whomper Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 (edited) One of the 3 partners of the company that I work for runs all of our import production. Our business is sadly becoming more and more off shore and I deal with this guy every day bigtime. We are always CCed on all of the off shore emails together and due to the time difference between us and asia we usually have a load of email in the AM to answer. This particular partner is a very impressive guy..Sharp as a tack, polished etc..He knows our product inside and out and is fantastic in appointments..Here is the issue..It is relatively minor but is driving me a little nuts and IMO makes us look slighly unprofessional. He puts 2 random question marks at the end of almost every sentence even if its not a question..It really doesnt fit him at all because he is well educated and as I said very sharp . Im assuming its like an OCD thing or something but we email some hugh accounts and it looks bad . It looks something like this. I am very happy to see you are interested in our line and look forward to working with you ?? I cringe when I see it..The thing is he is my boss and its a sticky situation..I want to tell him so our presentation is what it should be yet wonder how he will take it. He is a great guy but has the tendency to get a little pissy and he is extremely important to me in regards to my business..What do you think ? Should I tell him in a joking manner or maybe flat out in a blunt manner ? Let me know what you would do . Edited July 8, 2007 by whomper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 ?? is short-hand for net-net. ok, seriously. personally, i don't think you really need to finesse it. just say hey man, everyone has their little quirks and stuff when they're writing email, but this double-question mark thing you do...i can't even figure out what it means, if anything, and it seems like it might be a good idea to try and keep good punctuation and grammar in client emails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chargerz Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 It can't hurt to ask him why he does it and see what kind of response you get back ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duchess Jack Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 (edited) Its could be a character issue. As in fonts and shnit. There are some message boards I have visited where I have had occasion to type a long post. As you know, I am pretty good at Yukoneez so here and there, I'll type a longer post in word, cut and past it. I believe my word font is pretty standard as I don't believe I ever changed the default. There are certain sites though where when I hit submit after pasting - certain characters get changed question marks. One thing I know I do in peticular is type 'space' 'dash' 'space' and the center dash is autoformated to a slightly wider dash. This is one of the characters I know for sure comes up as a question marks of a few message boards, Maybe there is some disconnect between the overseas emails ?? Edited July 8, 2007 by Duchess Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duchess Jack Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 you know - if it is as issue of fonts and such - many of the people recieving the emails might not even see them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted July 8, 2007 Author Share Posted July 8, 2007 you know - if it is as issue of fonts and such - many of the people recieving the emails might not even see them Its possible but I dont think so ?? I think he just cant help himself and for some reason adds these ?? Another salesman I work with never noticed it. He does the same thing as me so is also on tons of emails with this guy..I told him to check all of his old emails and look for it..When he did and saw it he was stunned..Now of course every email or IM I get from that guy (the other salesman) has the ?? after every sentence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonorator Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 approach him innocently and say that something strange must be happening with your email translation because messages from him frequently have double question marks all over the place. if he says it is intentional, then it would be a good time to say, and why do you add those? that would be a good time to share that you find it clutters up his communications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 ?? is short-hand for net-net.ok, seriously. personally, i don't think you really need to finesse it. just say hey man, everyone has their little quirks and stuff when they're writing email, but this double-question mark thing you do...i can't even figure out what it means, if anything, and it seems like it might be a good idea to try and keep good punctuation and grammar in client emails. This is the right course, IMO, as long as you're confident enough in your relationship. Since the ?? shows up in internal email, it is definitely not a compatibility issue between email systems, assuming you are all on the same system, unless he really does compose email in some other system e.g. Word, but I know no-one who does that. What's the point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isleseeya Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 I would bring it up in an inquisitive manner , basically advising him you have been seeing his messages with ?? And wanted to know what it meant ... If he does not give you a satisfactory answer then beat him to a pulp ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 One of the 3 partners of the company that I work for runs all of our import production. Our business is sadly becoming more and more off shore and I deal with this guy every day bigtime. We are always CCed on all of the off shore emails together and due to the time difference between us and asia we usually have a load of email in the AM to answer. This particular partner is a very impressive guy..Sharp as a tack, polished etc..He knows our product inside and out and is fantastic in appointments..Here is the issue..It is relatively minor but is driving me a little nuts and IMO makes us look slighly unprofessional. He puts 2 random question marks at the end of almost every sentence even if its not a question..It really doesnt fit him at all because he is well educated and as I said very sharp . Im assuming its like an OCD thing or something but we email some hugh accounts and it looks bad . It looks something like this. I am very happy to see you are interested in our line and look forward to working with you ?? I cringe when I see it..The thing is he is my boss and its a sticky situation..I want to tell him so our presentation is what it should be yet wonder how he will take it. He is a great guy but has the tendency to get a little pissy and he is extremely important to me in regards to my business..What do you think ? Should I tell him in a joking manner or maybe flat out in a blunt manner ? Let me know what you would do . he eh.... is.... just ... interweb... savvy !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 What should you do !! ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted July 8, 2007 Author Share Posted July 8, 2007 What should you do !! ?? He does throw in the occasional random ! as well but not nearly as often as the ?? Tomorrow I will cut and paste some of his emails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC94 Posted July 8, 2007 Share Posted July 8, 2007 I would leave it alone. It's not worth potentially creating friction over, especially considering he is the boss and as you said he tends to get pissy. Pick your battles and this one isn't worth fighting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted July 9, 2007 Author Share Posted July 9, 2007 From This AM Laura, I spoke to chris a few minutes ago. The request for this white came in today after the messenger had already left from our warehouse. I know we did deliver a package to you today but I am not sure who it went to. Most likely it was not this 2844 in white?? We are closed until monday? I hope this does not kill the project? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Controller Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 The answer to this, as with so many other issues brought up here at the huddle, is painfully obvious. This guy is harboring deep-rooted, latent homosexual tendencies. The "??" is a cry for help. This homo is begging to be outed. You're welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarc117 Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 (edited) From This AM Laura, I spoke to chris a few minutes ago. The request for this white came in today after the messenger had already left from our warehouse. I know we did deliver a package to you today but I am not sure who it went to. Most likely it was not this 2844 in white?? We are closed until monday? I hope this does not kill the project? he needs to capitalize proper names too!! Edited July 9, 2007 by dmarc117 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonkis Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 From This AM Laura, I spoke to chris a few minutes ago. The request for this white came in today after the messenger had already left from our warehouse. I know we did deliver a package to you today but I am not sure who it went to. Most likely it was not this 2844 in white?? We are closed until monday? I hope this does not kill the project? Ugh. Bad sentence. Those e-mails all day would make me cringe, too, Whomp. Tough call on the confrontation, but I would want to point it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted July 9, 2007 Share Posted July 9, 2007 (edited) Sneak into his computer and set it up such that "?" and "??" are both shortcut keys for "." Problem solved ?? Edited July 9, 2007 by wiegie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.