A work associate of mine always starts her emails out by saying “I need . . .” As in, "I need you to do a,b,or c". I find this to be extremely rude, as if I'm being ordered, not asked. Am I being overly sensitive? I appreciate directness and all, but I would much prefer “Could you?”, “Would you?” “Will you?” when being asked to do something. In this case I’m usually being asked to fix a mistake that this particular individual (who is not my superior) made, which is why it gets under my skin all the more. A simple “please”, and “thank you” go a long with me, but those words never figure into the equation either. I see this a lot with emails ~ have we forgotten basic etiquette? It really, really irks me. Anyone else?
Perhaps I should post this up in my work area, as a "subtle" reminder:)