You aren't required to pick up the phone if I call you. But, if I telephone you & leave a voicemail asking a question, professional etiquette requires some type of response, whether it's "I'm sorry, I can't help you," or "I'm not the person you need to be contacting. Contact ..."
Where I work, both the Director & his assistant are responsible for meeting staff needs on a day-to-day basis, as I understand it from my supervisor. David Turk -----Original Message----- From: Computer Guys Announcements and Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matthew Taylor Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 10:52 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [CGUYS] IT Managers Many, if not most, IT folks are eclectic people. Most office workers are not. IT folks often do not have anything other than work in common with the rest of the staff. They get tired of small talk about sports, American Idol, whatever really quickly, and do not seek non-work interactions with the staff. IT folks are not anti-social - go to any social event that attracts eclectic folks and you will find IT folks out and about and getting along just fine with other IT folks, artists, artisans, musicians, alternative lifestyle folks, etc. Many IT folks are these things outside of work. As for the email question - why were you emailing the director when he has an assistant? Is that not what the assistant is for, at least in part? Often the IT director's job is to think about the future, not day to day operations, and certainly not concerns of individual users with a keyboard - chair interface problem. As an aside, I reject absolutely that sending someone an email obligates a reply. If you telephone me am I obligated to answer the phone? On Dec 14, 2007, at 10:09 AM, David Turk wrote: > The thing I don't get is why some IT people are anti-social. We've > had 5 IT directors & assistants since I've been here, & only one > went out of his way to interact with the staff. The last IT > director was so invisible, I gave up contacting him, & went through > his assistant, who at least had the decency to reply to my emails. > This is a big issue with me; if I ask someone a question in an > email, & they never answer me, to me that's the equivalent of me > standing right next to them, asking a question, & them totally > ignoring me. > > Through past IT non-involvement, I've had to acquire quite a few IT > skills myself, & consequently don't need IT assistance often (in > part because of all of you on this listserv). Yet, I enjoy working > with the staff, so I don't think working with computers all day > alone can make one anti-social. I'm sure there are lots of > friendly, cooperative IT people out there; I just haven't seen them. > ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************ * List archive at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ * RSS at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml * Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived ************************************************************************
