Business Communication in the workplace

We have an ongoing fued at work, all in good humor, of course. We like to play pranks on our coworkers. Anything from hiding a stapler or chaining all the paperclips together, it keeps the job fun and interesting. Last week I was the recipient of a particularly good prank. I came into work to find my entire station lacking of supplies, the cash drawer was empty, the pens in the pen cup were rubberbanded together so that when you pulled one out, they all came out. I was quite impressed with the prank but I wasn't just going to give him a free pat on the back, so I composed the following email.


Darren,

I just wanted to send you a reminder about the importance of keeping your station stocked and in good order. As a float teller you will be working in other teller’s stations on a regular basis. It is important that you keep these stations orderly for the tellers that will be using them after you. When you allow the tape, staples, paperclips and calculator tape to run out without refilling it creates unnecessary work for the teller that uses that station the following day. While your efforts to organize the pens and highlighters with a rubberband was noted, it was not appreciated as it made quite a hassle when retrieving pens from the cup. Also I would like to note the importance of keeping some cash and rolled coin stocked in the cash drawer. We need to make sure that there is a working supply of cash and coin in the drawer in case the cash dispense breaks or some other unforeseen circumstances arise. I appreciate your cooperation in this matter. I have sent a BCC of this email to all branch supervisors to assure that we do not have a problem with this in the future.

Thank you,

Ramiah Johnson

p.s. Good one

I thought it was a pretty corny, cliche, passive agressive pseudo reprimand, but it was all in good fun. Within a week, everyone had heard about this email. They all thought it was hilarious and were so impressed with how professionaly it was written! I even got a few comments from coworkers that were aware that I am taking a business writing class that the class is "really paying off!" I can't help but laugh because that email went against so many things we were taught not to do in business writing. Though, I suppose it was good in the sense that it conveyed the sarcastic "good job" that it was intended to.