This is a minor matter, obviously, so if you're busy move on.
Here's the set-up, as happens to almost all of us, almost every day: A colleague or business associate has answered your routine e-mail request with his or her equally routine answer (let's say you asked for a budget number, for example).
Your original request included the requisite "please" and "thank-you" because, well, you weren't raised by wolves. Moments later a reply arrives and it provides the information you sought; nothing more, nothing less.
Do you in turn send what we're going to call here "the unadorned thanks?" In other words, do you - as many do - reply with only the word "thanks." (Again, for the sake of this discussion, we're presuming you have nothing else to say.)
If your answer is "of course I do, you rube," then you are probably living unaware that the unadorned thanks is considered by some to be gratuitous, at best - remember, you already wrote "thanks" - and at worst, an annoying waste of everyone's time, most notably, mine.
What's the beef? Allow me an all-too-familiar example to illustrate: Public relations professionals are constantly subjecting me to the unadorned thanks. They'll send a story pitch complete with a pre-thank-you. I'll answer, "no, thanks." And, almost before I can return my attention to whatever task it had been ripped from to reply, I'll see the PR pro's next message hit my inbox.
Just delete it, you say?
No can do. I just can't be sure that it's another unadorned thanks - even though I'd bet the mortgage money - and I've already committed to this conversation, so deleting it unopened seems rude. (No, I don't use the preview pane.)
So I click on the e-mail, curse yet another unadorned thanks, and vow solemnly never to write a word about the sender's client, at least not a positive word.
Of course, there are those who will argue that I'm a nitpicking curmudgeon. And yet others who will argue that you can never be too rich, too thin or too polite.
This is the place, so argue away. ... I know I'm not alone here.
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Simple Rule
If I ask for some specific information, and the person sends me that info, we're done. I don't send a thanks. If the exchange is more involved, like requiring me to ask for something more or if the person provided some more info I hadn't thought of, then a single line "Thanks" seems in order.
I'll go you one better on this topic, though. Occasionally, I get a "Thanks" that goes beyond a single word and offers some complimentary statement or expresses a little extra gratitude for something I've done. In that case, I'll send a "You're welcome." No one has ever complained.
Similar to Simple Rule
I would agree with "Simple Rule" by John Gog, and then go one further.
If a one line response is still deemed necessary, I will put the message or thank you or whatever in my subject line and tack on an (for end of message), so that the person on the other end doesn't need to open up the email (as I assume they other person does not use a preview pane).
What a good idea. Thank you.
What a good idea. Thank you.
Another point ...
The type of relationship I have with the sender matters here. If it’s family, a close friend, or regular co-worker, I find the unadorned thanks far less annoying or obsequious because I’ve come to expect it from that person.
Faster way -
Hi Paul - There is a simple way to handle this using an email macro. In your intial reply to the perp, er excuse me, I mean PRP (Public Relations Professional), include a link in the email labeled "To send a simple thank you reply, click here". That link takes them to a web page with a very simple form, or a simple java script routine which simply collects their email address and adds it (and the date) to a file, and reports to the user that their their thank you has been sent. Since the PRP has no chance to enter any content you dont have to read it and it doesnt have to be emailed. Their unadorned thank you is simply recorded in a file that you can look in should you ever desire to see who has sent unadorned thanks and when.
You may not be alone, but you should be...
It is simply pathetic how common courtesy has been literally forced out the door by people who are "too busy" or "can't waste the time" to accept the "thank you" message as what it really is - a thank you.
So, you get an extraneous email. How much does it cost? In your "wasted" time, pennies. In terms of the amount of email going over the wire, less. In terms of goodwill on the behalf of the sender, possibly priceless.
When you receive service that you appreciate at a place of business, do you "save time" by not expressing thanks to the person who has dealt with you. Given the sentiments you show above, probably not. I mean, why bother, right? They're getting paid to serve customers. Why be nice? Why waste the oxygen? After all, they don't have any feelings - they're just drones. The same goes for dealing with someone over the phone, or over email. Right? IT'S JUST A WASTE OF YOUR PRECIOUS TIME TO BE NICE.
If you want to be a "curmudgeon", be one. I believe we have another name for it, but I'm pretty certain you have readers that are sensitive to such language. Just please don't expect the rest of the world to be the same.
Here's a suggestion: Include in your email the following message - "Thanks in advance, and don't send me a thank you back, as I'm much too busy to waste time on common courtesy."
Oh, and as a 20-year IT professional, I can tell you that courtesy to me (and / or my organization) is often the deciding factor on determining with whom we do business. It's that "thank you for speaking with me" that's gotten people hired by me, and that "thank you for giving us a chance to discuss our offerings with you" that has landed contracts for our vendors.
I could not agree more with
I could not agree more with you, James! You can never be too rich, too thin, or too polite. (Well, maybe you can be too thin a/k/a Nicole Richie, but you get my meaning.) Does it take any skin off of your nose to reply "Thank you"? It's not as if you have to schlep to the post office and buy a stamp in order to do so, so why wouldn't you?
Totally Agree
A thank you is fine. Saying "you're welcome" should be fine, too, but these days it has simply died out and we are the poorer for it.
Then let's not allow simple
Then let's not allow simple courtesy to "die out". I always respond with a thank you or you're welcome. It irritates me when I've done a favor or taken some of my time to answer a question- usually for a person too lazy (or too self important) to find the info themselves- and I get don't get a simple thank you. We should be teaching the people on our teams the art of politeness.
Etiquette in Business - E-mails in Particular
Oh, yes, the once upon a time requisite, "You are welcome" after hearing a "thank you"....but today, I mostly hear "no problem" or even worse, "no problemo"......
Well, whether you are actually doing a favor for someone, or you are fulfilling your job responsibilities, I believe that "You're welcome" is the mannerly response.