This morning I wrote a quick e-mail to Ragan marketer Kasia Chalko asking for contact information for a couple of customers who I wanted to call for a story.
"As the assholes say," I concluded my note, "thanks in advance." (I've always hated "thanks in advance," because it's pretty much the definition of presumptuousness.)
Old Kasia wrote back with the names—but five hours later.
"You shouldn't have thanked me in advance," she said by way of apology. "Made me feel I'd already taken care of it."
Comments (8)
Lest people think this is my typical MO, I need to say that I usually deliver on David's requests very speedily. Of course, this was the first time he said "thanks in advance."
Posted by Kasia | April 11, 2008 4:37 PM
Posted on April 11, 2008 16:37
I like that Kasia. She's good people.
Posted by Eileen | April 11, 2008 5:58 PM
Posted on April 11, 2008 17:58
Hey, five hours is a pretty good turnaround time. I've put out requests to colleagues for essential info that have gone completely unanswered, or answered late, or answered late and with the wrong info, or thrown back in my lap.
Posted by Amy | April 12, 2008 7:03 AM
Posted on April 12, 2008 07:03
Kasia usually bounces it back in 20 minutes with a "no problem." But again, that's when I refrain to give "thanks in advance."
Posted by David Murray | April 12, 2008 8:50 AM
Posted on April 12, 2008 08:50
So the lesson here is to not say "Thanks in advance"! :)
Posted by Susan Cellura | April 12, 2008 9:29 AM
Posted on April 12, 2008 09:29
Whether I am annoyed by people thanking me in advance depends. As always, "it depends."
If you ask me for a JPG file that I can easily put my hands on and send you within a few minutes, thanking me in advance is no problem. But if you thank me in advance for giving you 800 words of copy in the next three hours, you are a prick, and your "thanks in advance" is just rubbing salt in my wound, if you'll forgive that cliche.
Seriously, I have seen people do that, and they are just plain ignorant and mean-spirited.
Will
Posted by Will Daniel | April 14, 2008 8:31 AM
Posted on April 14, 2008 08:31
Yes, a subtle difference--the difference between the annoying and the outrageous.
Posted by David Murray | April 14, 2008 11:00 AM
Posted on April 14, 2008 11:00
Or the annoying and the presumptuous.
Posted by Diane | April 16, 2008 4:59 PM
Posted on April 16, 2008 16:59