Mar 17 2007
Three huge email pet peeves of mine
#1 When someone replies to an email that is signed with your name and, in their reply, they spell your name wrong! How does this even happen? You are looking at my name in type right in front of you spelled correctly. Copy and paste for God’s sake. I will even get emails that are replies to my emails with totally different names like Heather or Hanna. I can understand if you have never seen someone’s name in print before or only know them over the phone but by email? Holy cow! The correctly spelled named is mere inches below what you just wrote!
#2 When someone replies to an email that I sent them with "Dear Sirs." OK, fine my name is a little gender neutral but why wouldn’t you just address the email to my name. And, I am sorry, but it offends me to not only be referred to as a man, but as several men! I am not multiple men, darn it! I prefer "To Whom it may concern" or "Sir or Madame" over this.
#3 Perhaps my most massive pet peeve of all is when I write an email and sign it "Hillary" and their reply is addressed to "Dear Mr. Hillary." ??? A) Why do you assume that I would sign an email with my last name? Who does that? B) See #2 for how I am NOT A MAN.
I know that I am a bad person. I know it. But whenever I get emails like this, I always reverse their gender. They get a reply with something like "Dear Ms. Charlie" or "Dear Mr. Jane." One rude turn deserves another. Though, I might add that I have yet to have a woman do this to me. It’s always men.
Do penises make you see everyone in the world as a man?
Hillary is an award winning playwright, fiction and non-fiction author best known for her play, The Love of Three Oranges which has been performed around the world. A Script Frenzy and NaNoWriMo ML, she loves connecting with other writers no matter what their experience levels. For the business side of blogging, publishing and selling, visit Hillary at The Whine Seller. See a complete list of Hillary’s blogs and books here.
