Employee pulled up for greeting boss with 'hey', netizens react

NEW DELHI: Today, when everyday office conversations on WhatsApp have become part of our lives, most people have moved on from the strict formal language that once was required for official communication. However, for some old-school folks, it is still a necessity. Recently, a young man shared a screenshot on Reddit of a WhatsApp conversation where he got pulled up for greeting his boss with a "hey". The image of the chat was captioned by the user as, "How do you react to this? and how the hell is 'Hey' isn't professional?"

In the screenshot, when asked about the submission of a particular test, the subordinate replies by saying, "Hey, No, not yet." Replying to this, the boss wrote, "Please don't use the word 'hey'. It's offensive for me. If you can't remember my name, simply use 'Hi'."

He then went on to explain to his subordinate what other words should not be used professionally like 'Dude' and 'Man'. Mostly any junior would apologize in such a scenario just to end the conversation, however, the Reddit user defended himself by trying to explain.

He said, "Well, considering that we are having a conversation over WhatsApp and not over LinkedIn or a mail chain. I'm just being casual as you are texting me on my personal number. And coming to being professional I'm not the one being offended." To this, the boss replied, "Whatsapp is not personal space anymore, it has been used for business. I am not insisting my ideology on you. If you understand it, fine; or you will understand it sooner or later," followed by a smiling emoji.

After this Whatsapp conversation was shared online, several Reddit users weighed in on the matter. One person wrote, "I'd be calling him 'chap' in literally every communication." "Agreed. You don't use a social media app like WhatsApp to have a professional relationship over the Internet. They should write a properly-formatted email. And that's "Mr NutWrench" to them, too," another person shared.

A third one wrote, "My old boss told me "what's up?" is disrespectful... Dude, you're calling me, you clearly need something... What's up?" Another one quipped, "I like. how hey is unprofessional but emojiis are fine"