Anga!

Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.

~ Ambrose Bierce

You read that title right, “Anga!”. It reminded me of a short video clip from Steve Harvey, where he mocked someone for pronouncing the word “anger” as “anga”.

Recently, a business partner of mine wrote an email to a renowned person in some industry, asking them for advice.

Interestingly enough, he received an answer that differed from what he expected. The reply was full of anger and frustration, to the point my business partner replied apologising for having caused any distress (he still did not know where this was coming from) and explaining more about what he was after.

This event prompted a conversation between us partners.

Here is my take on replying to unsolicited emails:

• Don’t reply in anger (even if the mail made you angry for some unknown reason).
• Instead, wait till it passes or don’t reply at all.
• Always be polite.
• If you are not interested in what the other person is offering, let them know (politely).
• It’s always better to reply than to keep silent (you know how you feel when someone doesn’t answer your emails, calls, messages, etc.).

If you wonder how the story with the angry mailer ended, he apologised (in his way) and clarified where he was coming from… which could be a different blog post, so I’m leaving that for tomorrow…