by Bravo

Created on: September 24, 2008

Becoming the defacto form of communication for the work place is no small feat, and email accomplished this with the advent of speed, ease of use and the ability to communicate to hundreds of parties at once, but like any form of literature, electronic or otherwise, it is subject to the interpretation of the reader.

In any working environment the palette of personalities can be as diverse as the species of insects contained in a square meter of Amazonian rain forest. Each of those personalities can interpret even the most innocent of emails in the most horrendous of ways, unleashing a backlash of further emails that will inundate your inbox and render you unproductive for the remainder of the day.

However, while a total cure for the interpretive disabilities of those around us remains under FDA scrutiny, and may never see approval, there are steps that can be taken to avoid that steady stream of hate mail.

1. Do not retaliate. If someone is offended by your email and your first attempt at explaining it to them has only further infuriated the creature, stop. Apologize for writing something that infuriated them (no matter how right you are) and drop it. To attempt to resolve the issue may only get you further emails with increasing levels of anger and additional cc's that may include your boss.

2. When writing an email, double and triple check the audience you are sending it too. You don't want to accidentally send that inappropriate picture or joke to the HR group.

3. Read, read and then re-read. If the email you are sending is important, for whatever reason, make sure you proof-read it. See if it makes sense to you, get the spelling errors out and verify that there is nothing offensive in it. If still unsure, gather up a random third party and have him/her give it a read and offer input, because once that baby is sent, that is it.

4. Try to remain short and concise. It is a good bet that like you, your email recipient has a crap load of other emails to go through and doesn't want to mull through a mini-novel on the inadequacies of cafeteria food as it relates to constipation. Short, sweet and simple often works best.

Email etiquette is a fine art. Ones abilities in writing and communication in general will reflect in your email construction capabilities. If you have trouble communicating with people in general and are generally considered an ass, it is probably a good bet that your email capabilities will reflect that skill set.

If you have made it past a 6th grade education and have the ability to construct sentences in a comprehensible manner, following the above recommendations may further your communication abilities and open doors you never thought possible. Just remember, don't be afraid to apologize, keep it simple, proof-read your work and make sure you are sending the email to the right person!

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