Someone sending just "hi" in a work IM is equivalent to no message being sent at all.
I will respond when I actually receive a message
this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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Do you think the people that send junk like "hi" or "quick chat?" get annoyed when they're the recipient? Or they just think it's normal?
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(1 replies)
It's a handshake. If you're out of the office or otherwise can't respond, it saves them from typing the whole message, they can do it only if they know you're responding.
It's still offloading the inconvenience to you a bit, but at least it's rational for them
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(3 replies)
I just emote wave in response.
Reply with:
"Teamsbot-AI v1.3 says: 'Hi! I see you're looking for user $User. They haven't seen your message yet. Go ahead and send the rest of the message about your need or what you want to talk about and I'll send it onto them to respond.'"
You don't need a bot or software, just literally copy and paste this response in to them. They'd never know the difference.
Haha, awesome!
Hello is acceptable if,
Its almost instantly followed with a proper message about what this about, no waiting of dance involved.
The hello and the question are one big message.
I have known people who felt offended to not receive a formal greeting if this is the first communication between us today so i adapted.
Though worse issue is people who call without any heads-up. I am working, i dont need a phone crying for my attention to distract me. So when they want to call i prefer a “hello, can we call” or best of all “hello, do you have time later to call about x and y”
The unnaounced call has been verboten in business since instant messaging became standard at work - about 2006.
The only exceptions are when someone doesn't have good connectivity or you're already workingon something together and you both know these calls may happen because of circumstance.
One look at anyone's calendar and you'll know you're going to voicemail.
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(1 replies)
It generally takes me about a year to train people on stuff like this.
I take at least 10-20 minutes to respond, always, regardless if it's just a hi or a request for help. 8 times out of 10, they message within 10 minutes again to say they figured it out themselves.
cant be tooo available, or these users become accustom to rapid comms
I'm sitting in the hospital with my mother and someone does this to me....
Just Hi...
Spent too long staring at it trying to decide if they deserved the effort to tell them I can't help them right now....
Decided if they couldn't say what they want, I wasnt going to tell them it's not going to happen.
I suspect these intros are intended to get you to confirm your presence before they hit you with the request, assuming that will make it harder to ignore the request once you've shown yourself
This is why it annoys me so much. No, I don't blanket agree to interact with you. If it's something short, I'll answer immediately, but if it'll take me longer, it'll be later. Someone I worked with was a monster for this.
Hiya.
...
David
....
...
Hello?
...
Just say what you want ffs. This could have been over 15 minutes ago if you didn't insist on real time interaction via this asynchronous communication medium!
That's why I ignore them until they complete their message themselves. But someone else here linked "nohello.net", maybe I'll try that too!
The company I work at emphasizes the up front contract in both internal and external communications.
"Hi, I need X minutes of your time to discuss Y. I intend for us to reach a decision/decide the next step next step/get your approval by the end of the call. Are you available at this date & time? Thanks!"
I feel like that's more nutballs than just saying hi with no information ..
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Hey, you got a sec?
Actually, I'm on the loo, so if you mean a second for a yes/no question with no follow up whatsoever, fire away, but if you're looking for some interactive process, absolutely not, my turd takes priority.
No, sorry
Hi, how are you?
Oh shit, this is going to be painful.
This is a hill I will die on with you. I've even sent the "no hello" link to a particularly egregious offender.