Sacked for writing emails in block capitals
An office worker has been sacked for sending emails in block capitals, in a case that highlights the social minefield that is email etiquette.
Vicki Walker was forced out of her job as an accountant at a healthcare company after colleagues complained that her emails were too "shouty" and confrontational.
A tribunal heard that she spread disharmony among her co-workers by sending missives with entire sentences in block capitals.
She also behaved "provocatively" by highlighting key phrases in bold or red, her employer ProCare Health claimed.
In one office-wide email presented as evidence at her tribunal, she had typed in bold blue letters: "TO ENSURE YOUR STAFF CLAIM IS PROCESSED AND PAID, PLEASE DO FOLLOW THE BELOW CHECK LIST."
Mrs Walker, from Auckland, New Zealand, claimed it was "ridiculous" to describe the email as confrontational, saying that she was only trying to ensure that her colleagues filled out their forms correctly.
She has now been awarded £7,000 ($17,000 NZD) after the tribunal found that she had been unfairly dismissed by ProCare in December 2007.
The panel found that while she had caused friction in her office, her conduct did not amount to grounds for dismissal.
Mrs Walker's case comes amid widespread uncertainty about professional "netiquette", particularly over the use of abbreviations and emoticons in emails.
Over-familiar or misjudged emails to clients can costs firms tens of thousands of pounds in lost orders, experts have warned.
What do you find most annoying about email? Have you ever been offended by an email from a colleague or client?
The Telegraph
Was that happen in Qatar ?
PM, the main problem is that they don't read... And they think that books are antiques that belong to old people.
Unfortunately too many students are using it in the classroom and in their homework. It is just giving rise to a generation of illiterate students. :-(
I didn't drink the kool-aid! -- PM
it iz misng one letr most of da time
Its just missing out one letter most of the time
Write? Nobody writes ........anylonger...do they?
Agree with your last sentence wholeheartedly.
I hate the "text speak" as well.
From a cultural perspective it is interesting to see how it has become acceptable to many people (generally the younger set), even in an initial correspondence.
It's also very sad as it seems to represent a decline in the importance of writing in general.
britexpat: i wil now nt use da chatrom lang since it pis u of
Well its quite justified.... she must be knowing what she was doing...
thats incorrect... professionally and politically...
“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”
Sir Winston Churchill
Interesting how people leap to judgement without knowing facts or only part of the story. Apparently (from a friend who works there) the woman was a bully. Staff didn't want to deal with her and some who felt particularly victimised threatened to leave. An independent mediator was brought to try and resolve matters and was there for a week! When she went the staff had a celebration champagne breakfast the next morning.
EVEN WITH CRUISE CONTROL, YOU STILL HAVE TO STEER :P
Stone Cold, that reminds me of when I was younger, at school we were forbidden to do homework, write essays, sign or anything with red pen. It was required one at school, but only for underlining important phrases. A teacher told me we shouldn't use it, as red ink is considered offensive.
Why? I have no clue, but since then I find it offensive too!
labda, i agree with you on that one.. what the hell were they thinking putting smileys, etc on their signatures.. no problem if it's a personal mail, but a business correspondence? :P
Even in small cap but red text colour will be offensive as well.
.......anything wrong with Das Kapital?
oops..guilty,again!
ok,ok..I'll put my hair back in the cupboard!
.
You've dyed your hair again haven't you ?
Doha, Moscow,London,Paris,Berlin,Manila,Kabul,Athens,Tokio..what's wrong with Capitals?
.
Use of block letters are meant to be swearing / shouting and defintely not a professional approach in drafting formal letters or any business correspondence.
vat i dnt lk is dis
yep MJ...I received one mail yesterday and at the signature line was this glittering graphic which will suddenly appear and display the name of the sender... I mean what da hill...lol
________________________________________
One life to live, live it to the fullest.
LOL baldrick
I find it really annoying when clients send emails with smileys, and dancing babies and the like. To me its unprofessional.
the glory days of 13375P34K do ya? That was LEETSPEAK...elite speech...the internets are something else...NAO IS DIFFERENT
Nao it's things like giev, moar...and I posted this transcendental question for lulz here in the Q&A section, about 5 people suggested I lay off the drugs. Silly folks...oblivious to the wonderful world of memes and 4chan :D
"has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?"
That's what happens when you're Japanese, use an Engrish transrator, and post on Engrish board. Impeccable online translator spelling, total trainwreck of Engrish grammar :D
She deserves it...
So does everybody who does it on QL. And people who write in Chat-English.
Leisa - she was given warning also on capital letters...lol!
MO RIN...YUN LANG!!!
person who knows everything, do everything right and everybody else is ignorant and do not do anytrhing right.
they were fed up with her and wanted to dump her!
they needed a spark.
Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that.
That's ridiculous. Was she not given a warning of some kind first?
in the thread http://www.qatarliving.com/node/96094 :
2. DO NOT CAPITALIZE ALL LETTERS. On the Internet, all capitals signify you are yelling and will be treated as such.
when i read the news on yahoo i thought to post it as a thread. britexpat beat me to it!
Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that.
If you didn't study technical writing or business correspondence of some kind in college...what did you study then? Lotsa morons out there should be sent back to the deep fryer or the drive thru...
our boss writes to us in CAPITAL letters all the time ... but since he's over 60, he's probably not aware of "netiquettes" ...
and start firing/banning those using bold or chat room slang on QL forums.
There are quite few here and I don't bother to read their comments/posts.
____________________________________________________
Have Courage To Live.
Anyone Can Die.
or this:
☆¸.•*¨*`•.¸.•*¨*`•.☆NeNiS☆¸.•*¨*`•.¸.•*¨*`•.¸☆
lol happy, they really use glittering graphics in office emails? :P
signatures or nicknames like this annoy me so much:
✿ ★ ღ •Măя!ǻИ∂• ღ ★ ✿. ●~♥ShInE!!♥~● // ThIs Is ReAl ThIs Is Me!! :D
I get annoyed by people using glittering graphics in their mails specially for their signature line...come on you are writing an official mail...
using different fonts within the same mail and at random capitals...
________________________________________
One life to live, live it to the fullest.
Brit, I'm wid U on dat 1
I would go with Sandeep.. Chat room language really pisses me off.. It shows not only lack of ettiquette, but also immaturity in a public forum.
Some people really write in Caps without knowing that its means shouting.
Lot of typos annoys me, cant they do a spell check before sending it out!!
In this case probably they were looking for a reason to fire her..lol
Using chat room language in official mails annoys me a lot. Using words like ur, btw, gr8 etc. etc.
" when someone annoys you it takes 42 muscles in your face to frown, BUT, it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and slap that @&%$%^$$#&!!!!"
ThE OnE I fInD MoSt AnNoYiNg Is ThIs!