Some time ago, I wrote an article about phone etiquette. In this article, I will further emphasize phone etiquette, as well as email etiquette.
As I mentioned in the phone etiquette, it is impolite to call someone late at night (e.g. after 10 PM) or in the early hours of the morning (e.g. prior to 8 AM, depending on what day of the week it is) unless it is an emergency or something urgent. Thus, one should wait until morning to make the phone call or rely on texting or email. Also, if it is Saturday or Sunday morning, there is always the person you’re wanting to speak to might still be asleep at 6 or 7 AM. Hence, it might be better to wait until 8 AM to call that person. For example, I knew an individual would call my brother’s house at 11 PM on a Friday, and failing that, would call Saturday morning at 6, and the reason she called was just to chit chat with my sister-in-law. Such types of calls can wait until later in the morning.
I should point out that this same individual once called my brother’s house on a Saturday evening wanting to chat with my sister-in-law, and that Saturday happened to be Halloween. I’m not sure why she had nothing else to do on Halloween, but I found the situation to be unusual, even annoying.
Another example of phone etiquette is when someone leaves a message on your voicemail which consists of the following:
“Are you there? Are you there? Are you home? Are you home?”
I find such a message to be immature. Perhaps the person they are trying to get in touch with was unable to answer the phone at the time.
Now for email etiquette.
First, I find it unnecessary for someone to forward every email they receive from someone else, especially when that individual forwards several emails to a bunch of people, and the emails are mostly food for thought, and they happen to be quite lengthy.
Second, I find it unnecessary, even annoying when someone decides to keep sending the same email with the same message out to a group of people (particularly when that individual sent the same email out around twenty times).
Third, when replying to an email, it is a good idea not to use all caps, regardless of what mood you might be in. Such emails are generally viewed as rude and hostile.
Such etiquette pertaining to emails also applies to texting.
So in conclusion, use proper etiquette and good judgment (i.e. common sense) when it comes to phone calls, email, and texting.
