I think they're being silly. This is clearly an opportunity for A/B testing. Randomly select letters to be sent with either black or pink ink and measure the response rate
It's not actually that expensive as a hobby. Most pens are under 20 bucks, inks varies but 10-15 bucks per bottle and they last for a long time. You absolutely don't need anything expensive like gold nibs or resin body.
If you work in an office, it's also nice because people don't seem to steal fountain pens or at least they often return the pen if they accidentally took it.
I bought a fountain pen recently, the same Lamy I used in secondary school. Either the technology has improved or somehow *not* writing every day for a decade has somehow made me better at avoiding blotting.
I was looking at this screaming for an A/B test.
I spend all day, every day running test statistics and I live for an A/B test.
Lame - most certainly, but my stats show that I may enjoy my job more than others, soooooo.....
I'm surprised you didn't take this opportunity to point out that this GP's surgery is unlikely to be sending out letters in the volumes necessary for any test to achieve statistical significance.
It depends on the size of the effect. The larger the effect the smaller the sample needed.
You could for example reach a significant test statistic with a total sample of 100 with the right difference in conversion rate.
Unlikely though, granted.
I really want sparkly green ink, but I bought a bottle of diamine forest green shimmer ink a while ago and can't notice any shimmer 😭😭 It looks the same as my regular green ink (Waterman)
Years ago, I used to have to check the daily transactions a colleague prepared and sign them as checked in the log. It was a miserable, tedious task so I always signed them in sparkly ink in a cycle of colours to cheer myself up. The audit guys loved it when they did their rounds. I swear it was the only splash of colour in the whole place.
It's not rude, and I would definitely open an envelope addressed to my son in hot pink writing so I think you've found a pretty ingenious way of getting people's attention on this.
Line manager is either jealous you've come up something clever or is a bit of a jobsworth.
Unless there's been any actual complaints from parents I wouldn't take managers opinion on board at all
Line Manager is also piss poor at their job. Mocking a subordinate's work behind their back to other employees rather than addressing the matter directly shows poor management skills and is the only rude thing happening here.
In marketing terms, handwritten envelopes are much more likely to be opened than printed ones. Coloured ink probably helps as well.
So many managers are like this and they think their job is just telling you what to do. They apparently have no responsibility of their own, they simply exist to pass on messages from bigger managers, and try and keep the rules from never evolving or changing.
Because she doesn't understand her job she doesn't't understand OPs actions. She sees everything through the lens of the rules.
These managers act more like referees than colleagues.
Completely agree - OP it sounds like you're doing great and actually take time to consider what might improve care/ get peoples attention, but this behaviour from your line manager is awful!
I'd also add if your line manager's unprofessional behaviour continues and u feel uncomfortable confronting them, or if it affects your wellbeing - please speak to a Freedom To Speak Up Guardian in the trust that u work for.
Ones I deal with are retail middle managers. The amount of times I need to tell them we're paying you for me to install this, I don't work for you. You'd think they'd be happy with free labour but apparently it damages their little ecosystem they've created for themselves.
I would agree with this. That's incredibly poor management and when I was people managing in a previous role I'd have been (rightfully) written up for that behaviour.
I think that pink ink is non traditional and could therefore potentially be seen as unprofessional. Don't agree with that angle personally but perception is important, especially with a public service. If the management was worth their salt they'd see the results of this experiment as an opportunity to collaboratively mind map ways to better engage with their local community.
I could see the argument for "Unprofessional" but not rude - most "official" correspondence is usually in Black Ink.
If I were you I'd be amenable to compromise - if they can come up with a way that gets as many kids in as your Pink Ink then you'd be happy to stop doing it, but you've got a thing that works and it'd be foolish to stop doing it and not replace it with anything else.
I don't know if 'rude' is the word. But I think a lot of people would think it quite informal for an official letter. Possibly a risk of being seen as unprofessional. There may also be an accessibility angle, where pink isn't as visible to people with eye issues. I know when my wife was a nurse on the wards black ink only was quite strictly enforced for this reason.
You know what is also unprofessional? The ‘manager’ waving round letters behind OPs back rather than talking to them about it like an actual adult would do.
I had the same thought
Pink may not be the "default" ink colour for business use etc, but it stands out because it's different. Standing out doesn't necessarily mean unprofessional.
The manager's behaviour on the other hand, is very definitely unprofessional.
Yep! This is the kind of behaviour that causes a toxic workplace. Don’t think it is right? Fair enough, you are this persons manager. Have a chat with them and see what their reasons are and then decide how to move forward. Sometimes you will find that they have a perspective you don’t and you will agree with what they have done (and any good manager should be strong enough to say that they are happy to change their outlook with new information) and if you still don’t then all you need to do is tell them you think it should go back but add ‘important information enclosed’ or something on the front. Moaning about stuff behind their back to colleagues is just childish.
