I work in a restaurant with nine people in my department. It is a part time job and schedule flexibility is an excellent perk for college students. Everyone in my department has the freedom to trade shifts with one another, and this is primarily accomplished via the phone. We all have eachother's cell phone numbers and when we need a shift covered we typically send out a mass text to all employees in our department explaining which shift needs covering. Whoever texts that individual back first asking for their shift gets it. This mass texting can be helpful, but it has also proven to cause some work related issues.
When considering texting as a form of professional communication I have to consider all the reasons why this communication method can be considered professional. The text messages I recieve are work related, they are typically worded in a professional manner, and what sometimes occurs regarding the text messages has proven to cause some workplace conflict- depending on factors such as wording, timing, and frequency. A majority of students in this class have cell phone and texting abilities, and most of us have our phones near us at all times. Many of us have undoubtably experienced the 2 am text or phone call waking us up, and I doubt anyone truly enjoys being woken up by this, especially if its a text from a coworker asking you to cover a shift.
The recent professional communication I've had regards a situation similar to the one described above. When I recieve a text after midnight by a coworker asking me to cover a shift the following day, then again shortly after 6 AM because I haven't responded to the 1 AM text, my blood boils a bit. So naturally I respond "no I will not cover your shift, please do not text me during these hours of the day because I am sleeping." To me, this is a lot nicer than the "text me again and I will smash your phone into pieces" text I wanted to send. I recieve a text back (at about 8 AM when I am also usually sleeping) saying "I have you in a group contact and send a mass text to everyone in that group, it's too much work to text everyone individually, if you have a problem with it put your phone on silent, for real, like its not even a big deal." Ironically at this point I just laugh to myself at the absurdity of this person and drop it. However, when I am at work with this person there is obvious tension between us due to this texting ordeal.
Now that we are in a new age where texting has been incorporated into our work life I feel it is important for people to understand texting etiquette. The problem I have with these text messages wasn't what was said (initially atleast!), but the timing at which I recieved them. We have spent this class learning about what statements create underlying tones in professional writing, how to use ethos, pathos, and logos to convey messages to target audiences, etc., but what about the appropriate time to send messages using certain mediums? Email typically doesn't cause conflict depending on the time it arrives nor do letters. But what about phones?
We must consider texting as a form of professional communication and depending on what job you have, the timing of when we send these texts must be considered for it does have a negative affect on people, regardless of how well written the text is.
When considering texting as a form of professional communication I have to consider all the reasons why this communication method can be considered professional. The text messages I recieve are work related, they are typically worded in a professional manner, and what sometimes occurs regarding the text messages has proven to cause some workplace conflict- depending on factors such as wording, timing, and frequency. A majority of students in this class have cell phone and texting abilities, and most of us have our phones near us at all times. Many of us have undoubtably experienced the 2 am text or phone call waking us up, and I doubt anyone truly enjoys being woken up by this, especially if its a text from a coworker asking you to cover a shift.
The recent professional communication I've had regards a situation similar to the one described above. When I recieve a text after midnight by a coworker asking me to cover a shift the following day, then again shortly after 6 AM because I haven't responded to the 1 AM text, my blood boils a bit. So naturally I respond "no I will not cover your shift, please do not text me during these hours of the day because I am sleeping." To me, this is a lot nicer than the "text me again and I will smash your phone into pieces" text I wanted to send. I recieve a text back (at about 8 AM when I am also usually sleeping) saying "I have you in a group contact and send a mass text to everyone in that group, it's too much work to text everyone individually, if you have a problem with it put your phone on silent, for real, like its not even a big deal." Ironically at this point I just laugh to myself at the absurdity of this person and drop it. However, when I am at work with this person there is obvious tension between us due to this texting ordeal.
Now that we are in a new age where texting has been incorporated into our work life I feel it is important for people to understand texting etiquette. The problem I have with these text messages wasn't what was said (initially atleast!), but the timing at which I recieved them. We have spent this class learning about what statements create underlying tones in professional writing, how to use ethos, pathos, and logos to convey messages to target audiences, etc., but what about the appropriate time to send messages using certain mediums? Email typically doesn't cause conflict depending on the time it arrives nor do letters. But what about phones?
We must consider texting as a form of professional communication and depending on what job you have, the timing of when we send these texts must be considered for it does have a negative affect on people, regardless of how well written the text is.
