A woman has sparked a debate over whether or not it is rude to send late-night emails after she was scolded for contacting a cake company outside normal working hours.
On British parenting platform Mumsnet, the shocked customer explained that the people behind the business had scolded her for sending them emails at 2am.
However, the woman stated that she did not expect the person to respond at that time and that she only sent an email at that time so as not to forget.
Many were on the woman’s side, saying the business owner was being unreasonable and should turn off her notifications if she doesn’t want to be bothered.
However, others in the comments section said they would mind receiving an email at that time, as it can easily be scheduled for the next morning.
A woman has sparked an argument over whether it is rude to send emails late at night after she was reprimanded for contacting a cake company outside normal working hours (file photo)
the publication read: ‘Is it rude to send an email late at night to a company? Just to clarify, I’m not talking about WhatsApp or text messages or anything like that. A real email.
‘I got up at 2am, remembered something and sent an email. Something like “just to confirm that the birthday cake we ordered has chocolate frosting but is a vanilla flavored cake.”
‘I just wanted to be clear because in the past, at a different bakery, we had verbally said “chocolate frosting, vanilla cake” but ended up ordering just a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
‘When picking up the cake, my sister was told ‘and by the way, I don’t like receiving emails at all hours of the night.’
‘You probably turn off email notifications on your phone if you don’t want to be disturbed… AIBU to send emails late at night?’
One person said: ‘Not at all, isn’t that the advantage of email? Texting/WhatsApping at that time would be rude, but I would expect people to only check email when they are working or able to respond.’
Another agreed and said: ‘No, I often send emails late because that’s when I have time. I don’t expect an immediate response. It seems like the bakery was really shit.
Someone else added: ‘No. What would be unreasonable is to get angry at the lack of response.
On the British parenting platform Mumsnet, the shocked customer explained that the people behind the business had scolded her for sending them emails at 2am.
Many were on the woman’s side, saying the business owner was being unreasonable and should turn off her notifications if she doesn’t want to be bothered.
‘The business owner here is not being reasonable. I think an email is less intrusive than other forms of messaging because you can actively choose when to check them. And as you say, turn off all notifications you don’t want to receive!
“You can’t dictate when your customers can write to you – many people send emails outside of business hours because they themselves are at work during business hours!”
A fourth added: ‘Well, if I ran my own business I wouldn’t let business emails or WhatsApp bother me outside of my working hours. If this person is not smart enough to manage their notifications, then it is their responsibility.”
However, some insisted that they would also be bothered if they received work emails outside of work hours.
One person said: “It bothers me a little if I get work emails at the time, although I would never mention it like that to a client.”
“But scheduling the delivery is easy to use, so if someone decides not to do it, I think it’s a little rude, given that these days emails usually arrive immediately on our phones, like text messages.
Meanwhile, others said they would also be bothered by receiving work emails outside of work hours.
‘I don’t turn off my phone at night because I use it as a morning alarm, and I don’t want to miss potential emergency calls by putting it on Do Not Disturb.
‘It’s a bit strange to turn email notifications off and on every day, so I put up with the occasional late night email. But I would never be rude to them.
Another said: “Older parents, that could mean she had her phone on overnight and heard an email come in and opened the phone to see what it was.”
“News flash, not everyone uses all the features on their phones to set different notification levels overnight.”
Someone else said: “Actually, I think it’s rude to send business emails on weekends or at night.” I would certainly never say that to a client. When I work after hours, I schedule emails to send the next morning.’
