Postcards from the Funny Farm

Your answer to that question may be the reason you’re not getting what you want.

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

-Dale Carnegie

Of all his quotes, this one is the best in my opinion. It’s like the old adage your mother and father said when you were young: “If you want to have a friend, you have to be a friend.” Ah if it were only so simple to put into practice. Here’s a gem of knowledge I’ve picked up: aspirers to greatness, get out your pens.

When fettered by the pressures of the day, there is a way out. Well, I’ll call it a way through since “way out” connotes quitting. Instead of focusing on your pressures and concerns, tell yourself on the way to work or whatever it is you are doing: “I will try and help others first today.” You will find this to be a transformative experience that will open your mind more to those around you. As a result, you will be more accepting and your troubles will likely become easier to deal with. I wouldn’t recommend this unless I had tried it. And as always, I write it here in part to remind myself to use it. Try thinking of others above yourself tomorrow and see what happens. I think you’ll be pleased and surprised.

While I already have most this info posted on my teaching blog, I know I have different readers here that can offer valuable input about their work email so here goes:

Did you know people at your work might be offended at you due to email? They may think you didn’t reply because you don’t care or imagine you are mad etc. They also might be angry at you because they never got your reply (which you sent!)

I have had some of these issues lately and below is my article about using “read receipt request” in an attempt to prevent them:

The other day a fiasco almost happened because someone didn’t get my email at work. I don’t recommend this is regular personal emails because it’s cumbersome, but from now on I will be sending out a “request read” receipt on all my work emails. If people don’t mark it as read, then I will assume they didn’t get it. If they do mark it read, then I can rest easy. You might want to try this and see how you like it.

Update: After trying this today with several contacts I did learn some practical knowledge. It is probably bad etiquette to request a read receipt on every email you send. Having the record in your sent box is enough sometimes to give me peace of mind. I think it’s best to have a signature ready that reads something like:

To be sure my message was received I have requested a “read receipt” on this message. If you do not receive a notification to check, I request that you reply with a minimum of the word “received” . Thank you. -Mr. Riley

That way if you are sending an email that needs verification that the receiver read it, you can just add the “signature” footer to the message. If your email client allows it, you can also select “read receipt request.” What I learned today was that this is not necessary for every email you send, unless you don’t mind appearing overly careful. Another problem with it is that you will have an inbox full of emails that read “received” all day long.
What do you think about using “request read receipts” at work?