Turns Out Emails CAN Be Quick And Effective!
My grandfather worked in Human Resources for forty years and freely shared his stories about his work. As a result, by the time I’m about ten, I have a visceral loathing of all Human Resources workers and am fully convinced their sole job is to f*** over good, hard-working employees.
I make it very clear to my manager when I am hired that I will never, ever speak to Human Resources about anything unless TWO other witnesses — preferably managers — are present. If HR wants to contact me about something that isn’t life-threatening, they can send me an email.
Most of HR is cool with that, but one HR person views it as the worst insult possible. They demand an in-person meeting. I tell them it will be held in my manager’s office.
My manager, another manager, and I are waiting for the crazy HR person.
HR Person: “Why do you insist on us sending you emails? It’s so much easier to talk!”
Me: “Emails leave a written record. You can’t mishear an email.”
HR Person: “But it’s so much work to type out an email!”
My Manager: “For the length of a typical work email, it takes one minute to type.”
HR Person: “But I’m used to just talking!”
Manager #2: “You’ll get used to typing really soon.”
[HR Person] stood up and kicked a hole in the wall. [Manager #2] typed a quick email and snapped a photo of the damage. [HR Person] was escorted out of the building ten minutes later. My opinion about HR being psychotic, evil scumbags was confirmed.