Hi There !! Hello !!

Are you talking to me? I have a name, you know? You all might be wondering what I am talking about. I am talking about the basic etiquette we all have forgotten in this fast-paced, modern age and that is to refer to someone by their name. Leave all the titles, prefixes, suffixes that used to be the norm generations ago, I am talking simple first name or last name or both depending on the context.?

I make it a point, when I write an email or write a message, to make sure I call the person’s name out explicitly as I feel it is important. As mentioned in Dale Carnegie’s book on “How to win friends and influence people”, everyone loves their name. Also, just starting a message or an email with “Hi There”, “Hello”, I feel is borderline rude.?

It could be that you are feeling uncomfortable calling the name out and you may not even know you are probably offending someone, the other side.? But to appear genuine, friendly and professional, developing the habit of referring to someone by their name in the beginning of the message or email, is good. You don’t have to do that in subsequent follow ups even though I highly recommend you do that. Simple things that will take you a long way.?

Some of us sometimes still do it as we are in a hurry or may have “reacted” to a message rather than responding to it but anytime I have done that, I regret later. Especially if I see a message starting with “Hi there” or “Hello”, I used to just respond to the point as well. But now-a-days I try to be more conscious when I do that. Even to such messages, I start with greeting that person followed by their name and then respond back.?

Again, you might not mean anything malicious or trying to be rude when you are doing it as you are probably not even aware of the impact referring to someone by name might have. But a small change here will take you a long way.?

Well, you might tell this is my ego talking and I am probably having an ego problem here. This is not ego, just a simple respect to the other person. But if you don’t agree with me and have a different viewpoint, I would love to hear.