Opinion, please . . .

[Lambchop]

OK, I need some serious opinions here. Seriously.

Check out these sample sentences. Assume they come from a 28-year-old male who is sending the email to a group of female professionals, almost all of whom are old enough to be his mother. He's a professional, too, and a supervisor, but he's not the supervisor of the individuals to whom the email was sent.

Version 1: "Would you gals enter your data so I can . . ."

Version 2: "Would you girls enter your data so I can . . . "

Let's change the scenario a bit. Let's say the group are all male professionals.

Version 1: "Would you boys enter your data so I can . . ."

What if the professionals are all black males?

Version 1: "Would you boys enter your data so I can . . . "

Help me out here, please. Help me express what I'm feeling. I'm feeling something, but I just can't get a grip on it.

[peeplj]

Any of these are unprofessional.

This would be much better: "If you could please enter your data so that I can..."

or

"We please need the rest of the data from Department X entered so that we can proceed..."

--James

[Dale]

I'm glad to help. You're feeling patronized by this folksy, at best borderline sexist, and unprofessional language. You resent it. And yet, you realize that the language doesn't necessarily mean that he actually means to hurt, so you're reluctant to confront it. And that's probably frustrating.

[emmline]

Yeah...I'm wanting to sub the word "ladies," but even that gives the request a slightly condescending edge.

Something like what James says, or "Would each of you enter your data..."
or just "Please enter your data..."

[susnfx]

The gender reference should have been left out. No reason whatsoever to put it in.

Susan

[FJohnSharp]

Yeah, dude, you're asking for trouble.

Eliminate gender references whenever possible. You may use the terms ladies and gentlemen or women and men in the appropriate context. Never use gal, girl, boy, or the dreaded dude. Except here. In forums. Among friends.

[Paul]

When addressing the girls it would be best to be courteous to what they are most likely doing. I would word it like:

"Hey, sweetie, when y'all are done filing your nails and gossiping will you please take a moment to enter your data so I can... and when your done with that one of you can bring me a paper and a cup of coffee!"

For the lads just tell them to do it straight way.

"You $@%#^$&s need to get your %^&^%$ data in so I can finish my %^&^%#$ job, you ^&*&^^%!s"

This approach will work for any group of guys.


:p

*Ducks and runs for cover*

[CHasR]

O let's get completely corporate:

"Individually, please enter your data."

"All franchisees will please enter their individual data"

'Participants are to submit all pertinent data"

'We respectfully ask that all submit ther data'

'the data requestor requests that pertinent data be individually submitted, by all participating individuals'

OR, if you have a Philadelphia branch;
'get your damn data in in a new york minute or I'll put it your file: capisce?!?'

[Coffee]

Regarding the initial entries; absolutely unprofessional at best.

If I were to send out a missive of that variety I should word it differently depending on the perspective recipients.

For squadron wide dissemination:
"Please fill in requisite data in the respective fields."

For just my shop:
"Error. Insufficient data in fields ###. Please input requisite figures."
(Or I might phrase it as an if-then command. I'm thinking maybe in C.

[djm]

In a professional working situation it's best to avoid any hint of friendliness altogether, unless you all know each other very well and are able to tolerate each other's foibles. "You gals" matches "you guys" as far as familiarity goes, but if you really feel that age discrimination is an appropriate response to gender discrimination, you could always reply to him as "sonny" or as "young man".

djm

[cowtime]

They are all just plain WRONG.

[Jerry Freeman]

He's a professional, too, and a supervisor, but he's not the supervisor of the individuals to whom the email was sent.

This raises the question of what would happen if one of you forwarded his email to his supervisor. Or forwarded it to your own supervisor. Your supervisor might not like to see his/her staff treated dismissively.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[Lambchop]

He's a professional, too, and a supervisor, but he's not the supervisor of the individuals to whom the email was sent.

This raises the question of what would happen if one of you forwarded his email to his supervisor. Or forwarded it to your own supervisor. Your supervisor might not like to see his/her staff treated dismissively.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Well, that's why I'm asking. We share a supervisor, a male, who didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

[Congratulations]

Maybe it's weird, but I find myself completely unable to get worked up about stuff like this. Maybe it's because I've never worked in an office-type situation, I don't know.

My last job was in an industry that is highly male-dominated (tobacco), and now I'm working at a coffee shop where I am the only male on staff. The only issues I've encountered with sexism were with customers at the cigar shop who would literally ignore the female employee and ask me my opinion on product.

I mean, really: unless the comment is part of a larger problem with actions that are actually chauvinistic, why get your knickers in a twist? Just understand that the person on the other side of that e-mail is most likely some half-ignorant good-old-boy who isn't worth your time and move on.

Similarly, a few times at the cigar shop a group of customers would come in and start into a series of jokes with gays as the punchline. This is very common. Often, my (straight) coworker would get all worked up and tell them off. Several times, a coworker offered to kick the persons in question out of the store, and they were always baffled that I told them not to. It's just not something I see fit to be indignant about.

[peeplj]

I've seen much worse things in interdepartmental memos and emails.

However, especially in today's corporate world, it's always better to remember that you don't know who will read what you've written, or in what context.

If they are going to have to lay off one person from your department, for instance, you really don't want to be the person who is known for irritating people.

--James