Cyber Creeps And Office Idiots

Welcome to punctuation pre-101. And I'm not even talking about the hard stuff, you know, like when to use a semi colon or a colon. We'll delve into those tricksters in another blog. This is just about using punctuation. JUST using it.

Here are some snippets from a BUSINESS e-mail I once received.

" hi

i received your app for the internship as asst for our production company, ________ productions

please send me a picture and more info about your requirements and availability and we can set up an interview

feel free to look me up on imdb

thx _________"

My stomach churned when I first read this e-mail. The fact that you use no punctuation (or capitalization as the two usually go hand in hand) really disturbs me. Not only does this make me not want to hit reply, it makes me not take you seriously AT ALL. I don't even care that you have an IMDB page to back yourself up. It makes you look creepy. Reading e-mails like this elicits similar feelings to being followed by a child molester or rapist. I'm not even exaggerating.

Then I've also received such COMPANY WIDE e-mails before (From managers, no less. Managers who get paid a heck of a lot more than I do):

"please use the office supplies you have in stock before ordering new ones......we are trying to cut costs....you should of went over this at your last staff meetings......"

I get the message. I do. Even when you decided to use the word "of" instead of "have". (You can bet your bottom dollar we will discuss this in the future too.) But would it kill you to just use one period at the end of an obvious sentence? Look how much energy you are wasting using the "..." anyway. And, capitalize each word in the beginning of a sentence. Do we not learn this on our first days of writing class? I don't understand how you can not care if you look like an idiot sending out a company wide e-mail. ESPECIALLY if you are a manager. Talk about respect! This causes your co-workers (especially those who you manage that actually know to put one little dot at the end of a thought) to wonder about your intelligence level and perhaps even become bitter. (What? I'm not speaking from personal experience or anything.)

I'm all for certain liberal pleasures in the 21st century, but sometimes there are certain lines we should not cross and this is one of them. I promise, your work environments will become much more positive if you just throw in a freakin' period once in awhile. Punctuation has been put in place for a reason. Use it.