Grattitude in email

On any given day I probably get around 300 e-mails and those who know me know that I can’t deal with piles of any kind so my anxiety forces me to react and close e-mails as quickly as possible (which is like a never ending game of whack-a-mole). Therefore, I view e-mail responses which just say “thank you” as inefficient and just another one that I need to delete.

So the question is whether or not putting gratitude in e-mail is good or not. On one hand, it is polite to thank people and show recognition for their efforts but on the other hand, it is yet another e-mail to read. And then how far does it go? Do I need to then say “you are welcome” and then they say “any time” and then I say “ok” and so on, and so on.

I think the answer is to use this situationally. For example, if there is a resource who spent time researching something or responding to a critical activity, then gratitude makes sense especially in a way that recognizes it to other people or management. But thank you messages should not be sent as a reply for every message and certainly not a ‘reply to all’ to all people.

What do other people think? Oh yeah, and thank you for reading my blog…

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