With WhatsApp conversations now being a legitimate form of office communication, most have moved beyond strict formal language. But there are few who will stick to the old norms.
Recently, sharing one such example, a young professional posted a WhatsApp conversation with his boss on Reddit where he revealed that he agreed to greet his boss with a “hey”. He captioned the screenshot, “How do you react to this? And ‘hey’ how is that not professional?”
see full image
In the screenshot, when asked about presenting a particular test, the subordinate replies by saying, “Hey, no, not now.”
An angry boss wrote back, “Please don’t use the word ‘hey’. It’s offensive to me. If you can’t remember my name, just use ‘hi’.” He then explained to his subordinate that other words like ‘man’ and ‘man’ should not be used professionally.
Even most of the staff would apologize and end the conversation right there, the Reddit user defended himself by trying to explain. He said, “Well, given that we are chatting on WhatsApp and not LinkedIn or the mail chain. I’m just casual because you’re texting me on my personal number. And being a professional I’m not One is getting angry.”
To this the boss replied, “WhatsApp is no longer personal space, it is used for business. I am not imposing my ideology on you. Will understand,” followed by a smiling emoji.
Responding to this, one person wrote, “I literally call him ‘Chapter’ in every dialogue.”
Another person shared, “Agreed. You don’t use social media apps like WhatsApp to build professional relationships on the internet. They should write properly formatted emails. And that too is “Mr.Nutwunch” for them.”
A third wrote, “My old boss told me “what’s up?” is outrageous… man, you’re calling me, you clearly need something… what’s going on?
Another quipped, “I like how unprofessional but emojis are fine”