What Zenkitty said about emails. Especially when you are trying to manage college students. They do not read.

There are also people I've worked with who must be visited in person if anything is to happen. This is problematic when the workplace is distributed.

I hate when people give me instruction like that, and so I try not to do it. But I have learned that especially with college students, you do have to!

Also, with many people, one topic per email is all they can handle. You can't say, "Please do X, and also remember that Y is due Thursday." You have to send two separate emails, one on each topic.

It's kind of like helping a 6 year old clean his room.

this whole topic is making me hate people.

the more was implied, right?

The way I help my 6--no wait, 7--year old clean his room is to walk in with a trash bag and offer to help.

this whole topic is making me hate people.

It's making me very grateful that I mostly don't have to work with other people, msbelle, so your reaction is understandable.

Zen, I swear I don't want to look condescending, but--fuck them. I am petty. I will say "as previously noted in this email chain" the umpteenth time I have to answer a question that's come up right there (while they were on the distribution list) so it's not even an issue of them searching their inbox or having deleted something. I do despise the guy who walks over to my desk the moment he hits send, because he will actively avoid me when it's time for him to answer my question. And he doesn't seem to realise that if he changes his answer from "I did X" to "I did (mutually exclusive) Y" within a minute, he did have to be lying one of those times. And I covered the bit where I'm petty, so do usually ask "But you said you did X. Which one is true?" I mean, if he's going to lie, I want him to earn it. It's not really the easy way out.

For me, my most successful tactic is the "next steps" section at the bottom of each topic. So they understand that I'm not just twiddling my thumbs--I've identified tasks, and some of them aren't mine-- get off your stupid ass and deliver. Except the liar from the previous paragraph will volunteer for All The Things, not do them, and then lie and say someone took it off his plate, and he's not sure why they aren't done yet.

I'm currently waiting for him to explain his coverage plans during his two weeks off (starting next week) which he hadn't broached with me (or declined meetings during) until an hour or so ago--backchannel is good for some things, but it shouldn't relieve anyone of their responsibilities.

The way I help my 6--no wait, 7--year old clean his room is to walk in with a trash bag and offer to help.

We have a ransom box.

We have a ransom box too! It's very helpful for the kids. It might be helpful for the adults too.