A lesson in urgent email from “The Office”

In a scene from the “The Office” USA, the boss Michael Scott (played by Steve Carrell) discusses his counter-intuitive use of the word “urgent” in his email subject lines.

“OK,”  he explains, “I mark all e-mails as Urgent A, Urgent B, Urgent C or Urgent D. Urgent A is the most important. Urgent D, you don’t even really have to worry about.”

Joking aside, this raises the question of how to respond to emails marked as “urgent”.

Over-use of the prefix Urgent will leave you crying wolf – and your recipients will be trained not to place any more emphasis on your urgent than your non urgent emails – so be careful how often you use it.

When sending emails that are “Urgent” do not forget to craft the emails well and do not forget an appropriate (polite) salutation and sign off.

“Urgent” emails are not an excuse to be rude so remember the fundamentals of email etiquette here.

All in all Emailogic advice is use sparingly. If something is really urgent – pick up the phone instead.