So I just got a phone call from a guy I work with. His request was simple - please stop sending email. One of the recipients called him to tell him what she thought. Not surprisingly, what she thought was completely incorrect because she hadn't attended any of the meetings she was invited to.
My first question? Why didn't she call me and ask for clarification. Kind of a moot question, really.
My second question? Why didn't he just tell her to call me and ask. Seems easy to me. We're all adults, in theory, and if there is an issue or question, just call the person that wrote the email. I thought communication skills like that were learned in high school and college, although sometimes I'm not great at it myself.
The third question, and the real kicker for me, was why stop using email as a communication tool? Sometimes it's not my issue if you can't have a conversation with someone who is sending you email. Yes, I get that some people send email when angry, and that's an email best addressed face-to-face to iron out all of the communication issues. Other types of email that make for communication challenges are those that require a response that won't make the recipient very happy, daily emails with a lot of extraneous information you don't really need, and emails about relationship details. However, to stop communicating by email because one recipient refuses to communicate directly or participate in the discussion in a meaningful way is just wrong.
Lesson for the day? There are some people who cannot or will not respond to an email because they have already made assumptions about the intent of the email. The resulting confusion created by multiple phone calls and texts to everyone except the sender causes drama and dissension within the group of recipients. And sometimes that can't be helped, but you can do your part to stamp out drama central by picking up the phone yourself and calling the individual causing the drama.
Life lesson: if you spend time in drama central on a regular basis, and it's caused by the people around you, the relationship may be toxic. If it's a work situation, there's not much you can do, but if it's a personal situation, say when you are volunteering your time or with your friends and/or family, do a cost benefit analysis and make sure at the end of the day, the aggravation is worth the energy you put into it. If you spend time in drama central on a regular basis, and the people around you are everchanging, consider the fact that you may be the drama.
