I work from home, but that sure as hell doesn’t mean I’m available 24/7. I generally work from about 8:30am until 11:30am, and then I take a break until 2 or so, in order to make lunch for the kids and take them out to play. Depending on what we’re doing that day I may extend the break until 4 or 5, though if we’re just hanging outside or at the park I’ll have my netbook in tow so I can touch base with work-related things during that time. Then I’ll do a bit more work if I have time before dinner, then dinner, and then it’s ME ME ME WORK CAN GO EFF ITSELF time.
And you would think this would all be very clear by the blog entries on my personal blog and the tweets on my personal Twitter account. But no, it’s not that clear, apparently, because at least once every 2-3 days I get a comment (moderated, of course, since it’s from someone who has never commented before) or a @reply on Twitter asking if I could check my email and answer their query on such and such. Um… excuse me? What part of PERSONAL BLOG AND PERSONAL TWITTER ACCOUNT do you not understand? ARGH.
I suppose you could say it’s my own fault for including my Twitter name in my email signature, but I’d like to think that people are considerate and realistic enough to realize that most people are not on-call 24/7, and that it is not considerate or polite to bug them via personal accounts and such for work-related tasks. I wouldn’t expect an off-duty garbage collector to come collect my trash simply because I spotted him in the grocery store, or a stylist who is out picking up some bridesmaids gifts to drop everything and come do my hair, so why would you expect me to take care of your request-that-relates-to-my-job-and-not-to-me-personally when I’m, oh I don’t know, having dinner or blogging or just relaxing with my husband?
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When you make yourself look readily available, it happens. When I have work that’s due, I usually hide from Twitter because I don’t want clients to think I’m chattin’ it up on Twitter and neglecting my work. I’m always like, “Damn I can’t tweet because I not done with XYZ.” Blah.
I’ve had comments (and DM’s via Twitter) before from people telling me that they’ve emailed and would like a response ASAP. In a way, it really makes me want to just trash the email without even reading it. But at the same time, it’s usually from someone that I don’t talk to often, so I just consider it to be someone who doesn’t know me well and doesn’t know that I check my email fairly frequently and that they do know I check Twitter quite often, so probably though that a friendly reminder would be a good idea to ensure at timely response.

As the domain name suggests, my name is Jenn, and I own this blog. I'm 26 years old and married to my one true ♥, Daniel. And while I have two kids (Alyssa is five, and Ryan is three), you won't find "mommy" in my username or email address, nor does my blog revolve around them. I'm a mother, but most importantly I am me, with a passion for love, blogging, reading, and photography. I'm also a busy freelance writer, web designer & SEO goddess.





Obviously, your coworkers will see this and know you’re talking about them. Why don’t you just send them a friendly email stating your hours of availability and how you prefer to be contacted? This is a bit unprofessional and passive aggressive.