I’m a member of a Discord server that’s primarily used for support, and this happens way too often. I’ve taken to just reacting with a wave emoji and waiting for them to actually ask for help. Most of the time they’ll just leave some time later, without ever asking a question.
Is this website assuming you take 5 minutes to type 7 words and that typing “hi” takes the same time?
It’s a common Indian thing to type a greeting, then wait for a response before actually getting to the point. It drives a lot of people crazy, because now we have to respond back and prompt them to tell us what they need and wait for a response, which is frequently a while later, causing a lot of interruption to what might otherwise be productive working time.
It turns a “can you send me this info” 5 minute task into a multiple interruption pain in the ass
then wait for a response
That’s offensive. ‘Hello’ means “I’m typing a quick wall of text, and please just wait like 1 minute because it could be a time-sensitive thing”
Just append the hello to the beginning of the wall of text.
and if the conversation is already ongoing, just say that you are writing a wall of text, or write it all out without care, instant communication is a new thing but writing letters or quick mail inquiries are not. communication skills are so weird for some people.
You’re never just on chat. You’re always doing something else. The constant distraction and context switching is mentally expensive.
Do people type “hi” and then go do something else instead of typing the question?
Yes, that’s exactly what happens and what the page is about. People often type hi, and if they don’t an answer right away, they get distracted with something else. Then I reply hi back, and the same happens again on my side. Maybe the delay is just the 30s each time, maybe is 2 mimutes. Sometimes this cycle repeats again because they ask how I’m doing! And each time I need to interrupt what I’m doing and state at the screen waiting. Instead of just quickly reading and immediately replying. There’s literally no advantage to separate pleasantries in chat.
People wait for a response after saying “hi”?
Why?
That question is the whole point of the website. Are you paying attention?..
The website says to not do it, not why people do it
I’m sure there’s many reasons. I’ve no fucking clue. I just want them to stop.
A lot of timid people want to see if the other person would even commit to a conversation. If you are the first one to start a conversation, and I see you do not fully commit with a half limp “hi” or “can you help” with no context or anything to tell me, then I will simply ignore it.
Hello.
I am now mad at you. /s
This is fair, though the reason we do it is to make sure the other person is okay enough to answer the question or talk about the thing first and if not we would want to help them out or take that into consideration.
Just asking the question feels rude or dismissive if they aren’t doing well.
…so do both?
“Hi, coworker! How’s your day? Anyway bossman is on me about the TPS reports, are those going to be done today?”
See? You were polite, checked in on them, AND got to the point all at once!
I’ll think about it. Thank you so much for the suggestion though!
deleted by creator
I don’t really like seeing caring about others or folks feeling down as a ‘problem’.
I don’t think caring about other people is the problem. I think this particular manifestation is of dubious value, and in fact annoys enough people that someone made a website asking you to stop doing it.
Furthermore, if “Hey man what’s up? Do you remember if there’s lunch provided at this meeting?” is going to push them over the edge, then they’re so close to a breaking point already that anything is going to do it.
deleted by creator
I think its perfectly reasonable to make no assumptions about someone’s wellbeing (you are checking the status of their wellbeing, not assuming that they are unwell).
Yes, exactly. Thank you for pointing this out!
wow, okay…
This varies a lot by culture, though. If you ask a North American how they are, you’ve basically said “hi”. If you ask a Norwegian the same, you’ve asked a personal, private question. You might get an answer if you already know them privately; we might think you’re prying into something that’s neither your nor the workplace’s business if you don’t. Keeping professional is polite, prying is rude.
Sure, context and culture matter. Thanks for pointing this out!
I was delighted to see the “don’t be mad at the person who sent you here” link at the bottom was sent to a different and appropriate video in the Spanish version of the site. That’s great localization work.
Edit: it appears only Spanish and Swedish have unique videos
Does anyone mind if I ask what this is in reference to
Work communication etiquette
I love when a website on mobile has some animated component that keeps making the text move around while I’m trying to read the damn thing.
Isn’t this very context dependent?
For a small question it makes the most sense to just ask but often in work question can be much more complex. And the pre question or hello is pretty much: “Do you have a few minutes of time to read about and discuss this issue”
I have a colleague who just drops a wall of text on me. With varying levels of work-related/importancy and i find it very annoying depending on what i am doing.
Also if i contact someone who i know is very busy id like to know if they have time available to chat or call about x.
I am neurodivergent though, i am used to bigger chats because i hate calling and phone calls without heads up really bother me. It seems so pretentious to just on a whim go “STOP WHAT YOUR DOING AND HEAR ME”
