Emails are evil!

Have you ever read an email and not known if the person who sent it was angry or not?

Emails are a horrible way to communicate. Let me give an example. Let's say I write my wife at work asking if she would like to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. She writes back "whatever".

What does that mean. Does that mean she doesn't care if we go out? she doesn't care where we go out? She is mad that I suggested my favorite place to eat and not hers? Is she in a meeting and getting chewed out by her boss while the office water cooler is leaking and someone is breaking into her car in the parking lot?????

THERE IS NO WAY TO KNOW WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING IN AN EMAIL.

I have seen arguments breakout between coworkers because one person wrote an email with certain intentions and the recipient read it with different intentions.

Here are the rules of emails:

1. If you have to write more than 4 sentences to someone, then pick the phone up and call them.
2. If you are just delivering facts and not discussing anything, then email is fine.
3. ALL CAPITAL LETTERS MEANS YOU ARE REALLY ANGRY OR EXCITED. IF YOU ARE IN EXCEL WORKING WITH CAPS, TURN OFF THE CAP LOCK TO WRITE AN EMAIL.
4. If you are forwarding STUPID EMAIL JOKES please cut out the joke and put it in a fresh email. Stop being LAZY and forwarding the email addressES of the last 79 people it was sent to. It's takes a minute to clean it up. (if I see this, I immediately delete it)
5. Please go to SNOPES.COM to confirm a story before you forward false information to everyone in your address book. Once again, don't be lazy.
6. Lastly, call to confirm that an important email was received. Oh yeah, don't be lazy.

Emails are bad for business. Be careful when writing to people. What you hear in your head while typing an email isn't always what the recipient hears when reading it.