View Full Version : Are you an email or phone person?
When you have to deal with someone where face to face communication is not possible, do you prefer email or on the phone and why?
This comes up because I'm volunteering to create a web site for a local herb club. I'm supposed to work with another member who is a graphic artist, she created a brochure for the group which I'm supposed to match in look or feel. I first tried email. I got a "I'll get back to you" response a couple of weeks ago, but no follow up. I sent a second request for some other trivial thing, which she never responded to. So I called her, and based on her response, she clearly never read my second email.
I prefer using email because its harder to lose a request, or lose the details ("now what exactly did I promise her?"). I hate using the phone (with strangers particularly) because I never know if its a good time, and if the person is short with me (like I caught them at a bad time) I tend to take it personally that they don't like me or think my request is too much, even though intellectually I know there could be a million other reasons.
What about you? And for giggles, I'd like to see if its age dependent. I'm 51, but very comfortable with technology.
Depends. If it's someone at work who forgets what she says, then e-mail.
Generally, e-mail.
But when it's time to schedule a time or get a decision made, phone. Too much opportunity for avoidance via e-mail.
Interesting that you mention being short on the phone. My father-in-law called me this weekend for a reason I felt was annoying. And since I was already pre-annoyed with him, I never should have even answered it.
I HATE it when people don't read their e-mails. I don't know why. Especially at work - in in personal life, it's forgivable. (Well, at work it is, too.) But it just seems like a basic workplace responsibility to read e-mails and know if you are accountable for their contents. Bah.
Work - email. Anything outside of work a phone call followed up by an email because most people are phone slaves and will answer it even if they aren't in a position to write down something important. I am not a fan of the phone myself. I used to sit in front of a computer all day so I was used to communicating immediately by email.
For project work - email for CYA purposes.
Sometimes a phone conversation can save you 10 million emails about something - but directly following verbal work conversation, I send follow up email with outcome in bullet points then put at bottom "please respond with any changes by ___ time if anything above is incorrect".
OR.... sometimes I prefer verbal if I don't want to get pegged with something at work
In personal life - phone all the way. I have always loved talking on the phone and come from a family of extroverted phone talkers.
Age - early 40s
ApatheticNoMore
6-4-12, 8:56pm
Email for everything. Because I'm an I(ntrovert).
Email here too, for this introvert. But I don't hesitate to make phone calls for things that need more timely attention.
Email for both personal and work. I don't have a landline, so long phone chats are uncomfortable to me on a cell phone. Like Rosemary, I do make phone calls if something has to be done right away.
Age 57.
Email for me too. I get flustered talking on the phone.
I hate talking on the phone. Email....please.
Email for everything. Because I'm an I(ntrovert).
+1
Email for me, mostly. I have an odd schedule, and I like to be able to focus on tasks without interruption when I'm working, so I rarely if ever answer the phone - calling me is nearly impossible. Phone messages in the household get turned into email, or we all lose them :-)
email (59) because I can outline my questions and make sure that all the details are there. From 35 years on the phone at work, I HATE the phone. I shouldn't but do.
Pet peeve: We emailed a business and got an immediate reply that they would set up an appointment yesterday. No call no email no nothing. Wonder if it will be today?
I had a phone job for many years and now detest the phone more than I ever believed I would. Before I took the job, I LOVED the phone, which is why the job seemed appealing in the first place! I only use the phone if I absolutely must, but I prefer emails. I'm more likely to respond to an email quickly than to quickly phone someone back. Age: 46.
Both (68) because I try the phone for just a chat or to see how someone is doing and email cannot convey the same sense that a phone does. I prefer email for most communication because, as others have said, one can think through and make sure the subject is careful and clear.
With today's technology of call display (to which we do not subscribe) and seeing who is calling or called, people are choosing to let all calls go to answering machine, I find that the phone is not that supportive of immediate contact anyway. Having a second call beep when you are talking that the other person must answer is another aggravation as well.
The problem is that so many people do not check their email but 1-2 times a week.
Had a problem with a volunteer who did not have an answering machine and did not check his email but wanted to be in an executive position. I finally said that if he did have the respect for the contact and access that the position demanded, he was choosing not to be on the executive. He decided to check his email regularly.
Email for everything. Because I'm an I(ntrovert).
Same for me. The only one I talk to by phone is DS and those tend to be 3 hour calls, but that is our way of closing the mileage gap between us so he is a special case.
ETA: 51
Hate both email and telephones, so I try to strike a fine-balance between the two.
Email is my preference (56). I will phone as necessary but I can think up a zillion reasons NOT to call. Then when I actually do it, it turns out to be not so bad. I even prefer making initial contact with a vendor (landscaper, for example) via email. Not sure why. DH is a serious introvert who HATES the phone and we don't always answer it, but he says I am "good" on the phone once I get contact. I have to make a lot of calls in my work and I do recognize that people respond differently to phone contact. I am a therapist and it is a lot easier for people to come to see me if we have talked for a few minutes on the phone.
One funny thing for me is that since my cell phone has become my primary phone I always talk hands free with a Bluetooth. It was originally for driving, but now I use it almost 100% of the time. If it is not available I may not take the call simply because I would have to hold the phone rather than do something else while I'm on the call. DW loves it. Since I work from home I am constantly wondering around with a Swifter duster or a bottle of Windex cleaning and dusting, trying to put my pacing-while-talking-on-the-phone habit to good use!
Email for everything. Because I'm an I(ntrovert).
Me too, a thousand times over. Haaaaate making phone calls, even to a store or business, which would, y'know, want to hear from customers. I <heart> email.
If I really need a response, I write a letter. Usually, I use email, but I can go for days or weeks without checking email, but I check the mailbox every day, so I always assume snail mail is less hit or miss than email.
I don't like to use the phone because I don't like to get phone calls. You never know what people are doing. Are they having dinner? Do they go to bed early like I do? (I go to sleep around eight during the winter, and for some reason, people feel it's OK to call even that late at night.) Do they sleep late? (I get up at four, so six is a good time for telephone calls for me, but I'm not sure everyone else is up and ready to chat at six).
So I'm primarily a letter writer when I really need to reach someone.
I love e-mail and I frequently text with DH and DD. We don't have a land line and talking on the phone for anything but a brief conversation is awkward. DH works from home some days and bought one of those dorky Blue Tooth ear things for conference calls.
Best of all is a hand written note but those are rare indeed.
Email is my default.
Text is a good second alternative, for short things.
I strongly dislike using the phone, especially for anything work related. Had horrible issues with a psycho boss in my prior HSSJ who would remember things discussed in phone calls totally differently than they actually transpired. Or at least pretend to. I learned to follow up any major discussion with him on the phone with an email as a CMA technique. And I still use it, even with people I trust, because it seriously just helps to have a written record, however short, of what was discussed and what was agreed upon as next actions/timeframes.
I'm 43 and didn't start using email until I was in grad school in my 20s.
lhamo
Email is my default.
Text is a good second alternative, for short things.
I strongly dislike using the phone, especially for anything work related.
Definitely e-mail. So much so that a co-worker figured out that I was shying away from the phone, and I'm about 10 years older.
I was tested and have a 30% hearing loss in my left ear, right is OK. I've switched ears on the phone and am trying to phone a little more. I really don't use the phone enough to make a headset practical, as most of my contacts are in a single large building and I'm inclined to go see them.
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