Mind Your Emails!

Hello to my dear readers on this lovely Friday afternoon!

Yesterday, as I was picking through books at a library sale, I came across a very old edition of Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette. I thought of it again today when, while checking and responding to a number of business and personal emails, I realized that I was waiting for a number of long-overdue responses to various queries of mine, both professional and otherwise. I started wondering what Amy would have to say about those email "slackers" who check in only once a week or so, yet say, oh so blithely, "Email me and I'll get right back to you!"

Dear readers, please agree with me on this point: email usership is a privilege, not a right!

I feel fortunate that, at 50, I am quite computer-savvy and definitely much more so than many I know in my own age group. I also love the compliment, both from colleagues and friends, "You always respond so quickly to my emails
--thank you!" But, shouldn't that be the norm if you are an email communicator? How or why should the time lapse between email query and response be any different from that between similar phone calls? Am I the only person out there who feels that, if someone in my business or personal life emails me about anything, that I should respond within 24 hours--and that I expect others to do the same?

Comments, anyone? I promise I will write back--I'll likely still be online waiting for those overdue emails!

I'm going back to the book sale this afternoon--and maybe I'll end up scooping Ms. Vanderbilt's book. After all, good etiquette never goes out of style!