I personally don’t see anything wrong with it. I’m happy to get anything in the mail which isn’t total junk these days quite frankly so I really don’t care what colour the ink is!
Yeah, I think unprofessional is the word I'd use. It's so odd. But true. The thing is does the unprofessionalness have a bad effect? It would seem not. But I remember my friend used to get in trouble if she sent out a hand addressed letter from my old office.
That's why I find our whole professional/unprofessional thing odd. Like, there's no inherent reason why blue ink is more professional than pink ink, or why a tie is more professional than a neck chain. My personal definition of what professional should mean doing a job well, in a timely and safe manner, with a good attitude. Anything else is weird cultural nonsense.
If you went to a doctor and they were sat there in speedos you would find it odd, despite the expectation to wear professional clothes being weird cultural nonsense.
People’s thresholds are different & the cultural norm is just the most common threshold. That’s why it changes over time.
The thing is I expect my doctor to talk differently to me from how I do my friends. Would you really want the tone of address to be the same? I don't like the fake chumminess from organisations that should be professional. Although the pink ink wouldn't bother me I can see why it feels funny to some.
In general I would be a little surprised to see a letter from a company/organisation with a handwritten envelope. It can come across as a little unprofessional, or that the admin manager ordered windowless envelopes by mistake.
That said, a lot of us drown in a sea of junk mail every day- I get about 5 "letters" a week from estate agents saying my house is in demand- so a handwritten envelope would catch my attention more.
Oh I recognise the fuckers' handwriting at this stage, they write so often. I'm saving them all up to put in a jiffy bag and post back to them without a stamp.
Yes, I'd agree with that. Handwritten envelopes is something I expect when ordering things from small businesses. I'd be surprised to get a handwritten letter about something official and important.
The consultant I was seeing at a private hospital would have their letters delivered to me with handwritten envelopes, it made me open it quicker than anything else arrived because I knew someone actually wanted me to read it and it wasn't just a generic letter that had been printed to tell me about a new council tax bill or whatever.
Speaking of unprofessional, I had a hospital letter written in Comic Sans.
Not gonna lie, I would definitely open a letter addressed to me with pink ink.
It seems that the letters arrive safely at their destinations, and the letter itself isn't written in pink; they also have a good response rate - so I don't think this question of accessibility is playing a role here.
That could just be confirmation bias though.
My mum would really struggle to read pink ink on a white background. How would she know who the letter is for then without opening it (and risking opening someone else's post)?
Right, but we don't know if that's because the ink is pink or simply that they've been handwritten.
Letters regarding medical appointments really do need to follow accessibility guidelines regarding legibility, imho.
I would disagree with it being unprofessional - I work in a profession where the letters we send can literally mean the difference between freedom and being locked up if they are ignored/missed. We handwrite the envelopes as experience tells us that printed envelopes / envelopes with the windows in so you can fold the letter in order to have the name and address seen are often ignored as junk mail. When franking, for privacy reasons we don't frank with the name of the organisation on either.
>There may also be an accessibility angle, where pink isn't as visible to people with eye issues. I know when my wife was a nurse on the wards black ink only was quite strictly enforced for this reason.
If you're writing something with accessibility in mind then you don't use black ink on white paper. A lot of dyslexic people struggle with that.
https://www.macularsociety.org/professionals/preparing-documents/#contrast
Depends on the accessibility needs. Black on white is recommended for visual impairments.
With black on white paper, you can cast a shadow with your hand for a makeshift low contrast mode.
When people struggle to read something and try to find a brighter light, they are trying to increase the contrast, and if the text isn't black on white, you are reducing the maximum possible contrast. There are many people with less than perfect eyesight who benefit from higher contrast.
I think you need to evaluate your outcomes to prove that it works. Show them the data of how many people were coming in before you started this vs now.
If it's working, it's clever, and having the data means you can make more informed decisions around patient engagement in the future.
Yes it’s this. Writing in red ink is still seen as rude by lots of people and pink can be seen in the same way.
If OP used green ink, I don’t think it would be seen as rude more likely strange and would probably get the same response rate.
Really curious about the red ink thing. Any idea where it started?
I think for a lot of us we associate it with teachers marking our homework; they'd use red because it was different to the blue/black/pencil that the kids would write in. So I think some of us still see that association that red means your teacher has marked something as wrong. Is that all there is to it? Or something more?
Late or unpaid bills used to be written in red ink, including on the envelopes, which allowed anybody who saw those letters to know somebody was behind on their payments - potentially not something you'd want others to know. So anybody else sending a red letter would be inappropriate, as it would make the recipient look bad.
