they don't want you to have evidence. Another ploy is to
stop by your desk instead of answering the email, so you don't have a
record. Since I telecommute, they try the phone or instant messaging,
so I have the conservation and then tell them to document it and send
me an email.

[Bouncy Ball]

10. Yep.

I start to blind copy and then cc their direct supervisors after a while.

I've only had four do this this year and maybe it's just coincidence they are all male (and all coaches, actually!), but it's weird. And it really pisses me off. Whether they mean it or not, when I see that notification that they opened it and days go by with no reply, it's like a great big fuck you.

I keep all my emails in files. Just PISSES me off. I bet you $500 I won't EVER hear from the guy I emailed today, who is new.

[BrklynLiberal]

11. Can you include a notification that if you do not hear from them you

will not act on their request, or whatever it is that you have to do for them?

[Bouncy Ball]

13. ha, they'd LOVE that.

My request is to come out and meet with them and discuss the curriculum and any instructional concerns they might have, etc. They'd love it if I didn't.

The one that has blown me off the longest, I am going to just go out there. If he's teaching, well, he'll have to take a few minutes and come out into the hallway to meet me face to face. I'll remind him I'm the one who's been emailing him.

[BrklynLiberal]

21. ooops. Guess that would not work. Sorry.

[bettyellen]

12. my old job had that kind of culture where people would answer if they

felt like it, which was usually not. but the boss was like that to, and really didn't understand how real companies use email to keep records and make sure people on the ball. it can really screw up the work flow when you have to remind people to do their jobs while trying to do your own.
speaking of which, i think a lot of guys rely on female co workers to keep them on the ball in this way. i bet everyone of them has a mom or wife who reminds them constantly what they are supposed to be doing, and they figure you'll do it too.
i would resend the email two days later w/ a note saying exactly when you need/ expect a response. and i would make it soon, because they are just going to stall and expect another reminder from you.

[Bouncy Ball]

15. I got so pissed off just writing this post on DU

that I emailed the worst one again. I looked at my records and I've emailed him six times since August, with not a single response. I cced his boss on it.

I'm going out there Thursday and fucking finding his sorry ass. Who doesn't know in the year 2005 that you are supposed to answer emails, especially when they contain direct questions???

[bettyellen]

18. everybody knows that, he's just resentful that he has to comply and

apparently doesn't give a shit he's making your life difficult. if he doesn't want you there, then he is succeding in giving you less time to do your real job. ick, it's so childish and lazy if you ask me.
this used to piss me off all the time. i work with designers, and they are sweethearts, but the worst at this, and often they're the bosses little pets. they actually get resentful when you ask them to do their job, and in smaller comanies that are less corporate, they let it slide. in lager companies, they understand the whole email thing. get everything in writing, our whole business is about doing things quickly, and blaming people when stuff is late becasue deadlines are very tight. so the smaller companies should get it, too. but they often don't.

[jody]

17. Consider including the recipient's boss as CC, particularly on

each follow up. Begin follow up emails with a one sentence summary, e.g. this is the nth follow up and I am unable to ....................

View it as a game and you are determined to win without getting everyone mad at you.

:hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. Not always male, in my case...

We're 4 women in a quartet, and it's soooo easy to use e-mail to coordinate rehearsal/performance availability.

But two of my dear colleagues reply; and when they do, it's even more unusual for them to use the "reply all" option, so that everybody's in the loop.