A buddy of mine is on a rant lately aboot this subject. He's been working on stuff up in Canada. So I assume the convention that's aggravating him may be from Canooks. Regardless, he's irritated with folks using "Best" for the close. Not Best Regards, just Best. His bitch is best <what>. I've not seen this and I have almost trained my head to ignore whatever someone does for their close. "Thanks", "Regards", "Best Regards", "Cheers", "Sincerely Yours", "Yours", "Respectfully", Respectfully Yours", etc. ad nauseum. I've dropped the close altogether for coming up on aboot a decade. My sig is automatically included with my name, role, office phone, cell phone and email address. I started including the email address because someone pointed out to me that if the email is turned into a hardcopy or pdf then my email address is unavailable. So I include it, but it still looks kinda stupid to do so. After I'm done writing whatever I have to write I hit send and skip the close. If it's a reply I may or may not hit alt-n-a-s to include my sig in case anyone wants to call. Which never happens. The salutation part has become a problem for me though. I dislike "Hi" and even more so, "Hey". Lately I've received some emails with "Dear". WTF. What pinhead revived this convention? I've taken to doing the old enlisted greeting of the day, "Good xxx Joe," A bit tedious, but worth it for me presently. Maybe when I get more comfortable working directly for an operating company I might be able to drop it. But the pause writing it actually helps with composing the content for the environment I find myself in right now. Anybody else?
I think having some kind of salutation is worth it. In addition to it being a demonstration that you’re making at least a small effort at politeness, it also confirms that you’ve finished your email (as opposed to having accidentally clicked “send” before you were finished writing it). I’m guilty of “Hi” and “Hey” as I tend to write emails, even ones at work, in a more conversational style, though only with colleagues whom I work with regularly. “Best” seems a bit odd to me for every-day corporate communication. “All the best” is the sort of thing I would say if someone were leaving or, for what ever reason, marking a point after which I’d be seeing much less of them. My standard is “thanks” or “regards.” If it’s a formal email or a message to someone I do not know, I would not shorten them, instead going with “Thank you” or “Warmest regards.” FWIW. Your most humble and obedient servant, Nat
Nice. Funny. The salutation is the opening and I agree that it is worth it, certainly for me presently being new to my company with only 1.5 years. But you mixed in your thoughts about the opening with the close - why not just skip it altogether? "Thanks" is often inappropriate - certainly when writing up the ladder internally, and "Regards" is almost just as problematic. Seems like a fun topic to goof around with. What would be the most outrageous closes? Serious AF, Grey Matter Allahu Akbar, Grey Matter Have a Blessed Day, Grey Matter IDGAF, Grey Matter
Again, the closing does two things: 1) shows an effort 2) removes any ambiguity that you’re message is
Not many. But I'm still consulting on a couple of military programs to keep my hand in... and as my 50th West Point Reunion approaches there's a growing density of correspondence with classmates.
classmate emails of course are whatever you want to do it seems to me, yes? The consulting stuff still requires you to fit in. But it's a dirt simple format and this is not any kind of serious topic. What are your thoughts on this mundane topic from when you weren't retired? Like if someone signed off an email with: Best, - Grey
I actually don't mind this myself. It's better than: Thanks, - Grey or even Regards, - Grey It seems to me kinda like a Canook version of the Aussie style: Cheers, - Grey
I never really cared. The "meat" in the body of the correspondence is what's important. Depending on who I was writing to I could close in many ways. If to a fellow Soldier I might give it a "HOOAH!"... Mostly I'd use a memo format... not a letter format and no closing is required since the top of the memo had all the FROM/TO data.
I work with many internationals and noticed a few things. People in Japan always start their emails with "Dear" so I use the same for them. I noticed the same thing with people from Germany. I use "Hello" for everyone else and as far as the endings of emails I just go with "Best Regards". It seems to be the most universal. I've seen variations like "Warm regards" but seriously? Are you really feeling WARM about the annoying reports I just asked you for?
