Haven’t blogged in awhile, but I thought that mentioning this on Facebook was too public.
What the hell happened to common courtesy? Twice today I am chagrined by the lack of courtesy shown to me by folks.
While the first is just a business call that was supposed to happen at a given time and didn’t, the second is more insidious (I don’t want to hate on the first too much because maybe he/she will drop a line tomorrow and have a really good reason).
The second.. manoman. Short version.. had a really good conversation with a dude awhile back about a project he was working on with a friend of mine. He expressed interest in hiring a couple of friends of mine, told me to give him their info and he would contact them. Days passed. nothing. I kept getting calls from my friends saying “haven’t heard back” – so I dropped an email. Silence. Waited a couple days. Called back. Nothing. Waited a week and wrote a friendly email saying “well, I guess things didn’t work out”, and wished the best. Nothing.
I met up with that friend of mine over the weekend, and relayed the story.. he said this guy was somehow concerned about my interest in his project.. and I suggested the idea of an email (now months later) to clear the air – which my friend said would be a good idea.
I sent the email.. basically saying “Sorry we got our lines crossed, I wish your project all the best” – and now, 3 days later.. nothing.
Now look.. I know that at times, folks may or may not like you, may or may not want to work with you.. but I can’t imagine a situation where I would just silently receive an olive branch and not even say thanks.. Years ago, a dear friend of mine and I lost touch and when I tried to friend her on myspace, she refused. I sent an email saying “what’s up” – and silence. Maybe she just didn’t want to be friends, and I’m okay with that.. but again.. courtesy – send an email back to say: “Thanks for the well wishes, but we’ve moved on”
Is it me? I always thought the idea was, if you get an email, generally, a response is expected. If you get a follow-up, then definitely you should respond, if only to say: “Sorry, not interested.” or “Yeah, best to you as well”.
I wonder if it is a facet of our email culture that you can skim past someone at your leisure – but I’ll be damned if, on this side, it doesn’t feel like an insult.