Friday afternoon I received an email from this older gentleman who owns a company which provides support and consulting services to the organization I work for. The email was regarding an issue which we have been having with some licensing. The issue is pretty urgent for us.

I know the gentleman and he knows me, but not on a personal level. He owns a small-medium business (about 50-100 employees) and I was an intern at his company during the summer of 2005. I only saw him about a dozen times during 4 months time. I don't want to act rude or inappropriate as I would like to go work for his company in 1.5-2.5 years. Also, there is a rather large age gap, I'm 20, he's about 70.

I received the email late Friday. In his signature he also provided his phone number. I thought about it, and knew that calling him on the weekend would be inappropriate, rude and I would probably only get his voicemail. So I wrote him a reply Sunday morning.

I would like the issue to be resolved ASAP. When is it OK to call the number in his signature? Since the method of communication is email, is it OK to give someone a call about the issue? How long should I wait for a response regarding the issue?

Also, when he emailed me, he addressed me by my first name followed by a semi-colon. When I replied back to him, I addressed him by his first name followed by a comma. Everyone I know refers to him by his first name. What is considered appropriate?

 

I'm sure opinions vary.

If the topic is urgent enough I call or receive calls 24/7. But if a late night on a weekends my factory, or my automotive customer's, had better be on fire! If his sig is like my biz sig then all you'll get is voicemail anyway (desktop number). Not knowing more I'd say 8 AM Monday, in his time zone, is the safe bet.

Regarding names in e-mail, I always use Mr or Ms whoever until they address me using my first name. After that I figure it would be overly stiff to continue on a last-name basis, though if I make an error it is always toward formality.

 

Penforhire's advice is good.

I always start e-mail communication as I would snail mail: Dear Mr. / Ms., Sincerely, and so on. Later, I may make it less formal, especially if they become more familiar in their reply.

If someone includes their phone number in their signature, assume it's there to be used. If you can wait till normal business hours without risking serious harm, do so. If you cannot, at least apologize for the after-hours phone call.

Good luck! I hope that you can get your issue handled timely, and that you don't irritate your correspondant in the process.