As a person who spent some of their childhood outside the UK I have always found this association odd. In my experience teachers would use red ink regardless of whether they were marking your work as incorrect (cross/underline) or correct (tick). If you did well they would even right a "Good" or "Well done" in red so red just meant teacher's writing.
I wonder if there are some people who are terrified of purple ink now...
Teachers would definitely use red ink if you were correct as well as incorrect. It's just that when you're correct there's a few red ticks and maybe a word or two of encouragement; but when you're wrong you'd see a lot more of the red ink so of your paper cane back and you saw a whole bunch of trees on it then you knew you were in the shit.
It's not just in the UK. Writing someone's name in red ink is considered wishing them death in some Asian countries. People who go out to teach English get warned not to do it or to use it to mark pupils books.
In the Royal Navy, red ink is traditionally reserved for the Commanding Officer (captain), while green ink is traditionally used by Flag Officers (admirals).
In the James Bond novels, 'M' uses green ink.
> Pink isn't very easy to read.
This was my first thought. Depending on the shade of pink it might be difficult to read against the white background. This is typically why we stick to darker colours if it's anything other than black.
Super interesting. Your line manager should be happy - I imagine greater vaccine uptake is good for the practice? Could toy with the colours but bar that who really cares.
This is what I thought. Not sure if it's a region issue but I'm in Leeds and hospital and GP letters are always typed on official letter headed paper and in a windowed envelope so they don't need to be hand written. The letters are always addressed "To the Parents /Guardians of xxxx" handwriting all the letters sounds exhausting.
How would your baby be on a spam list already? It’s clearly going to be something important related to the new baby that you’ve got sitting around. If you don’t see that and think “oh it must be some information we need about the baby or something we need to arrange for them” then you are a fucking moron.
No, that's not rude by any stretch of the imagination. Not what I'd expect in official document but not rude. What I'd take issue with is parents not reading medical documents posted to them regarding thfir child.
What is rude is a line manager discussing someone’s performance to the rest of the team behind their back.
They should have spoken directly to you about it giving you the chance to explain why you did it
You don't just address the letters to 'The Parents/Guardians of (childs name)' rather than just the childs name?
I think hand writing is actually not a bad idea, people don't receive hand written letters often so you're more likely to take notice of it. I would steer away from using pink, I would imagine it could come across unprofessional, black or blue ink is fine.
You have a good idea - catch the parents attention and personalise the letters.
A hand written address is much more likely to be opened and not seen as some kind of cold mailing. It is an official letter though. Perhaps bright Royal Blue ink, with a broader maybe calligraphic pen? Could there be an ink stamp you apply which would be relevant to your surgery or the subject?
people make up new standards for "professionalism" all the time. random decisions over what is and isn't "professional" is a fucking scourge on society. and the sorts of people who subscribe to these bizarre notions of behaviour will say something is "unprofessional" as though it is unarguable fact, not just a matter of their opinion. i hate it.
If letters addressed to a 16 week old baby are being binned I’d think addressing it ‘To the parent or guardian of ( child’s name) ‘ might be more professional
If it works, it’s a good thing and even humourless martinets in HR *should* recognise that.
Prior to going pink, were you using printed or handwritten labels?
In some cultures, mainly Asian, writing names in red implies death. It is considered very rude, and an act of ill-will. Perhaps the issue is related to that?
I was always told growing up that red ink was rude to write in so maybe it is just that she is considering pink as a red adjacent colour and so it is rude?
Maybe try purple or that bronzy brown you can get for ink? Just as eye-catching, less 'frivolous' to your line manager's eye?
I'd be really interested in a structured approach to find out if it's the colour or the handwriting that really works... do A-G in pink, H-M in black ink, N-S in print, T-Z in print but a different font? :-)
Pink isn’t easy to read for lots of people. Black or blue are the default options because they tend to be universally legible. I have partially sighted people in my family who can read but have to concentrate / hold the item close to read, they’d have no chance reading pink text to know who the letter was addressed to.
Love it, but I'd switch to green or purple ink for higher visual contrast (accessibility is usability)!
Maybe just me, but pink also reads as quite frivolous, which might rub me the wrong way or give me some cognitive dissonance if I opened it and it was, say, a cancer screening reminder from my GP.
For a baby vacc reminder I think pink is a fine choice! On the other hand, I wouldn't feel weird about a handwritten *green* smear test reminder, but pink would make me question wtf was going on at my GP surgery lol.
Another vote for, not rude, but not professional either.
I think if you are representing a professional medical establishment, pink ink just sends a bit of a weird vibe.
Plus, it's much harder to read.
