How Technology Helps Us
I am always amazed at advances in technology. I can still remember a time when there was no email. If I needed to talk to someone in the office I would either call them, or if they were close by, actually walk over and talk to them in person.
Email has changed all that. We now have the ability to quickly send someone a message without interrupting our work flow. We can just get the information across and without missing a beat continue with our daily tasks.
Sounds great, right?
Unfortunately, there is a kink in the system:
The over-anxious emailer.
I know every office has one. You know, the person who sends you an email and then runs to tell you that they sent you an email.
Please review the following example for clarification:
(Computer dings. Message: You have new mail in your inbox.)
Need I say more?
Email has changed all that. We now have the ability to quickly send someone a message without interrupting our work flow. We can just get the information across and without missing a beat continue with our daily tasks.
Sounds great, right?
Unfortunately, there is a kink in the system:
The over-anxious emailer.
I know every office has one. You know, the person who sends you an email and then runs to tell you that they sent you an email.
Please review the following example for clarification:
T: (breathless, walking up quickly and abruptly stopping inside my cube - i.e. my personal space) Shelly, Shelly!
Me: Sherri.
T: What?
Me: Sherri. My name is Sherri.
T: Oh yeah, sorry. Sherri. I just sent you an email.
Me: Um...okay?
T: (Talking really fast - imagine a guy valley girl) I originally wrote that I would meet with the temp on Wednesday, but I meant Thursday. I sent you an email telling you that I will definitely meet with her Thursday. Don't know what I was thinking! I must be braindead! (you don't say)
Me: Okay. I haven't gotten the email.
T: No, I just sent it.
Me: Um...okay? Did you need something else?
T: Nope. That's it. See ya, Shelly.
(Computer dings. Message: You have new mail in your inbox.)
Need I say more?
posted by Sherri at 9:27 AM
2 Comments:
A couple yers ago, when the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet was introduced at our command (NMCI Tagline: "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.") we spent about a month with two computers on our desks...our "legacy" computer and our NMCI machine. The idea was to allow us to e-mail our Important Files from the old to the new. (No, I am not making that up.) It often took as long as 23 hours for an e-mail to travel the 18 inches across my desk. For a while, it was easier to simply walk across the base and talk to someone than it was to send an e-mail.
On the other hand, yesterday, I sent an e-mail to one of my cube mates, while he was at his desk, eight feet away.
I love technology.
~Kurt
Oh, I can totally sympathise.
Boss: Have you had a chance to look into that issue yet?
Me: What issue?
Boss: (exasperated) the one that I emailed you about?
Me: Sorry, I haven't checked my email yet. Hang on, I'll do that now... no... there's no email from you today...
Boss: Well I sent it.
Me: How long ago?
Boss: Well
Computer: You have new mail.
Me: Oh... here it is...
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