This message is low priority

[wheel]

So I'm having a difference of opinion with my spouse. When I put in support requests, I generally mark them low priority. If I'm emailing tech support, I'll actually put in 'non-urgent' in the subject line.

My wife says I'm crazy - nobody goes low priority. My thinking is it lets the recipient better delegate their time. AND when I mark something urgent they better put a fire under it, because I'm not joking. Her thinking is that I just get poorer/slower service.

What do you do? Mark everything urgent given the choice? Or mark it non-urgent when it really isn't urgent.

[Samizdata]

If the support is any good they will deal with it quickly whichever option you choose. And if the support is no good then the corollary naturally applies.

I would draw the line at inserting "Non-Urgent" into an email though.

My wife says I'm crazy

This is perfectly normal, nothing to worry about.

...

[rocknbil]

Haha . . . now that I think about it, we "kind of" joke with the Post Office personnel about the big red "Fragile" stamps on a parcel being the equivalent of a "Kick Me" sign. Interpret that as you will. :-)

I ignore them unless it makes me choose, and mark it accordingly. Sometimes urgent, sometimes not, no real difference in response time, but can almost hear them giggling through the router . . .

[MatthewHSE]

I do that, but only if I personally know whoever I'm asking for help from. My web host is an excellent one-man show, and after about seven or eight years with him, he knows that if I mark something urgent or non-urgent, it really is urgent or non-urgent.

However, as the previous posters have said, it makes no real difference in response time. The guy is on his game and just responds to everything quickly.

[swa66]

It works if you can manage to understand one another. I've had for years suppliers where I used it honestly. Never had any regrets as a customer.

As a provider of services, it's hard to work for those where everything is always ultra urgent. It almost never is in reality and even if it would be for them you'd not notice it and threat it as normal.

The one who undertones his urgency might get significantly more attention than the one overstating the urgency.

Customer A: it's never actually urgent, but everything is marked as ultra urgent
Customer B: marks everything as low priority, even if it feels important sometimes. All of a sudden he marks something "important".

Customer B is likely to get priority over customer A f you let humans choose what's most important. if you automate it all: it depends on how smart your automation is.

[piatkow]

Our internal email has urgent and non-urgent flags enabled. The only time I see the urgent flag set is for a routine circular by a PA who seems to think that anything with her bosses name on is more important that day to day business.

These flags only make sense if they have a meaning with them. So logging a support call for a particular software product that I use gets (paraphrasing from memory) "users are unable to use product", "users are unable to use some functions", "will lock out users within 24 hours" down to "information request".