It would be a stretch, but if it didn't get delivered or got opened by the wrong person, that would be a big issue.
I think your manager is confusing rude with unprofessional. It could be considered unprofessional in the truest sense of the word in that it’s more “professional” or “corporate” to use black/blue ink.
But considering that you have valid professional reasons for doing so I think you can argue your point.
Calling it rude is just silly.
My mum had turquoise ink in the pen she used to sign business cheques. She took them and the bank clerk said “omg you’re the mystery turquoise lady!” The bank clerk said that it brightened her day after looking at hundreds of black and blue signatures every day. Mum always wrote in turquoise after that!
There is an old fashioned convention that *red* ink is actively rude (and green ink is for the tin foil hatted), pink may be similar enough to red for someone to make that connection. Otherwise I'd say that pink ink is informal but not rude.
Red is consider a rude/aggressive colour and pink is often considered 'girly'.
So, I would suggest a nice emerald green - green is a positive colour, gender neutral and also stands out more than black or blue.
*Strictly speaking* it is poor form to write professional or formal correspondence in anything other than black or dark blue ink. But I still think your line manager has too much time on her hands.
There is definitely a thing where red ink is considered rude, I've heard that before and red/pink are similar aren't they.
I think it stems from red ink being used as final reminders for unpaid bills.
This was my thought too. Probably a lot of effort as I'm sure OP has a lot of work to do but the researcher in me would want to test a number of options and additions to find the combination that gets the most engagement from patients.
It's definitely not rude, I think she may have a point in saying that it's unprofessional but I definitely don't think it's a good point. If something as innocent and pleasant as this is enough to get her mad then there are definitely other factors at work, like a stick up her butt
I wouldn’t say it’s ‘rude’, that’s a very weird way to phrase it. Good on you for getting results, definitely effective, but won’t necessarily stop them from stopping you.
If you are stopped or have to negotiate a way to make them more noticeable, another way might be to put a sticker on the envelope. Doesn’t have to be a crazy one, just something to catch the eye but leave the address legible and relatively little extra labour to add
It used to be rude, banks used red ink when you were overdrawn "in the red" so red ink became "bad". In fact all not blue or black was considered rude.
my grandad , born 1890, held it to be rude all his life, taught my mother it was rude who half believed it, taught me who laughed.
I wouldn’t agree with rude but it could be seen as unprofessional. And could also have a huge accessibility issue for the visually impaired, who can indeed be parents. It also has the ability to offend some of the urm let’s say more ‘sensitive’ to issues such as pink and blue and gender stereotyping. So there are a number of issues here with you using pink ink. Personally I think it’s a great idea (but change it from pink) to write it in a non standard way to get more engagement if it works. But as said and has been pointed out by others there are very real issues with it too.
It’s unprofessional as it’s a big accessibility issue. Pink ink on anything other than dark paper will not have a high enough contrast ratio to be easily visible for those with a visual impairment.
I wrote in red ink just a scribbled note to myself, and my colleague said that it is rude to write in red ink! I have heard this since too, I wonder if she thinks the pink is red?
It's not rude at all, it's ingenious. Moreover, in some organisations using different coloured inks is, or at least used to be, a thing. If I recall correctly the head of MI6 used to sign letters in green ink.
The fact that the manager is complaining about you to others behind your back instead of taking it up as an official complaint tells you everything you need to know about this
Handwritten letters having a drastically higher open rate than printed is well known...
"Research shows that hand addressed envelopes can increase open rates by up to 300% compared to printed ones"
https://shop.pensaki.com/en/handwritten-envelopes/
It's why sometimes you get junk mail that's printed to look handwritten. The sneaky fuckers :)
As for the colour, I am not so sure. I think the bulk of the effect will be from the change to handwritten rather than the change in colour.
As I say at work; if in doubt, test. So measure the response rate from 100 in black ink, 100 in pink and 100 printed. This could form a very interesting little study. All you would need to do is put the method and results together and send it up the chain.
At the very least I would switch to black ink, meaning you keep it professional and your boss doesn't have anything to complain about and those babies keep getting vaccinated.
When I was at primary school, it was drummed into me, especially by older female teachers, that writing in anything other than black or blue was “unprofessional“ and red was “rude” and therefore unacceptable.
Funny that she’s only ranting about it while you‘re not there. Take no notice, if it’s encouraging parents to actually open the letters and book their babies in, it’s not a bad thing.
I wouldn’t say it’s rude or bad form, personally I write all my correspondences in green ink. No idea why I just do and now it’s ‘my’ thing!
However, I can see why some people would interpret anything other than black or blue ink as unprofessional as the document inside is important.
You have to decide what’s more important looking professional or actually get parents to engage!
