Not so much a first world problem, but more an observation...
I just received a meeting request to schedule a meeting today at 11am from the person who sits in the office next door. The third member invited to the meeting is the person who sits opposite both of us. I also occasionally get emails asking me mundane questions from said people when they are both within talking distance. It would seem that the art of conversation is at times superseded by electronic communication.
(The Archduke of South London I'm in your Girlfriend eating her organs, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 9:32, 11 replies)

They're just putting it in writing
so that they have a record of what they asked you. Then they know you'll have to get back to them, or they can complain.

Maybe I'm just cynical...
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 9:34, closed)

Im my office we typically IM people who are close enough to touch
(though touching colleagues is discouraged). That's partly because we often have more than one conversation going at once, and also it's hard to hear each other over the screeching of the office queens discussing last night's Strictly Come Dancing results...

But I agree it often feels odd to email/IM someone next to you.
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 9:53, closed)

It also means
That it looks like we're working by tip-tapping away on the keyboard, rather than pissing away the work day with idle banter.
(JohabMorelli is spenging merrily away, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 12:57, closed)

I was trying to remember how work was done before e mail
It involved a lot more getting up and going to see people, or picking up this thing called a phone and talking to people. When I tell my kids about the kindly old gentlemen who used to deliver inter-office mail twice a day they just laugh. Seemed to work though.
(Smale is stuffed, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 9:58, closed)

It did work, but far too slowly.
Whilst I sometimes wish it would go back to those days, people did get less work done in a day than they do now.
When computers first entered offices everyone was told it heralded the three day week and meant that eventually everyone would work from home. That didn't happen because companies worked out they got more work from people if they kept them in an office for as long as possible.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 11:30, closed)

I guess it depends on the nature of your business
When you're working on projects that take months or years to complete, then the old ways are probably just as good as the new. I think not having instant communication meant delegating much more authority to lower levels of management, which is probably a good thing, instead of the CIO being involved in every decision.
(Smale is stuffed, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 11:53, closed)

I email my friend, who sits next to me, reasonably often...
That's mainly because the woman who sits opposite me will listen in and then quiz me on the details of the conversation later.

Or the guy who sits opposite my friend will listen to our conversation and then chip in with "the best one was..." and tell some hilarious anecdote about how he's done whatever it is we were talking about, but better, or drunker, or before it was all the rage, or something...
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 10:05, closed)

they call it 'ass-covering'
it's not about actually asking the question. it's about being able to prove you asked the question and are therefore blameless if it all goes tits-up.
(UppityDamnPrimate LET'S OPEN THIS F*CKING PIT UP, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 10:07, closed)

They're just not that into you.

(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Thu 8 Mar 2012, 10:09, closed)

Smelly
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 10:14, closed)

i email the person next to me
because we both think the person opposite is a cunt
(magic the cat will someone please think of the kittens, Thu 8 Mar 2012, 13:52, closed)