Thursday, November 5, 2009

Read me read me read me

As I sent my husband an e-mail this morning, I did all the things I normally do to make it stand out in his inbox. At his work address, he gets approximately 117 e-mails per hour. I am not exaggerating. So I need to do all I can to make sure he sees my urgent messages. I usually type the subject in all caps, which in Internet-speak means yelling. I also don't ever include "Fw:" in the subject line because he has been known to skip over something if he thinks it's a frivolous chain letter I'm sending, which of course I would never do. As a last resort I hit the "High Priority" button.
Since he works approximately 117 hours a day and we have three kids at home who all want to talk to him at once when he does get here, Tim and I really don't talk TO each other that much. We rely on e-mail. I also recommend e-mail as a marriage-saving device as it allows you to "discuss" things without using a tone to which your partner may object.
The problem is that people are wearing out the "High Priority" button so that nearly every e-mail he gets has been designated a high priority. I mean, who's going to click on the "Low Priority" button? Why even send an e-mail if it's just a low priority?
Since everyone thinks their message is SO important, that leaves me just sitting here waiting around for him to tell me what he wants for dinner while he scrolls through and determines whether a work project really is falling apart or if he's just one of 32 people copied on a management manifesto.
Of course, I think all my e-mails should be of the highest priority to him. That's why I think there should be a "From the Wife" button similar to the high priority button. That way he'll know immediately what the next job is on his to-do list.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jill, I am coming out of my internet lurking to admit that I've been reading/admiring your blog for awhile now. I laughed out loud (at 4:00 a.m.) when I read this post because it rings so true in the Garner house as well. If you get the "from the wife" button worked out, PLEASE let Travis know!!
Amanda G.

Jill Burgin said...

Amanda, I'm so glad you did! I don't want to know why you were up at 4 am, but I'm glad you were here!

Tim said...

Should I be amused or concerned that the ad next to this entry is for a divorce attorney.

I always read you first!

 
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