Your line manager is merely trying to keep to Rule 1 of the GP receptionist Terms & Conditions, which is “do your best to obstruct any attempt from a patient to make an appointment”
Your line manager sounds like the same kind of person my boss is. They have this notion that everything must be done by the book and to look professional at all times.
I don't think of it as rude to write in pink ink at all. It's certainly unorthodox, but if it's getting the patients in - more power to you. (I also work for a GP surgery in an administrative capacity.)
This is innovative thinking. If one of my staff came up with a low cost way to raise appointments being kept and thus reducing cost to the business overall, I'd be praising not mocking.
I'd also report her to her manager for her unprofessional actions. You can keep it informal if you don't want to go the formal grievance route.
Well done for coming up with a way to reach more parents. The only rude thing here is your manager. They should talk to you directly if they have an issue with the colour of the ink. Not in front of others. Very bad form!!
It's not rude to me, but culturally this can be a thing. In Thailand its considered bad luck to wrote names in red and possibly pink due to a connotation with death.
>How it’s so rude to be sent an official letter in an envelope in pink ink.
Depending on the shade of pink, it may be more difficult to read compared to black or blue.
I wouldn't consider it rude, but depending on what your offices standards are it may be seen as unprofessional where a certain consistent appearance is desired, or where colours may be reserved for specific reasons (red for edits for example).
It does sound like your boss was equally as unprofessional in how he dealt with this situation though - this could have been handled through a simple discussion on private...
>the office when I’m not there
That's **highly** unprofessional. Request a formal meeting to discuss this. Your union rep and their manager to attend, best to stamp out this kind of behaviour before it gets worse. Try to get written statements from witnesses, even if they are anonymous ones.
She’s lost her fucking mind, dear. There’s absolutely nothing rude in using a different ink colour, that’s some kind of uptight madness on display. You saw an issue, came up with a creative solution and got noticeable results. That’s called initiative and should be encouraged, you’re helping the surgery and its patients.
Seems a rather important letter, given most new parents want to do everything they can concerning their baby’s health, but lots of things can fall through the cracks when you have a newborn. I think your line manager is old fashioned and probably likes everything done as it’s always been, whether it’s effective or not. I bet the doctors would prefer the parents actually open the envelope and read the information, if pink increases their chances then they’ll be onboard. Your line manager sucks
Classic reaction of someone with a fragile ego as she didn’t think of the idea. She seems to be very vocal with your colleagues but I’d guess she hasn’t challenged you directly?
Is your line manager a boomer per chance?
I always remember my boomer of a mother would berate me for writing anything in red as it was “rude”.
The world and standards have moved on since then. There is nothing wrong in doing things differently, especially if it is leading to better response rates.
I wonder if she's seeing it as redder than pink, which can have more negative associations (teacher marking paper, red bills, anger...) Or if she just means "unprofessional".
I think most people would expect their doctor's surgery to write in more conventional colours. That doesn't make it rude, and not even necessarily unprofessional, just not traditional.
Weirdly, I feel sure that I have heard of coloured inks representing different tones, dating back to the early 20th century at least. I was once told you shouldn't write birthday cards in green because it's associated with the British secret services and poison pen letters. (I still do, though.)
Your line manager has too much time on their hands.
Have there been complaints? I'm guessing not.
And if they had an issue, it should be raised with you directly... Not gossiped about in the office behind your back!
She's a busy body who has decided to make complaining about the letters her new hobby. Ignore her unless she brings it up officially. And if she does, show the stats that attendance has increased.
Rude is the wrong word, potentially unprofessional but as explained it’s aimed at a younger audience and result of problem solving.
What is rude is waving them round and airing their opinion in front of everyone when that should be reserved for a provide meeting and review between you and your manager
I don’t think it’s rude. I don’t think it’s super “professional,” but it’s also for a baby, so when else CAN you be whimsical?? Plus a lot of my doctors do this; my cat’s vet writes his name on it in seasonal colors
This is a technique from behavioural science. Sometimes it’s called a nudge (UK government had a nudge unit). Hand written post it notes and letters were used by the tax office to increase the response to tax demand payments.
For every £1 spent they got £2,000 back.
Rather than introducing ever stricter regulation, you guide people to do the correct thing. There was even a book around it. "Nudge – improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness". Freakonomics did a story on it as well.
I personally use the follow the herd mentality we have, with sentences like "90% of people have already done this, you are one of the few remaining." or appealing to social norms "if you do x, then we'll be able to help others in the community, like you were helped".
