I hate thsoe “soft” closings, so I end my missives with
blow me while I shit,
Revtim
My .sig file at work goes something like:
Yes, the “thank you” does seem out of place at times, but I work on a help desk, so having a bit of automated courtesy is the least I can do.
No, it was a slow day, which is why I was able to sneak this post in. This rant was supposed to be only a light-hearted ribbing, (maybe I should have closed it with “thanks”).
I guess it’s easy to hit a nerve with this since apparently everyone does it. I brought it up with a friend last night in a jovial way almost verbatim to what I wrote here (“So I guess nobody knows how to end an e-mail, so they put ‘thanks’ at the end and…”) and he interrupted me jarringly with “Well, hey - fuck you, because I DON’T know how to end and e-mail so I do that”.
BTW, I just noticed that in my OP I spelled “requested” rather phonetically…
My closing line depends upon my relationship with the recipient.
I use “Regards” for somebody I don’t really know, such as a new client or someone who works in a different team with whom I haven’t had contact.
“Thanks” is for somebody who I’ve been in contact with before. The time it takes to upgrade someone from “Regards” to “Thanks” depends on our relationship and the frequency of our contact. With a client, the upgrade would happen after a few days of frequent email exchanges. A person who works “above” me in my company gets upgraded after a day of regular contact. Someone on the same level would get upgraded on our second or third email if I expect our email exchanges to continue for a while.
When I use “Thanks”, it never has anything to do with whether I’m thankful for anything. If I truly am thankful for something and want to express it, I may consider using an exclamation mark (“Thanks!”). Sort of the same way they use them in cryptic crosswords to indicate a true double meaning in a clue.
I use “Cheers” for close colleagues on the same level, or immediate superiors who I contact very regularly. I rarely, if ever, use it with clients.
Yours sincerely,
Mbossa.
Someone here at work closes all his emails with “Saludos”. That was a new one for me.
Thanks!
P.S. Yes, I think it’s unncessary, but since so many do it, I add it to be polite.
I’ve never once closed an E-mail with ‘thanks’ and I had no idea this was rampant; I may receive E-mail with this as the closure but I certainly don’t recall any.
My E-mail protocol has evolved over time, and not entirely consciously:
E-mails to colleagues at my local office I close with my initials;
E-mails to colleagues at other offices of the same company, I close with ‘Regards’ and my name;
E-mails to persons not in the same company I close with <My name>, followed by <Company name>.
If someone wants to look down on me for using the term ‘regards’ in messages, well, I’m sure I’ll lose a whole thirty seconds or so of sleep over it.
Cheers. (Oh, that’s the one I use in personal E-mails to friends)
I usually sign it:
thx, lisa
I, too, find this annoying. The oddest one (which is still in use) is a former boss of mine, a senior director, whose signature ending all of his emails is:
Baffling. Just baffling.
I figure if I can get to the end and sign it without putting “Love,” I’m doing pretty good.
(One of my co-workers left a message for a client of ours immediately after calling her husband-- and there, preserved for posterity on his voicemail, she ended her call with “Thanks, Jim, love ya.” Fortunately, he and his wife, who checks the voice mail, both thought it was hilarious.)
Love,
Corr
I don’t know why it bugs me so much. It might be the fact the head of the arm of the company I work for started using it in every fucking e-mail he sent. Most of the e-mails concern new “incentives” that are ever increasingly impossible to reach. And they’re always that rah-rah Corporate bullshit-speak that is supposed to improve employee morale. For instance:
"We’ve reached the goals of the last quarter at a rate higher than expected! We’re really performing above and beyond what our clients have expected! We’re truly setting the standard in the industry and expect to gain an increased market share in the next year! To reflect our proven quality service that you have all acheived, we’ve altered the incentive program! It’s now this!
Thanks!"
Followed by a fucking spreadsheet of what is only able to be reached by blowing off the client in order to reach the goal. Of course, blowing off the client will decrease overall stats, but what the hell? We were thanked!
(A little long winded. Just wait till I hit the 1 year mark. I have a Pit thread to end all Pit threads for that. I’ve been taking notes for it.)
And does anyone else have that coworker that uses the “ghosted” smilie in Outlook? I mean in every Goddamned e-mail? I don’t know what’s worse.
I use Regards, too and plan to lose even less sleep than El_Kabong does if it bothers someone. I truly don’t get why folks have taken to Cheers. One of the bigguns in our organization started it, and now everyone seems to be closing that way. It seems frivolous and unfitting to me. And freakin’ transparent on the part of those who’ve adopted it recently.
I’d only put “thanks!” if someone were doing me a favour or deserved a little extra recognition.
“I remain, sir, your humble and obedient servant…”
Depends on who the person is, but for our most common client, I just write:
A-san,
Here are the files for the ABC catalog.
Sub
If I’m sending an email to someone in the office, I just attach the file I want to send, give a 2- or 3-word description in the Subject line, leave everything else empty and just say out loud, “Hey, I just mailed you the file.” My office is one room, with the people I work most with all within fifteen feet of me, so it works.
That’s my husband. He never signs his name to emails (“They know who it’s from!”), never has a salutation, and never, ever puts anything in the subject line. They’re terse and short, almost to the point of being rude, IMO.
He just opens right up with whatever he needs to talk about, “I was looking over the estimate…”
No “Dear John,” or even, “John, …”
I’ve told him over and over, at the very least put something, anything in the subject line, and just type your name (it’s only three letters) at the end.
I’m more bothered by the people who use their outside business automated signature file for all correspondence. So I get an e-mail from a coworker that ends:
Full Name
Job Title
Department
Company Name
Address
Phone Number
Fax Number
E-mail address
Well, yes, since you work right down the hallway, I already know most of that. There’s no need to end every one line e-mail you send me with that signature. Thanks.
I have 2 automated signatures–an inside business one and and outside one. The outside one is much the same as my coworker’s above. The inside one says “Thanks, Ceejaytee” but considering the virtriol here against “thanks” maybe I’ll change it to “regards.” Or saludos. Or something.
Dude, you work at a help desk! The least you can do is nothing. Anything more than that is gravy 
I think the correct question here is “are you an engineer?”
I’m one (and female) and I work with a ton of them. It’s pretty rare to see an opening or closing. The only time I’ll ever write 'em is when I’m emailing a vendor for the first time.
I think it’s just because the opening and closing are fairly useless and we’d rather just not waste time typing it out. As far as I know, no one (coworkers or any of the vendors) is offended by this.
OK, this, to me, was uproarious. You owe me at least a new cup of coffee as I snarfed the one I had.
So… looking at your location, and knowing that I work for the Washington DC electric company, and also knowing that my signature which is automatically added to the end of every email I send reads:
Thanks,
My Name
Position
telephone number
… I know I must have sent you the email that sent you over the top.
Sorry…
I probably use “thanks” at the end of an email more often than needed. It’s just habit at this point. Everyone at my company does it, so it’s become the standard closing. As such, it’s pretty meaningless. I don’t think anyone pays attention to what comes after your final sentence anymore.
Ceejaytee, If seeing all the contact information coming after a signature bothers you, you’d hate to get an email from my company. A two paragraph disclosure is automatically added to every initial email or reply/forward to someone outside the company (it’s only not added to internal replies or forwards).