Honestly, I would far rather someone interrupt me and ask me to send an e-mail than to waste my time having a conversation that they aren’t going to remember, anyway. If you HAVE to ask me to send an e-mail, don’t make me do both!
I remember the conversation, but I’ll be damned if I have to remember all the article numbers and quantities requested. Which is why I want it all on e-mail.
It’s not so much that I have a bad memory but that I try to lead by example. I write it - whatever ‘it’ might be - down so not only that I won’t forget it and have a record thereof but also my colleagues will follow suit so that they can demonstrate that they too have a similar record. ‘I forgot’ is a refrain I do not wish to hear. “I’m sorry, I have no record of…” is one I don’t like to hear either, but if they’re usually diligent in recording things, I can give them the benefit of the doubt. It also lets me turn the situation around by visibly trying to fit them in as soon as I can - after all, who’s to say that it isn’t the customer misremembering? More than that, it’s being seen to be making an effort on behalf of the customer.
I have a good memory, but I still say that. It’s code for “I’d like written evidence of what we’re talking about and will agree on, as you are a wanker.”
I enjoy the conversations. Perhaps you don’t.
If I have a task sent in an email I can do things with it that I can’t with a handwritten note. I can mark it as unread/read. I can reply to it. I can edit my reply before sending. I can remove any irrelevancies before sending. I can let it sit there until such time as I am ready to deal with it. It is on my computer where I do ninety nine percent of my work.
Sarahfeena Do you work in IT? If you do I would be surprised by the fact that you are disagreeing with me. I don’t work in IT strictly speaking, but I do have a job which is very similar to that of an IT Manager. An IT manager is constantly bombarded with jobs. His (or her) job list is NEVER complete.
In fact, I am MORE than an IT Manager. I basically play a bigger part than anyone else (including my own boss) in running the company. Without me the company would soon deteriorate. Even if I had a better than average memory I would still [want] my job list written down or typed. I could put more effort into making a case for email as a record of my to-dos than I have done so far. But even before I did any of that I just knew in my heart that email is so much better than verbal or post-it-notes. I’ve done this for seven years. I’ve tried verbal. I’ve tried post-its. For me - email works. Nobody minds. In fact I would struggle to find anyone where I work who would take issue with the policy. Our actual IT Manager has the same policy.
Funny timing on this question as just yesterday a forgetful coworker asked me to email him on Monday to remind him to do something. It wasn’t even something I was requesting of him (that is, it didn’t matter to my job whether it got done or not. It would matter a great deal to him, however, and I’d brought it to his attention).
I said, “Why don’t you just make a note in Outlook?” since he’d get the reminder when he checked his email either way. So he held me on the phone until he finished writing it, so he wouldn’t forgot what the note was supposed to say!
Later that day he happened to stop by my desk just as I was writing him an email about something he’d mis-entered in the system. We discussed it a bit, then he ended up dictating the rest of the email to me so he’d have all the calculations and procedures correct.
Same guy usually follows up all verbal conversations with an emailed summary, to a) make sure he got the details right and b) have written instructions in case he needs to teach it to somebody else. Then when he does have to train someone else, he can’t recall the email ever even existing. Forgetful people are goofy. 