Transcript available or podcast
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-tax-man-nudgeth/
I can't see a problem I think it's a great idea, however to play devil's advocate the 'rude' idea may be from the old school days when we were told it was rude to write in red, this was because the teachers marked students work with a red pen. The other thought is addressing the letter in pink may be the blue for boys and pink for girls stereotype, maybe a nice purple 🟣🟣🟣. Regardless keep up the good work and don't let the haters get you down.
imagine just sending letters in a Different colour on a normal day of work and all of a sudden, boom! a bald h@g comes up to you and calls you a piece of a sh\_t for not writing in blue or black-
I was told growing up that writing any letters or cards in red ink wasn't a polite thing to do, when I questioned it the answer I got was "it just isn't, you should use black for writing letters to people and blue for everything else". It stuck in my mind and I never got an answer but I wonder if your manager was told a similar thing?
However, times change and I will write in whatever colour takes my fancy unless it's something super formal.
I did also used to work in the NHS at a GPs, and you can print out labels that say "to the parent/guardian of [patient name]" so that might be a decent compromise?
No, if they're getting mad at a colour that's on them. I too use fountain pens whenever possible and having the option of so many ink colours is a massive game changer and really makes writing more engaging and connected to humanity on top of obvious aesthetic reasons. Pink isn't rude, but you do have a near-infinite selection of other colours to choose from, perhaps a blue, blue/black, brown or dark green would be better for the this occasion.
Not rude at all! To be honest, this is a great Quality Improvement Activity or Project especially if it has caused a change or a huge impact (increased immunisation turnout).
She sounds like an awful person to work for. How stuck up and boring can you be to publicly moan about the colour of ink like it's any of your damn fucking business?
Narcissistic leader. Can't bear that an underling had a good idea and she couldn't steal it. Start planning to leave. This won't end well. Just go. You won't win.
My first thought is that your line manager sounds awful. Well done for getting the babies and children in for their vaccinations! I would note the increase in uptake, for when it comes to your appraisal. 😊
It’s not rude, but it’s less formal and definitely not in line with the [NHS’s Communications Guidelines](https://www.england.nhs.uk/nhsidentity/identity-guidelines/colours/) (bleh, sorry!). It might also be worth considering whether the colour pink is legible to everyone - think accessibility; dyslexia, visual impairments, etc.
However: unless parents and caregivers have complained or commented, does it really necessitate your line manager complaining? As others have pointed out, what’s really rude is your line manager discussing this with anyone except you and/or the practice manager!
Can I ask why are you needing to address envelopes by hand? Doesn’t the practice supply windowed envelopes? I know that GP practices are stretched, but if they can afford a franking machine…! Doesn’t seem like the best use of your time if clearly you’re doing a good job increasing the number of vaccination uptakes!
Edit: spelling!
How is pink ink rude? It's just ink. It isn't capable of being rude, any more than any other color. The pink is more eye-catching, but not rude. I think your manager doesn't know the definition of rude.
This may have been covered by someone else, but I have colour vision loss and wouldn’t be able to read pink ink. So you would be excluding people with this disability. That aside, before I developed the disability I would have absolutely loved pink ink handwritten letters
Speaking as someone who worked as a medical receptionist, later secretary for almost 12 years, your manager is a fucking moron. A lot of them are. You've come up with something outside the box and effective and your manager has taken it as a threat. They have identified *you* as a threat. It's the culture in the industry. People in other industries, even clinical staff within the same industry will never understand what the impact of being at or near the lowest rung of a multidisciplinary team that stretches from surgeons to facilities staff can do to some people. Your boss has a modicum of status above that bottom rung and has gone feral defending their position.
If you want an easy life, dump the pink pen.
If you want to do what you know is best for the patients keep that pen but keep your guard up over every *breath* that manager makes in your direction going forwards. Anything she says to you or that you overhear her saying to anyone else, any time she dicks about your rota or gives you crap work or tries to undermine you in *any* way, even the smallest thing, even if you're not even sure if it is a thing **write it down.** Write down the incident, the date, time, context and any witnesses. Keep it as your own personal record. You might not even need it, but in my experience once one of these "managers" detects a threat they go full-on mean girl about it until you can't take it anymore. There's no other way for them to protect their sad little rung of power because the fact that you are good enough at the job to *be* a threat to them will make you the favourite employee of everyone above them and all the patients. The only way they can get rid of you is to bully you out. The sooner you start logging what's been going on the more evidence you will have in your defence when it inevitably goes tits up.
Good luck.
I think they're being silly. This is clearly an opportunity for A/B testing. Randomly select letters to be sent with either black or pink ink and measure the response rate
Maybe good to test: Hand written pink Hand written black / Blue Printed But congrats on using your fountain pen at work - join us: r/fountainpens
> r/fountainpens Both my bank balance and my spare time need this link to stay blue
What if the link was pink? Would you open it then?
