I saw this message on an email footer from someone at Qantas in Australia and thought it worth a discussion.
We often send an email, and then get annoyed when the recipient doesn’t reply straight away.
It is worse on instant message applications when we can see their “presence” information – ie are they logged on and available and even have they just read my message (the curse of the WhatsApp blue ticks).
Have we lost a sense of common decency?
By understanding if someone had read an email/IM or whatever and hasn’t replied immediately, and without knowing what they are doing at just that moment do we have the right to expect instant gratification and a response?
I think Qantas might have struck the right balance with the wording of their email footer. Would you or your organisation consider putting this message at the bottom of every one of your communications?
The irony is that it accompanied a story about an urgent shortage of Pilots and the message on the story was desperate for people to respond within a 2 hour period to allow a full flight to take off.