

Instead, if it's not part of your job role, presumably these things are part of someone else's - so the best thing to do IMHO, no matter the tone, is to tell them where they should be looking to find that info, either now or in the future. It may not be as rude as you think it is - some people are just very matter of fact in emails, and the two examples you gave there could well be considered "matter of fact" more than outright rude.

I am happy to help if I can but I would just like to point it out politely that they would have to ask nicely.ĭon't do this - it's incredibly petty and ridiculous. My manager trusts my discretion and usually does not interfere on what projects I chose to work on. If I think it is good for the organisation(and if I have time to support), I want to support and I have always been supporting it, irrespective of the tone. Also, removed the line on not being about culture (May be it is!).Īlso, note that when I say it is not part of my job I simply cannot decline it. I am not looking to forward it to anyone like my boss or their boss and escalate this.Įdits: I have made some edits clarifying few things on my role. I have so far not reacted directly because I did not like the tone but subconsciously I think I do not support them whole heartedly which I know is not fair. I do not think they intend to be rude but just do not understand how it is coming across. I am happy to help if I can but I would just like to point it out politely that they would have to ask nicely. People working on those projects just directly come to me without going through managers (Which is absolutely fine and that is how start-ups should work). While my primary role does not require me to support them, I can easily see why my help is needed. At the end of the day, success of every project (whether directly part of my job or not) is success for the company. We are a small company and we work on lot of projects. Not necessarily exact words but just overall tone which makes me little less excited to respond. These are just few examples from different people. They have no authority over me and I do not have over them. This is just out of the ordinary request coming from a different team.

This is not a member of my team with whom I am exchanging information every day and I am expecting that in every communication, they use the tone I want.

I have expertise in that area so I can help them but it is not our day to day conversation. My job/performance does not get affected by it. Basically they are asking me for a favor on their project which is not related to me. I agree in general but there is lot more context to it. There are lot of comments/answers on first one is perfectly fine example. I have decided to schedule a meeting on this topic. I need information on project X so that it would help me for my project Y. For example, one day I will suddenly get an email from someone asking something like: Not part of on-going conversation (where I would understand a terse tone) but when starting a new conversation. In fact in most cases, I am at relatively senior position to them) where the tone is more like ordering rather than asking. Once in a while I come across situation where I get email from colleagues (who are not my bosses or superior.