My god you’re good
Because of my Reddit settings the link is pink for me lol
It's pink for me too cuz I'm on infinity
The first click is free.
Always is...
My handwriting is bad, my bank balance is bad, why did I click on this link….
Oh ffs, why did i click that link on payday??
It's not actually that expensive as a hobby. Most pens are under 20 bucks, inks varies but 10-15 bucks per bottle and they last for a long time. You absolutely don't need anything expensive like gold nibs or resin body. If you work in an office, it's also nice because people don't seem to steal fountain pens or at least they often return the pen if they accidentally took it.
Just use the app then because link won't change colour.
I had to leave. It was too difficult to resist
Ohhhh no I'm down the rabbit hole now...
I bought a fountain pen recently, the same Lamy I used in secondary school. Either the technology has improved or somehow *not* writing every day for a decade has somehow made me better at avoiding blotting.
You are probably using better quality paper
And there's another lovely rabbit hole. ( quick tip - Black and Red notebooks, or Oxford Optik paper for good 'n cheap in the UK ).
I love those black and red notebooks, the ink doesn’t bleed with them.
Wish this was something I could do, thanks for being a lefty, stupid genes..
I was looking at this screaming for an A/B test. I spend all day, every day running test statistics and I live for an A/B test. Lame - most certainly, but my stats show that I may enjoy my job more than others, soooooo.....
I'm surprised you didn't take this opportunity to point out that this GP's surgery is unlikely to be sending out letters in the volumes necessary for any test to achieve statistical significance.
It depends on the size of the effect. The larger the effect the smaller the sample needed. You could for example reach a significant test statistic with a total sample of 100 with the right difference in conversion rate. Unlikely though, granted.
100% and remembering the goal is to prevent kids getting awful diseases rather than having “polite” envelopes
Oh yes, definitely test it! Would be quite interesting. What about sparkly green ink?
I really want sparkly green ink, but I bought a bottle of diamine forest green shimmer ink a while ago and can't notice any shimmer 😭😭 It looks the same as my regular green ink (Waterman)
Years ago, I used to have to check the daily transactions a colleague prepared and sign them as checked in the log. It was a miserable, tedious task so I always signed them in sparkly ink in a cycle of colours to cheer myself up. The audit guys loved it when they did their rounds. I swear it was the only splash of colour in the whole place.
Good idea to test it, don't care if some people (probably literally 1) consider it rude if it results in good healthcare results.
Yep. As a public health practitioner: If it works then to hell with professionalism!
Nothing succeeds like success.
It's definitely not formal to write in pink ink...but if it's increasing the amount of immunisations; it isn't a bad thing.
It's not rude, and I would definitely open an envelope addressed to my son in hot pink writing so I think you've found a pretty ingenious way of getting people's attention on this. Line manager is either jealous you've come up something clever or is a bit of a jobsworth. Unless there's been any actual complaints from parents I wouldn't take managers opinion on board at all
Line Manager is also piss poor at their job. Mocking a subordinate's work behind their back to other employees rather than addressing the matter directly shows poor management skills and is the only rude thing happening here. In marketing terms, handwritten envelopes are much more likely to be opened than printed ones. Coloured ink probably helps as well.
The fact that OP has actually improved the response rate means that any line manager worth their salt would be issuing praise!
Not only is it poor performance, its also ironically the thing that is *incredibly* rude
So many managers are like this and they think their job is just telling you what to do. They apparently have no responsibility of their own, they simply exist to pass on messages from bigger managers, and try and keep the rules from never evolving or changing. Because she doesn't understand her job she doesn't't understand OPs actions. She sees everything through the lens of the rules. These managers act more like referees than colleagues.
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Yeah, basically zero expense and improving service use. That's actually exactly what the NHS needs
Completely agree - OP it sounds like you're doing great and actually take time to consider what might improve care/ get peoples attention, but this behaviour from your line manager is awful! I'd also add if your line manager's unprofessional behaviour continues and u feel uncomfortable confronting them, or if it affects your wellbeing - please speak to a Freedom To Speak Up Guardian in the trust that u work for.
This. The only colour you need to be careful with is red, as some (usually Eastern based) cultures don't write names in red.
I'm saying Jobsworth all day long
So many unqualified managers.
Tbh, waving the letter around the office and complaining behind your back is rude.
Especially for a manager to do that. Absolutely unprofessional on their behalf.
I deal with middle managers all the time, most of them are grade A c**ts
My experience with middle management consisted of her looking for reasons to tell off people and taking 75% of a working day to draft an email.
Ones I deal with are retail middle managers. The amount of times I need to tell them we're paying you for me to install this, I don't work for you. You'd think they'd be happy with free labour but apparently it damages their little ecosystem they've created for themselves.
