Pet hate: "Hi, how are you?" as an opener on work chat software

It doesn't really bother me, as I know most people aren't actually interested in what the answer is, but it's just our social etiquette. It's the same when I go into the office, people will open with something like "Alright, how's it going?" and the majority of the time it's just some generic response like "not bad, thanks," unless something out of the ordinary has happened in the last few days.

I tend to find women do it more in our business, but that's no surprise as, on average, they're more sociable.
 
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OspreyO said:
Actually it's not.

Good practice is not too allow any device that not managed by the company. Access to company resources. Otherwise you've massive security hole on your network.

Smaller places obviously let people do it, to save money. But it will bite them in the butt. It will also mean they have an easy means to contact those people out of hours.
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Not my call at work anyhow - there are guidelines on what should and shouldn't be done using WhatsApp, etc. but I've not seen them published to staff since 2017 and not sure most staff have even read them. Quite frankly without WhatsApp and a couple of other tools it would be like going back to the stone age at work.
 
sigma said:
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I guess it's no surprise that people on a tech/PC forum don't understand this topic!
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I'm getting the same vibe from this thread. People seem to be stressed about normal conversation. A little odc about having to interact with people.

I get that if you are busy having someone take ages to get to the point is a pita. I used to have that problem on our service desk. So I wrote a script to take the customer ID and analyse their records and tell me what they were likely ringing me about and fix it. Saved chunks of time.

The other cultural problem we have in our place to give as little information as possible. Making it torture to get enough information to do something and very easy to make mistakes without the full context. If course it makes it easy to avoid having to do the work at the same time.
 
jaybee said:
I'm particularly blunt on teams because...time, life, CBA. I get straight to the point regardless of how well I know the person. If they want to get offended by that it's fine. It's business. It's not for essays bruh
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I redirect those that never get to the point to log the request via helpdesk or email or change request. I find when people have to do that, they get to the point far quicker. If they won't do that then I don't have to deal with them and they go away. Job done.

Some people I trained into always emailing/helpdesk/cr to get my attention as I made a point of not responding in a reasonable time any other way.
 
swillsy said:
On chat apps it's cool and just being polite as you can get an instant reply before asking a question (normally I use chat on people I know and emails for people I don't) but on emails it's terrible and I hate it every time I do it. I dont care what their response is but they did it first so I have to ask :( I might change this habit now I've read this thread!
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Get back to your antisocial developer roots and just blank it and answer their question like I do :cry:
 
I tend to agree with the OP.

I've got no issue with someone who starts with hi/how are you etc, as long as they follow up with what they actually want afterwards.

I used to work with someone who would only respond after you respond to their "hi", they would wait for hours/days for you to respond before getting on to what they actually want. It's weird, and a colossal waste of time. I might be in a meeting/away from my computer when the first "hi" comes through, so I reply 2 hours later with "hi, what's up?", only to find out that they're finished for the day and it'll have to wait another day. If they told me what they wanted in the first place, then I might have been able to answer them immediately.

I'm not against small talk though. I always ask how they are or whatever if it's the first time I've spoken to them that day, but then I also say what I want in the same message. Then it's up to them whether they respond to the small talk or just ignore it and skip straight to business. Most people I chat to do the former, but I don't have an issue with the latter.
 
NotAGolf said:
I tend to agree with the OP.

I've got no issue with someone who starts with hi/how are you etc, as long as they follow up with what they actually want afterwards.

I used to work with someone who would only respond after you respond to their "hi", they would wait for hours/days for you to respond before getting on to what they actually want. It's weird, and a colossal waste of time. I might be in a meeting/away from my computer when the first "hi" comes through, so I reply 2 hours later with "hi, what's up?", only to find out that they're finished for the day and it'll have to wait another day. If they told me what they wanted in the first place, then I might have been able to answer them immediately.

I'm not against small talk though. I always ask how they are or whatever if it's the first time I've spoken to them that day, but then I also say what I want in the same message. Then it's up to them whether they respond to the small talk or just ignore it and skip straight to business. Most people I chat to do the former, but I don't have an issue with the latter.
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Maybe you'd explain how it's a "colossal" waste of time. Just how often does this happen to you.
 
I on the other hand love having chit chats with people when I'm not in the office - but because I fortunately go into town / events a few times a week I get a lot of that out of my system, however I think it's nice to have a bit of informality before the request. I guess it depends on your workload and the pressure you're under. I always welcome a distraction. I also like being human and interreacting with people.
 
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Freefaller said:
I on the other hand love having chit chats with people when I'm not in the office - but because I fortunately go into town / events a few times a week I get a lot of that out of my system, however I think it's nice to have a bit of informality before the request. I guess it depends on your workload and the pressure you're under. I always welcome a distraction.
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It helps that you are a sexy beast.
 
Freefaller said:
I was talking about Teams, not Only Fans! :D

I mean I get it, people are busy and want to get to the point, but it's nice to check whether the person is available for a quick chat or is in a good place for a question.
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Or if they've just booked a cruise like the last person I spoke to had :)
 
HangTime said:
I realise this thread will make me sound a bit 'special' and I'm putting it here rather than in GD in the vain hope it will provoke slightly fewer 'hilarious' replies... :)

So for a while now, especially since working largely remotely I have got frustrated with the habit people have of messaging me on chat software and just stating a greeting, without any context of what the purpose of their communication is.

"Hello"
"Hi, how are you doing?"
etc

I know this is probably just seen by many as 'being polite' but it annoys me, perhaps more than it should. This is because:
  • I have no idea what they want from me
  • I feel compelled to write some drivel about my state of mind "I'm good thanks and you?" despite the fact I just injured myself / argued with the family / received some bad news that I don't want to discuss with them. And I have to invest in that without it adding any value since I don't know yet what the real reason for them reaching out to me is. I might have never spoken to them before so without sounding harsh, I really don't care that much how their day is going and I don't see that my state of mind is necessarily any of their business either.
  • I might not be in a position to reply straight away (often I will be in meetings). So I reply later, perhaps when they are busy. Another couple of hours go past. Then perhaps 4hrs after their original message I might find out the reason for their contact. Sometimes it might be the next day.
It's like people are treating unsolicited messages on chat software as something other than asynchronous conversation. If you phone me up, sure, ask me a question and get an answer within 5 second. But generally people don't just send an email or a voicemail saying "Hi how are you?" and wait for a response, which is effectively the equivalent of a opening message on Teams or whatever.

Am I alone in wishing people would just clearly state what they need in their opening message? Maybe it is deemed impersonal by some, but I'd find it a lot more efficient.
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If you actually take their question seriously and answer honestly it can be quite awkward. Believe me, I know :cry: .
 
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