Emails and grammar

[devilfluff]

Am I the only one who finds himself railing against the fuck-awful way people write emails?

I received the following email from a project manager:
"new Freightliner we have parked in Huber Heights Valley Tire needs a PM. Mileage 21,622..This would be a dry for the first time correct?"

Not a dispatcher, not a mechanic, a FUCKING PROJECT MANAGER! This person probably makes well over 6 figures, but can't write a coherent sentence.

I fucking hate the world.

[Jerloma]

It's the bane of my existence. A day doesn't go by when I'm not reminded that someone who makes way more money than me is incapable of forming a proper sentence.

[mister d]

Or, maybe worse, doesn't care enough to.

[Jerloma]

This is an Out of Office that I got from a Communications Person, this morning. Seriously..."OOO."

Hello,

I am OOO on vacation with very limited access to e-mail Wednesday, September 30th through Friday, October 16th. Please reach out to the appropriate contact below in my absence:

xxx xxxxxxx; General Questions and Local Advertising
xxxxxxx xxxxx; Win Local Program, Branch Merchandising and Digital
xxxx xxxxxxxxx; Traders’ Summit

Thank you and have an excellent day!

[Pruitt]

This is a real "don't get me started..." thread for me.

I teach TV writing in the winter semester and am perpetually shocked by the fact that students use text abbreviations in formal presentations.

But when it comes to emails from friends and associates, what makes me crazy is the lack of proof reading. Auto-correct makes people think that they have written something correctly. It really is a question of professionalism.

And it really is inexcusable. The simplest rule for anyone to remember is to read what is written out loud. If it doesn't sound right, than it isn't right.

[L-Jam3]

What's the problem with "OOO"? Isn't that a pretty much universal work abbreviation?

At my work we sometimes refer it as "Ozone".

[Jerloma]

These are consecutive emails from an SVP trying to communicate that the standard for outgoing correspondence for our industry-leading company should be something less than the basic rules of grammar and business writing. In the meeting, he heard me use the term "egregious", which I'm guessing he's never actually seen in print before. This is the person dictating how we should write outgoing client-facing correspondence...

My recollection was that we said if it wasn't aggregious we would not coun

Sorry.....hit send early...

I thought we landed on being cautious unless it was an aggretious.

.

[mister d]

And it really is inexcusable. The simplest rule for anyone to remember is to read what is written out loud. If it doesn't sound right, than it isn't right.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

[devilfluff]

What's the problem with "OOO"? Isn't that a pretty much universal work abbreviation

That is an unknown abbreviation at my workplace.

Write it out.

Also, do not poke the bear.

[mister d]

And if I do poke you? Than what?

[devilfluff]

And if I do poke you? Than what?

I get grumpier. Then, my workmates suffer.

So please, don't. For their sakes...

[P.D.X.]

Write it out.

Or just drop it as redundant.

[Ryan]

Everyone at my office refers to close of business as "The COB Salad"

[brian]

I think it all comes down to if it is external or internal communication (talking about "OOO" specifically here).

[mister d]

And if I do poke you? Than what?

I get grumpier. Then, my workmates suffer.

So please, don't. For their sakes...

This is now upsetting me.

[Shirley]

What's the problem with "OOO"? Isn't that a pretty much universal work abbreviation

That is an unknown abbreviation at my workplace.

Write it out.

Also, do not poke the bear.

OOO was always used at my current company. And then we were bought by Microsoft. Everyone here uses OOF. I guess the F is "facility?"

(BTW, in my experience with project managers, I wouldn't expect them to be the best writers in the world. They are essentially professional naggers.)

[brian]

As a project manager, I'm insulted. Though the part about essentially being a professional nagger is true.

[Jerloma]

[mister d]

As a project manager, I'm insulted. Though the part about essentially being a professional nagger is true.

A good project manager is one of the more underrated employees a company can have. Most, however, suck.

[Sabo]

As a project manager, I'm insulted. Though the part about essentially being a professional nagger is true.

Co-sign.

A good project manager is one of the more underrated employees a company can have. Most, however, suck.

