Eggshell Green

Rant of the day – Smiley face in business

I like using emoticons when I’m typing, but there are times when this is not appropriate.

One of those times is when writing business emails or letters. It might be ok if you are friends with the people you are writing to, but certainly not if you are a customer service person responding to a customer complaint.

The Accor Group has been giving me a headache with their numerous telemarketing calls, and I’ve repeated myself to several of the callers and have even resorted to Twittering them to ask them to stop (I couldn’t find where I should be sending a general complaint to via email). They “assured” me that I have been put on the “Do not call” list and yet I still got calls. Anyway, my last Twitter message to them was responded to with a smiley face at the end. And you know what, it wasn’t just a smiley face, it was a winking smiley face!

I’ll get back to you as soon as I get a reply. ;-)

Are you flirting with me? Or are you only joking about getting back to me? Gah! That completely invalidates the seriousness of the issue, as well as your professionalism.

And using a smiley face in a work email does not make up for something stupid that’s happened, nor does it make up for or an “urgent” request that is made at 4:30pm when it could’ve waited until tomorrow afternoon. Also, if we obviously don’t and will never get along with each other, then a smiley face will not make me like you more. And you know it.

:)

(FYI: I’ve emailed a couple Accor people after asking for some contact details via Twitter, and I have been put on both the New Zealand and Australian “do not call” lists – let’s hope this time that means something.)

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