Email ... the bane of the internet. It is worse than porn; more annoying than warm-fuzzy eCards and more useless than a smart phone with no service. Yes email is crap with a capital C.
And because it is crap, I have no idea why most business is gravitating towards adopting it as a primary means of communication. Just this morning I deleted an email from my bank. It was likely legit, but in the message the bank advised me not to reply to the message because, and I quote, "because email is not a secure method of communication". Now before we get too deep, I know that there have been attempts at making email more secure & safe. Not widely accepted and barely adopted ... but there are ways - have been for years. But you see, I have a PHONE on my desk ...
But you see I have a phone on my desk; I also have a phone in my room ... If you call my desk it will ring in my room too and vice-versa. Because, my mother taught me to answer the phone. I am good at it!
Good (morning, afternoon, evening) [company name] [Rick speaking]; can I help you?
I once had a home number that was one digit off of my work phone number and answered the phone - long before call display - only to have my employer tell me I had forgotten to name the establishment. I calmly advised him that it was because he had dialed my home phone number. He seemed surprised to hear that I would answer the phone at home like that. I tired to assure him that he had dialed the number - which I repeated for him - and that I always answered my phone like that. He hung up and called work for the conversation he had been trying to have. But he called me back ... and my roommate watched as I answered the phone again. He heard me answer the phone in my normal fashion and then apologized for bothering me but once he had confirmed that I was not at work, he was curious as to whether I actually did answer my phone like that. But I DIGRESS ...
My point is that my email account generates hundreds of spam messages a day. This is not unusual for a 16 year old email account. I long ago started using an email filtering software to screen the incoming. I set up filters using RegEx, regular expressions, to auto-magickally delete all the friendly offers to increase my manhood, and eliminate offers to make me rich by helping you get your money Out Of Africa. I even set up a rule to eliminate, again auto-magickally, all the offers from legitimate companies that do not abide by the UNSUBSCRIBE in their own sites. And of course it is all I can do to keep myself from humping your leg when I see you in the street so I have no need for your supplements.
Are you seeing a pattern here yet?
So why if it puts you in a league with the scum of the earth & low-lifes & thieves & charlatans would you or your business want to have as your primary method of communication be EMAIL? Because sending an email makes it look like you have done something. You really haven't ... because there is a huge chance that your correspondence will land in the bit-bucket but you can pretend to check off that task. It is now in the other person's court - or is it? Now comes the time-wasting part ... why have they not responded? Why have they not replied? Why have they not actioned my request yet? ... But you wouldn't think of picking up a phone. because people have a bad habit of letting the phone go to voice-mail.
Just the other day I heard that a handful of LARGE CORPORATIONS are looking to cancel landline phones & voicemail systems to save money because this is the age of email & sms. Why do people not answer their phones you ask? Because business has taught us that answering the phone is a waste of time - call centers & telemarketers and begging charities ... oh and fax machines. Who the H-E-Double-hockey-sticks still uses Fax dialers any more? And why do they keep phoning me especially after midnight? We do not call out because we hate talking to india when we are trying to reach the business down the street or worse that automated push this, that or the next thing that eventually hangs up when you attempt to get a REAL PERSON on the line.
If you think that email is an instant form of communication, try sendin me an email on a friday after quitting time. Sit at your computer clicking the refresh / send & receive button until I get back to you. I want you to know that your message is important to me ... I'll deal with it sometime Monday after I spend an hour sorting what is still in my inbox after the magic of a mail server based anti-spam solution and my anti-spam client software have eliminated the bulk of the crap ... 400 to 500 messages on a normal monday morning. And most of those are pointless but each has to be perused and sorted, on the odd chance that there is something that needs my attention. Oh and while you are sitting in the office clicking the button, dial my phone ... or better yet dial the number of the flip phone that I carry in my pocket.
Gotta go, I have a call.