Sorry for the Late Reply | sorry for the late reply due to holiday
Youdon’talways respondtoemailsrightaway.Infact,sometimesyouputthemoffuntilthenextday,thenextweek,or—downcastgaze—thenextmonth.Atsomepointthecalculusshiftsfrom“CanIsomehowcomposeanemailthatjustifiesmyglaciallyslowresponse-time?”to“Woulditbeeasiertojustfakemydeathinstead?”[1]Whileitdoesn’tlookorfeelgreat,sometimesyouhavetoownuptosleepingonsomeone’smessage.Maybeit’saprofessionalcontactyoucan’taffordtoleavefeelingforgotten,orasimplecaseofprocrastinationthat’sgraduallysnowballedintofull-ondread.W...
You don’t always respond to emails right away. In fact, sometimes you put them off until the next day, the next week, or—downcast gaze—the next month. At some point the calculus shifts from “Can I somehow compose an email that justifies my glacially slow response-time?” to “Would it be easier to just fake my death instead?”[1]
While it doesn’t look or feel great, sometimes you have to own up to sleeping on someone’s message. Maybe it’s a professional contact you can’t afford to leave feeling forgotten, or a simple case of procrastination that’s gradually snowballed into full-on dread. Whatever the cause, we have some ideas for ways to break the silence and apologize for a late reply.
Reconsider the “sorry”If you work in a fast-breaking, deadline-driven profession, you routinely email people back instantly. But that’s not always a realistic expectation, particularly when what’s at stake is the opposite of urgent. Being human doesn’t always necessitate an apology.
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