A blog reader wrote to me recently with an issue that drives her crazy. Please read about her situation and share your opinions and advice.
As usual, I have disguised the situation slightly to maintain the individual’s anonymity. “Naomi” wrote:
A couple of my clients, both at the same organization, insist on being copied on all the emails I send. One of them requires that I send all email to both his work and personal email addresses. This is for a newsletter I have been hired to write that involves interviews within several organizations and with private individuals.
I find these ccs ridiculous. These clients want to be copied even when I’m just emailing someone to request a brief phone interview, a meeting they’ve approved and are not part of.
If I wanted this much supervision, I would not be a freelancer! And I hate the multiple-email bounce-around effect that happens when a cc’d person decides to help out or ask questions unnecessarily. I just weeded through eight emails from these two people that came in today and at least three would not have happened if it weren’t for the cc’ing.
What can I do? This kind of issue did not come up in my business writing classes two decades ago.
What’s your view? Is this cc’ing a good practice? Should Naomi talk with the clients about their cc habit? Should she just continue to do as requested?
Lynn