Email Etiquette

I come across this a lot at work: 

It is my job to respond to emails because some people expect an immediate response via email, even though it is not seemingly urgent. 
 
What a sad state of affairs - we have all become professional email responders, haven't we?  

Realistically, it is essential that we respond to emails but I never think email should be considered as an "immediate response" type of tool in a matter of urgency when you have something called IM, which denotes "Instant Messaging" and that's exactly what it is there for.  Alternatively, we can simply call the party by picking up the good old tool called a "desk phone"  - which probably has been taking up a corner of your desk collecting dust as we speak. 

You don't sit in front of your mailbox waiting for mail to arrive.  You will go fetch it when you can, deal with it in your own time and you are not going to let the pile of mails upset you when you see them.  Why should we treat emails any differently?

Hello...I hope we don't have to slap ourselves every now and then to remind us we are humans and that we are capable of dealing with things such as...electronic mails.