I learned this week that you're never supposed to say "Hey" as a greeting when writing emails. I beg to differ.
The reason is that it sounds unprofessional, and some people don't like being addressed with such informal greetings, and saying "Hi" never offends anyone, so you should just use that. Which, fair. I do understand that.
So over the past few days, every time I've started a new email, I've sat on the greeting line in paralyzing indecision wondering whether or not I could say "Hey" or "Good morning" or whether I should just stick with the standard "Hi" that Google advises should always be the default. And every time this happens, I ultimately decide it's best to just play it safe and put "Hi" since an email greeting is not worth accidentally pissing someone off over. So I write out "Hi." And I look at it. And evaluate it. And read it in my head. And then I realize.
I don't say "Hi."
My voice can't even say the word without sounding like a robotic voice recording calling to ask about your car's extended warranty. Even just now I've been sitting here for five minutes trying to find a tone to say "Hi" in that would prove I say this word at some point during my daily life, but I really can't.
If I'm emailing a stranger or someone I'm not close with, then I just say "Hi" in the email and move on because this is standard for strangers and I accept that. But if I'm emailing someone I'm friendly with, anything but "Hey" to me actually feels weird. Because if they were to walk into a room, I would say "Hey." If I was going to Slack them, I would say "Hey." That's how I talk. I don't understand why I would ever consciously write in a voice that I don't actually speak in. There's no reason your physical voice and your pen voice should speak with two different vocabs. That makes no sense to me.
I'm going to keep using "Hey" in friendly work emails until it backfires. We'll see when that happens.
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