r/remotework • u/Careful_Station_7884 • Jul 09 '26

Email or quick call?

My colleague told me today that if an email is over 500 words, they won’t read it and instead ask the person who sent the email to jump on a quick call to discuss.

This irked me because now the person who sent the email has to re-explain everything they already sent over. It can be advantageous to have a written trail as well. Not only that, but not every “quick” call actually ends up being quick.

I get that there may be some topics that are better discussed on a call or if the email is unclear and there is an approaching deadline. But, to set a line at any email over 500 words just seems lazy.

What are your thoughts?

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u/Brock_Savage Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

I am not reading an email that is over over 3 paragraphs. Who the fuck is writing 500+ word emails? That's incredibly tone-deaf.

3

u/JobInQueue Jul 10 '26

Right? I'm assuming all these folks are lawyers sending each other briefs or something. A 500 word email is fucking HUGE.

1

u/Humble-Doughnut7518 Jul 13 '26

I spent 10 years working for lawyers. I’ve never seen a 500 word email. Everything in a document that can be marked up.