{"id":828,"date":"2019-09-14T06:19:16","date_gmt":"2019-09-14T10:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/?p=828"},"modified":"2019-09-13T17:32:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T21:32:42","slug":"i-cant-believe-he-just-wrote-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/2019\/09\/14\/i-cant-believe-he-just-wrote-that\/","title":{"rendered":"I Can\u2019t Believe He Just Wrote That"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preface: Kind words are like honey–sweet to the taste and good for your health. Proverbs 16:24 “Good New Translation”<\/em><\/p>\n

I Can\u2019t Believe He Just Wrote That<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Jacob M. Dietz, CPA<\/p>\n

Preface: “Am I being careful enough with what I write to ensure that my implicit tone and meaning cannot be misunderstood?”\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Dr. Rob Skacel in\u00a0Tailing Mulligan<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Imagine Elmer\u2019s business just entered the world of email. He and the team are excited about the whole new realm of opportunities and possibilities it opens to them. Now Elmer can document in writing what he wants others to do. It will be right there, in black and white. From now on, his team\u2019s communication will be effective, clear, and mutually upbuilding. Right?<\/p>\n

Although email does have some great capabilities, beware of the pitfalls that come with emails.<\/p>\n

The Dumb Mistake<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elmer showed up at work Monday morning ready to fire off his first email. Elmer struggled with spelling, but he planned to rely on spell checker to get his emails right.<\/p>\n

\n

But that was 15 years ago when Elmer flunked his spelling tests consistently. He looked forward to typing emails that would automatically fix his spelling errors.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In school he dreaded spelling class. He received a 100% in spelling class one time. But it only lasted a minute. The teacher handed him the test, with a great big blue 100% splashed across the top and absolutely no red ink. Elmer was overjoyed. As he started to descend from cloud 9, he looked closer at the spelling test and realized the teacher mistakenly handed him the test of his cousin, Elam. Elmer pointed out the mistake. Dejectedly, he saw the red 60% on the test his teacher handed him with his name on it.<\/p>\n

But that was 15 years ago when Elmer flunked his spelling tests consistently. He looked forward to typing emails that would automatically fix his spelling errors.<\/p>\n

He needed a subcontractor to bring a dump truck to the jobsite that day, so he fired off an email to Eli, a subcontractor.<\/p>\n

\u201chay eli I need your dumb<\/strong> truck today. Can you please drive it to the job down from your shop? Tanks elmer\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Spell checker showed no problems, and Elmer hit \u201csend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eli showed up for work that morning. While still rubbing sleep from his eyes, he saw the email from Elmer. Eli\u2019s blood pressure rose when he read the email. \u201cI can\u2019t believe he just wrote that,\u201d muttered Eli. Eli realized that his truck wasn\u2019t the newest truck on the road, but he thought it could do a good job. It certainly wasn\u2019t a dumb truck.<\/p>\n

He quickly responded with his own email.<\/p>\n

\u201cElmer, if you think that of my truck, then you can find someone else to help you. I prefer to work with contractors that appreciate me and my equipment.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Elmer was confused. He liked Eli\u2019s truck, and still hadn\u2019t noticed that he inadvertently misspelled \u201cdump\u201d as \u201cdumb.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0Eli was taken aback. He thought Elmer was insulting him based on the email, but now, based on the nonverbal cues, Eli could tell Elmer liked him.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Accidental Accusation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elmer, while speaking on the phone with a customer, typed back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do appreciate you liE. <\/strong>I don\u2019t know why you think I don\u2019t. <\/em><\/p>\n

Eli was so frustrated, he decided to give up on email and walk the 500 feet down the road to Elmer\u2019s shop. He opened the door to Elmer\u2019s office. Immediately Elmer jumped up, smiled, stuck out his hand for a handshake, and said, \u201cHi Eli!\u201d<\/p>\n

Eli was taken aback. He thought Elmer was insulting him based on the email, but now, based on the nonverbal cues, Eli could tell Elmer liked him.<\/p>\n

Eli asked why Elmer insulted his truck by calling it dumb. Elmer gasped \u201cwhat do you mean? I never called your truck dumb!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Truth is Revealed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eli told him to pull up the email. Elmer was dumbfounded when he found the word \u201cdumb\u201d in his email. I\u2019m so sorry, he said, I meant to say \u201cdump\u201d truck.<\/p>\n

Eli continued. \u201cThen you had to accuse me of lying in your second email. I have never told you a lie for the 10 years we have known each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elmer was shocked when he pulled up the email. He now saw he had misspelled \u201cEli\u201d as \u201cliE.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEli, I owe you an apology. Those misspellings were not what I intended to communicate. I was wondering if you could bring your dump truck to the job site. Thanks for stopping by this morning so we could hash out this miscommunication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eli promptly forgave Elmer. The two shook hands, and later that day Eli\u2019s dump truck was working away at the job site.<\/p>\n

The Future of Communication<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eli and Elmer continue to use email to share information about jobs. They love the convenience of sending email and the ability to look back and see information that they would have forgotten if it had been delivered verbally. After the \u201cdumb\u201d truck email, however, they share a greater appreciation for the pitfalls of email. If an email seems insulting or unusual, they quickly meet face to face or call each other to find what is really intended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Preface: Kind words are like honey–sweet to the taste and good for your health. Proverbs 16:24 “Good New Translation” I Can\u2019t Believe He Just Wrote That By Jacob M. Dietz, CPA Preface: “Am I being careful enough with what I write to ensure that my implicit tone and meaning cannot be misunderstood?”\u00a0Dr. Rob Skacel in\u00a0Tailing … Continue reading “I Can\u2019t Believe He Just Wrote That”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":830,"href":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions\/830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saudercpa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}