Email Etiquette

When I got to work this morning I had two pending-doom related emails. One was campus wide informing us that our Distaster Preparedness Division was on the job, doing their thing, and were prepared to do preparedness in the event it becomes necessary. In reality, I'm friends with the two people who work in the Disaster Preparedness office and happen to know that the head preparer is leaving for vacation in Gulf Shores this afternoon, which I consider a positive sign. (They don't just do emergency stuff for the hospital, they do the disaster thing state-wide.)

The other one has continued to provide entertainment throughout the day. It was from our department chief, asking for volunteers willing to be put on a list to work the temporary medical clinics at the Coliseum and other shelters if needed. His instructions were to email his assistant with the listed information (name, home phone, cell, etc.) if you were willing to consider helping out.

I want to take a moment here to say that despite my lack of panic over the pending doom, I do think this was a brilliant plan. If this thing does get ugly and does hit anywhere near our coast line, we will have evacuees in shelters all over the place. With Monday being a holiday, I'm glad they're thinking ahead enough to go ahead and make plans to staff the shelter clinics. Planning and organization can defeat panic when administered properly.

That said, the email went out to our entire department, which is HUGE. Can I tell you how many people have hit "Reply to All" to respond, instead of sending an email directly to the person named in the email? If I'd just emailed that many people my cell phone number, I'd be on the phone right now getting it changed!