Avoiding Passive-Aggressive E-Mail Language
It turns out there’s a good reason many workers claim they have over a thousand unread e-mails in their inboxes—it’s because they dread reading passive-aggressive messages, i.e., those that cloak antagonism in cordiality.
The sheer volume of e-mails is enough to stress out recipients, but when those messages come from colleagues and contain cloaked negative language, they bear extra weight. Phrases like Just a friendly reminder, Thanks in advance, or As we’ve discussed before are slights that can sabotage work relationships. Below are alternatives to using language that stings.
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