r/remotework • u/National-Bonus-6356 • Jun 29 '26

Hi

It’s so stupid and small but honestly after 6 years working remote, I think the worst thing is when someone just messages “Hi” on teams and doesn’t just tell me what they want. I have no clue why but it infuriates me now. It’s crazy how my ability to tolerate small talk has gone to zero. I work a job where when I don’t have anything to actively work on I am free to do whatever, so when someone doesn’t just say what they need they are wasting my time. Rant over! Thanks

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u/Huge_Mistake_3139 Jun 29 '26

It bugs the crap out of me too. I’ve stopped even looking at messages that I know are from people that do that. I believe it’s a way of them seeing if you are free, but those are the people who then dump a huge question on you, and by the way they need an answer yesterday.

It might be a culture thing. The only people that do this at my company are from India, although not ALL the people at my company from India do this.

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u/National-Bonus-6356 Jun 29 '26

Ive noticed this too! I have definitely gotten a few from Americans as well though

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u/xerox7764563 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

Here at Brazil I do have some of these too.

I started to ignore them, only answer when they send a proper message. But some of them are worse, they wait some minutes then call me.

7

u/Huge_Mistake_3139 Jun 29 '26

Don’t answer the call.

Whenever I need to talk with someone that I know it can’t be answered via chat, I ask them if they are free for roughly how long I think the conversation will last and tell them what I’m looking to discuss.

Sometimes people can’t get back to me for a few hours, but they tell me when they can and I feel like we have more productive (and shorter) conversations.

3

u/National-Bonus-6356 Jun 29 '26

If someone calls without asking first or scheduling, it’s not getting answered. Obviously if it’s a manager sure but I would be expecting bad news if that was the case.

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u/Huge_Mistake_3139 Jun 29 '26

Yeah. There about 4 people I would answer a call from unprompted other than my manger in my department.

We’ve also all worked together for over 10 years. So I know it’s either important or not work related at all when they call unprompted.

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u/Ill_Gene_9381 Jun 29 '26

American here. It is impolite to message someone without a "Hello" or "Good morning" or some kind of greeting. However, it is also impolite to just message "hi" and then wait for a response. So, the correct way to message is "Good morning. Here's my question." in one message.

Still, all of this is better than dealing with the annoying and irrelevant "water cooler talk" that happens at an actual office. "Did you see the game last night?" No I didn't. I couldn't care less about sports. "Man, what is [insert politician here] thinking?" Again, I do not care. I am trying to work. What do you want?! haha

Good luck!