Im Etiquette- (game, email, Office, how to)

[dreamofmonterey]

For one, if you are friends, I try and answer IM's as long as they aren't from strangers, but- I also see how alot of people use it, then get angry if you don't spend 3 hrs at work IMíng them- how do you establish, at the outset, some kind of agreement, whether cell//bb or aol texting

[Tek_Freek]

I never use IM's, ever. I don't use AOL texting.

Pretty simple.

[Brian.Pearson]

Originally Posted by dreamofmonterey

For one, if you are friends, I try and answer IM's as long as they aren't from strangers, but- I also see how alot of people use it, then get angry if you don't spend 3 hrs at work IMíng them- how do you establish, at the outset, some kind of agreement, whether cell//bb or aol texting

I guess I'd say something like, "Gotta get to work, now, can you E me?"

I don't think people at work should be spending hours IMing.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Brian.Pearson

I guess I'd say something like, "Gotta get to work, now, can you E me?"

I don't think people at work should be spending hours IMing.

I use SameTime quite a bit at work, but that's because I'm chatting with folks in the datacenter across town, with programers in the UK, or with people in other locations, or conversing with my boss while he's talking on an important conference call in his office.

If it's work-related, it's okay. Plus, the SameTime tool we use logs all of the chat sessions with timestamps for reference later on. Very useful...

I don't answer IMs from friends on a timely basis at work or at home. Unless it's my wife.

[harry chickpea]

I used to be on pager call back in the days before cellphones, when only doctors and middle management had pagers. For a while, the units supplied were voice pagers, and it was possible to set the unit to listen to everyone else's pages. Some of the pages were from automated manufacturing processes, a lot were doctor pages, and the bulk of the rest were waste-of-time pages.

When IM's and texting started up, I made it a point to never even learn how to use them. I applaud Tek-freek. Rep points to ya.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

I used to be on pager call back in the days before cellphones, when only doctors and middle management had pagers. For a while, the units supplied were voice pagers, and it was possible to set the unit to listen to everyone else's pages. Some of the pages were from automated manufacturing processes, a lot were doctor pages, and the bulk of the rest were waste-of-time pages.

When IM's and texting started up, I made it a point to never even learn how to use them. I applaud Tek-freek. Rep points to ya.

It's unfortunate that not everyone is in a position to ignore all the ME! ME! ME! communication methods that waste way more time than they save. If the people that want your attention can't make do with cell calls then they are less important than they think they are. It takes quite an ego to act that way.

Remind your boss that the time you spend responding "now" to all those IM's is time you aren't doing your job and sooner or later it ends up affecting the bottom line. I've always viewed anyone who has to spend the majority of their time checking up on everything, asking questions that have to answered "now" even though they have no immediate need for an immediate answer to be insecure and usually ineffective at their job. Another version of the Peter Principle.

I had one of those once. He would send a fax then call to make sure it was received. In between those two he would send an email to make sure it all got done. The people at the other end were expected to send back a copy of the fax signed by them as proof of receipt. They also had to reply to the email for the same reason. If the call was answered that was sufficient. If he had to leave a message you were required to call back to affirm that the fax was received and resent and the email was also.

He was successful at what he did, but could have made more of the business if he would have trusted others to actually do the job he hired them for.

Bob, if you're reading this you wasted more time than anyone I've ever known for no good reason!

Teens, well if they can't handle getting through the day without a million calls and text messages to you, how do you think they'll fare on their own? Or do you plan on being an on-call support system until you drop dead. Then who will they call?

[Radek]

So...

The question is about IMs, and I just recently had this conversation with both my mother, and my father (seperately).

I use text messages for information that I feel is important enough to relay to someone in a timely manner, but not important enough that they need to respond right away, nor is it a necessity that they receive it.

For instance, if I feel like having burgers for dinner... I'll message my roommate (at work) and ask him to pick some up on the way home. If he doesn't get my message, no big deal... I can go back out myself, or just have them another night. If he thinks that something other than burgers would be good, he'll let me know.

Or, I wake up at 9am and marginally feel like going for a hike... I'll send a mass message out to my friends asking if they want to go on a hike.

or I'm organizing a football or Ultimate game.

Etc.

Now, IMing... or things through AIM, ICQ, MSN, YIM, GChat, etc...
For work... I've used it before for talking to people across a distance... but currently don't have a use for it.

And, almost all of my friends have figured out that occasionally I'll just wander away from my PC and won't see the IM for several hours. After a few times, they get the hint.

Either that, or I just plainly tell them... if you need to talk to me so badly, just call me. You have my number.

People will get the hint sooner or later.

[macroy]

Originally Posted by dreamofmonterey

For one, if you are friends, I try and answer IM's as long as they aren't from strangers, but- I also see how alot of people use it, then get angry if you don't spend 3 hrs at work IMíng them- how do you establish, at the outset, some kind of agreement, whether cell//bb or aol texting

um... same with anything else? If you walk away, and IM is part of your work - just put an away message. If you are in a conversation and need to leave - a bbl or brb will work too.

Most of those apps can be setup so if you are way, you can put it in idle or have it announce that you are idle after a set time.

my opinion - if folks are still on you about it - its more a personality issue than an IM issue. Its simply a communication tool... Set policies and procedures are not necessary when common sense works.

[dreamofmonterey]

True--but some use it more than others---which is fine: Its okay but at work, I guess not---lol.... I work for a liberal corp.....

[Laura707]

I don't have IM on my computers at home. Ran into to many people that wouldn't take "I have to go now! C'ya later, Bye".. They would keep IM'ing for hours! Got rid of it..

I do have text on my phone to stay in touch with my family all over the USA when I am at work which requires me to travel. Just a short daily text letting them know I am fine that day and where I am.... There are times when things like emergencies come up that they have to let me know about and a cell phone call won't come through but a text message will, that way I can call just as soon as possiable.

However, we hired a new guy (19 year old) at work and he couldn't leave his cell phone for 5 minutes, so important that he had to check it or be on it the whole time he was suppose to be working. It was to obvious that his social cell phone life was far more important than working.. he didn't last a week. We see that a lot with the young ones.