Pet Peeve #1

As if the newspapers, TV, blogosphere and airwaves are not already inundated with political ads...now at my work in box? I don't think so. On a daily basis I get political ads or messages sent to me by candidates. My response, "Please do not send political messages to my work email address. It is unprofessional." My message is pretty clear yet leaves the door open for appropriate and professional correspondence.

What would you do?

Comment by Art Pitcher on June 11, 2008 at 7:44pm: Send a reply like this:

Hi!

As a recruiter, I am a specialist in helping others to understand what kinds of communication are considered professional. Just as a reminder, items of a political, religious or personal nature are easy to misinterpret and generally don't represent a dignified professional. Please keep this in mind when communicating with me via email.

Thanks!

There ya go :)

-Art

Comment by Naarah N Hastings on June 12, 2008 at 11:20am: Communication is only easy to misinterpret if the message is unintelligible. LOL. As a professional, unsolicited political messages should never be sent to ones place of business.

Comment by Art Pitcher on June 12, 2008 at 12:03pm: Right - but I phrased my message in such a way that it doesn't risk alienating you from your candidate/client. And while you and I understand that those types of communication are completely inappropriate, for whatever reason well-meaning people sometimes lapse into it, generally because they have become motivated by something they feel strongly about.

Bottom line - I try to be firm without being a jerk :)

My former bosses wife used to send me political crap daily - and I am a member of a completely different political party, but rather than risk alienating her I made a joke about it so she got the point.

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