Co-sign.

[Johnny Carwash]

As a project manager, I'm insulted. Though the part about essentially being a professional nagger is true.

As a sometime-project manager, I see other people on projects as professional not-do-what-the-fuck-they-were-asked-to-do-multiple-times-ers.

[Moreta]

One of my coworkers sent out a lengthy memo detailing some specific things that are helpful to remember when dealing with autistic adults and children. He repeatedly wrote that autistic people are prone to "wonder." It took some context clues to determine that he meant "wander."

[duff]

Why even put OOO? And why say you are on vacation?

I always say that I will have limited access to emails and such during a specific time period and to contact my co-workers. Same message goes to internal and external users.

[Shirley]

Why even put OOO? And why say you are on vacation?

I always say that I will have limited access to emails and such during a specific time period and to contact my co-workers. Same message goes to internal and external users.

I'd like know that someone was on vacation versus, say, at a conference or a customer site. There are lots of reasons why someone might be OOO (or OOF). Granted, once you say you are on vacation, OOO is redundant.

[P.D.X.]

So they weren't just having an orgasm in the middle of the email?

[mister d]

Once had a guy miss a conference call with a client then email everyone on the call, internal and external, with a note along the lines of "Sorry about missing the call this AM but I was up sick all night (throwing up) and slept through it". More detail isn't always a good thing.

[Johnny Carwash]

"Sorry about missing the call this AM but I was up sick all night (throwing up) and slept through it".

You work with John Bonham?

[sancarlos]

It appears to me that most commenters on blogs believe that the word "lose" is spelled "loose". As in, "You are a looser." Irony?

[Pruitt]

It appears to me that most commenters on blogs believe that the word "lose" is spelled "loose". As in, "You are a looser." Irony?

Well, it's hard to chose between the two.

[bfj]

I find it more than a little frustrating when the emails come home from school administrators/teachers with grammatical and spelling errors.

[P.D.X.]

Who knows German here? Gotta ship a package and the address has a "ß" in it and I know that's gonna trip up the rubes at the post office. Can i use "ss" instead? (Straße is the word of course)

[Sabo]

Who knows German here? Gotta ship a package and the address has a "ß" in it and I know that's gonna trip up the rubes at the post office. Can i use "ss" instead? (Straße is the word of course)

According to the following, Strasse or Road would be fine:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictio ... sh/strasse

[P.D.X.]

Prost!

[bfj]

Who knows German here? Gotta ship a package and the address has a "ß" in it and I know that's gonna trip up the rubes at the post office. Can i use "ss" instead? (Straße is the word of course)

The German use of ss is a problem going way back.

[Steve of phpBB]

Who knows German here? Gotta ship a package and the address has a "ß" in it and I know that's gonna trip up the rubes at the post office. Can i use "ss" instead? (Straße is the word of course)

The German use of ss is a problem going way back.

Lol

[Nonlinear FC]

I just had to plow through about 25 resumes for an open position for my team and... hoo boy... I know it's almost cliche to talk about, but some of these resumes were awful.

Like... Are you trying to upset a bunch of communications and design-savvy people by throwing a poorly formatted Word document at us with multiple typos and run-on bullets?

Just... wtf is wrong with people?

And, no, this isn't about "the youth" not getting it... Most of the worst examples are from candidates that should know better.

[bfj]

I just had to plow through about 25 resumes for an open position for my team and... hoo boy... I know it's almost cliche to talk about, but some of these resumes were awful.

Like... Are you trying to upset a bunch of communications and design-savvy people by throwing a poorly formatted Word document at us with multiple typos and run-on bullets?

Just... wtf is wrong with people?

And, no, this isn't about "the youth" not getting it... Most of the worst examples are from candidates that should know better.

Agreed. We just hired a new person and the amount of poorly written cover letters and resumes was ridiculous.

[GoodKarma]

I blame some of it on the need or suggestion to optimize resumes for keyword searches for job sites and employer databases. I had my resume done by a "pro" a few years ago and had to make adjustments myself because it read like it was written by bot playing Mad Libs.