Behavioral Poll - Emails You Dread!!

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interested in this to see other folks and how they handle this. when you get an email reply you dread (ie, there's an answer you've been expecting that you think may bring bad news, work email that you think contains dreaded news), how soon do you open it?

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Immediately - rip the bandaid off	12
Wait 20 mins or so, after taking several deep breaths	5
Other (???)	4
Wait about an hour or so, after I've weighed the worst that can happen and convince myself that it's not that bad!	1
Ignore it and call them - I'd rather hear this in person!	0
Delete it - if it's important, they'll call you!	0

― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 2 April 2014 16:37 (ten years ago) link

i literally never respond to any attempt anyone makes to correspond with me

― real myst opportunity (sleepingbag), Wednesday, 2 April 2014 16:38 (ten years ago) link

rip that shit, dread is worse than acceptance

― nitro-burning funny car (Moodles), Wednesday, 2 April 2014 16:40 (ten years ago) link

I'll often just avoid checking my email when I'm anticipating receiving an email I dread.

I still have a folder that I set up in grad school full of unread emails containing feedback from professors.

― jmm, Wednesday, 2 April 2014 16:41 (ten years ago) link

pretend it doesn't exist and avoid reading it forever

xp jmm otm

― narcissism of vas deferenses (NickB), Wednesday, 2 April 2014 16:41 (ten years ago) link

immediately, then take as long as possible (and then a bit longer) to send my own reply.

― Merdeyeux, Wednesday, 2 April 2014 16:44 (ten years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Saturday, 5 April 2014 00:01 (ten years ago) link

take a quick glance to see if it's bad news or good news. if it's bad, put it aside for a while to read fully later. i can generally tell from the first few words what kind of news it is and whether it's something i want to deal w/ now or repress for later.

― Mordy , Saturday, 5 April 2014 00:03 (ten years ago) link

― j., Saturday, 5 April 2014 00:05 (ten years ago) link

no option for defenestration?

― brimstead, Saturday, 5 April 2014 00:07 (ten years ago) link

'Other'

― brimstead, Saturday, 5 April 2014 00:08 (ten years ago) link

Deep breaths, but only for 2 min, not 20.

― ljubljana, Saturday, 5 April 2014 18:12 (ten years ago) link

Wait 20 mins, using the time to work out my responses if it's good news and my responses if it's bad news.

― an office job is as secure as a Weetabix padlock (snoball), Saturday, 5 April 2014 18:16 (ten years ago) link

Other: I flag it in Outlook as an "important task", I then go back to my other work while hating the hours of life between M-F, 9am to 6pm. later in the day, i will say "come on, just do this. let's do this" as i open the email again with the other hand mostly masking my eyes

― Karl Malone, Saturday, 5 April 2014 18:27 (ten years ago) link

Haha yea. Last year after my fling w/ j@nelle ended abruptly i sent her a message saying i couldnt help her backstage for the show she was SMing anymore. Partially cos my folks were coming in town and cos my feelings were still raw.

She replied and cos i was in a fragile emotional state that i didnt wanna read it in case she said anything cutting. So i deleted it with my hands blocking the screen. Figured it was probably just a "w/e" message. Found out from her roommate months later that she was actually furious at me and it was likely a "fuck you" message i deleted!

― Neanderthal, Saturday, 5 April 2014 18:34 (ten years ago) link

W/ work often if i delay a read its cos i have a meeting coming up and dont want it to cause distraction.

― Neanderthal, Saturday, 5 April 2014 18:35 (ten years ago) link

At work I just open the e-mail straight away, because 9 times out of 10 it's going to be some bullshit from one of several chuckleheads anyway.

― an office job is as secure as a Weetabix padlock (snoball), Saturday, 5 April 2014 18:39 (ten years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

― System, Sunday, 6 April 2014 00:01 (ten years ago) link

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