Pet hate - being asked for a title

Person_one

onlyroz wrote: »

I've been on email support for the last week and it amuses me that virtually all emails start with "Hi", and no attempt at a formal introduction. Unless they come from the Hong Kong office that is...

This probably deserves its own thread somewhere. I'm old enough that I was taught at school how to write a formal letter, but email wasn't widely used enough to be part of the IT curriculum.

I never know how to start one to a stranger and after embarrassing brushes with 'to whom it may concern' and other disasters I often end up going with 'hi' or just launching into the topic. if I'm replying I just copy whatever opening the person who emailed me used!

takman

At my workplace we always use "Hi *first name*" or just "Hi" and sometimes it's replaced with "Hello". Most people even use this when contacting other work locations and other companies. I think it is perfectly suitable for emails and there is no need for them to be any more formal.

onlyroz

Person_one wrote: »

This probably deserves its own thread somewhere. I'm old enough that I was taught at school how to write a formal letter, but email wasn't widely used enough to be part of the IT curriculum.

I never know how to start one to a stranger and after embarrassing brushes with 'to whom it may concern' and other disasters I often end up going with 'hi' or just launching into the topic. if I'm replying I just copy whatever opening the person who emailed me used!

A quick scan of the support inbox, and we have the following introductions:


Hi <firstname> (in a response to a previous email from a specific person)


Hi Dev (with Dev being the name of the email group)


Hi (hedging bets with an open introduction)


Hello <firstname> (I'm not going to lower myself to using colloquialisms like "Hi" but I still don't want to sound stuffy)


<Firstname> (Why bother with identifiers at all)


Hello All (I'm sure you're all fascinated to hear about my problem)


All (I'm so busy that's all I've got time to write)


Hi team (I'm a cool popular guy)


Hi guys (I'm a hip young popular guy)


Hi there (I'm so laid back)

Torry_Quine

When sending an email I do put Dear Mr x ( or female equivalent). If to a company and I don't know the name then Dear Sir/Madam.

Dill

onlyroz wrote: »

I particularly hate being addressed by my first name by people who don't know me - mainly because my mother cursed me with a stupid childish name.

You've got me wondering now.. Daisy? Dolly?

onlyroz

Dill wrote: »

You've got me wondering now.. Daisy? Dolly?

Not too far off with the first one. My username should give you a clue

moneyistooshorttomention

meritaten wrote: »

I hate it too...........but that's because to me a 'madam' is the woman who runs a brothel!

Call me 'love' or 'ms' or 'mrs' - I don't mind.

To me - "madam" is used in the context of "She's a right madam". Hence I regard it as either a shop assistant (or whoever uses the title) is being old-fashioned or "Thanks a bunch for veiled insult". Depends on the context of the conversation.

Dont know whether thats because I will personally call a right wotname of the female variety "a madam"??

missbiggles1

tea_lover wrote: »

How on earth do you know what people are assuming about you? I can't imagine all of them tell you to your face

"Tell you to your face" implies that they're assuming something negative about you - we were talking about whether someone is gay!

NB When in hole, stop digging!;)