The Lost Notebook

I just had the following conversation:

[10:50:59 AM] Ghassan Deeb: I am not Ghassan!
[10:52:45 AM] Ghassan Deeb: By the way I’m Mr.X, I run the www.example.com on your server.
[10:53:09 AM] Ghassan Deeb: I need to xxx?
[11:51:04 AM] Ghassan Deeb: Please answer me

[DURING THIS TIME I WAS OUT OF THE OFFICE]

[12:34:18 PM] Abdallah Deeb: hello Mr.X, please log out of my brother’s skype. Thanks.
[12:37:13 PM] Ghassan Deeb: I didn’t touch anything I just have to work on this computer, and you didn’t even answer me, quite rude you are.
[12:38:18 PM] Abdallah Deeb: indeed.
please log out of skype immediately. as for your question: …

Am I rude? I like to think I’m nice and accommodating. The kids in my congregation seem to have no trouble coming to me for anything, even to start an odd conversation about the latest animated movie, or their favorite console game!

But here’s someone who’s never seen me or spoken to me accusing me of being rude because I asked them politely (I think!) not to use my brother’s skype account as it has some private conversations recorded there!

I did use “Please” and “Thanks”. I was short and concise, that may have been the trouble! Or maybe I did not answer the question my “brother” asked immediately, making me the rude one. The “brother” did not consider that I was offline or AFK at that time.  Just because he said “Please answer me” and I didn’t makes me the bad guy.

I answer about 30-50 emails/day as part of my job. It’s easy to be mistaken for rude while trying to keep  a conversation friendly online. One of my colleagues uses emoticons like 🙂 or even 😉 to keep the conversation friendly. He confessed to me one day that he hated that, and that it’s not professional to do so in an email. But he keeps doing it anyway to keep the conversation lite and friendly.

I learned to do that myself, but I may have missed this time. I’ll go call up Mr.X right now and apologize to him for my “rudeness”. We have to keep the peace 🙂

(Romans 12:18) If possible, as far as it depends upon YOU, be peaceable with all men.

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