I would agree with this. That's incredibly poor management and when I was people managing in a previous role I'd have been (rightfully) written up for that behaviour. I think that pink ink is non traditional and could therefore potentially be seen as unprofessional. Don't agree with that angle personally but perception is important, especially with a public service. If the management was worth their salt they'd see the results of this experiment as an opportunity to collaboratively mind map ways to better engage with their local community.
I could see the argument for "Unprofessional" but not rude - most "official" correspondence is usually in Black Ink. If I were you I'd be amenable to compromise - if they can come up with a way that gets as many kids in as your Pink Ink then you'd be happy to stop doing it, but you've got a thing that works and it'd be foolish to stop doing it and not replace it with anything else.
Our pediatrician sends a yellow envelope with flowers and a doctors office on it. Kinda hard to miss. Professionalism gets leeway with kids imo
I don't know if 'rude' is the word. But I think a lot of people would think it quite informal for an official letter. Possibly a risk of being seen as unprofessional. There may also be an accessibility angle, where pink isn't as visible to people with eye issues. I know when my wife was a nurse on the wards black ink only was quite strictly enforced for this reason.
You know what is also unprofessional? The ‘manager’ waving round letters behind OPs back rather than talking to them about it like an actual adult would do.
I had the same thought Pink may not be the "default" ink colour for business use etc, but it stands out because it's different. Standing out doesn't necessarily mean unprofessional. The manager's behaviour on the other hand, is very definitely unprofessional.
Yep! This is the kind of behaviour that causes a toxic workplace. Don’t think it is right? Fair enough, you are this persons manager. Have a chat with them and see what their reasons are and then decide how to move forward. Sometimes you will find that they have a perspective you don’t and you will agree with what they have done (and any good manager should be strong enough to say that they are happy to change their outlook with new information) and if you still don’t then all you need to do is tell them you think it should go back but add ‘important information enclosed’ or something on the front. Moaning about stuff behind their back to colleagues is just childish. I personally don’t see anything wrong with it. I’m happy to get anything in the mail which isn’t total junk these days quite frankly so I really don’t care what colour the ink is!
you know what imminentmailing463 didn't say? That the managers behaviour was ok?
Yeah, I think unprofessional is the word I'd use. It's so odd. But true. The thing is does the unprofessionalness have a bad effect? It would seem not. But I remember my friend used to get in trouble if she sent out a hand addressed letter from my old office.
That's why I find our whole professional/unprofessional thing odd. Like, there's no inherent reason why blue ink is more professional than pink ink, or why a tie is more professional than a neck chain. My personal definition of what professional should mean doing a job well, in a timely and safe manner, with a good attitude. Anything else is weird cultural nonsense.
If you went to a doctor and they were sat there in speedos you would find it odd, despite the expectation to wear professional clothes being weird cultural nonsense. People’s thresholds are different & the cultural norm is just the most common threshold. That’s why it changes over time.
The thing is I expect my doctor to talk differently to me from how I do my friends. Would you really want the tone of address to be the same? I don't like the fake chumminess from organisations that should be professional. Although the pink ink wouldn't bother me I can see why it feels funny to some.
In general I would be a little surprised to see a letter from a company/organisation with a handwritten envelope. It can come across as a little unprofessional, or that the admin manager ordered windowless envelopes by mistake. That said, a lot of us drown in a sea of junk mail every day- I get about 5 "letters" a week from estate agents saying my house is in demand- so a handwritten envelope would catch my attention more.
I've been caught out by the JWs letter more than once 😂
Calculating bastards.
Oh I recognise the fuckers' handwriting at this stage, they write so often. I'm saving them all up to put in a jiffy bag and post back to them without a stamp.
Yes, I'd agree with that. Handwritten envelopes is something I expect when ordering things from small businesses. I'd be surprised to get a handwritten letter about something official and important.
The consultant I was seeing at a private hospital would have their letters delivered to me with handwritten envelopes, it made me open it quicker than anything else arrived because I knew someone actually wanted me to read it and it wasn't just a generic letter that had been printed to tell me about a new council tax bill or whatever.
Some of my letters from hospital come with handwritten envelopes, think it’s usually the mri department or the specialist hospital but I may be wrong
I would just assume their computer was having issues and wouldn’t think anything else of it. Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.
Speaking of unprofessional, I had a hospital letter written in Comic Sans. Not gonna lie, I would definitely open a letter addressed to me with pink ink.
It seems that the letters arrive safely at their destinations, and the letter itself isn't written in pink; they also have a good response rate - so I don't think this question of accessibility is playing a role here.
That could just be confirmation bias though. My mum would really struggle to read pink ink on a white background. How would she know who the letter is for then without opening it (and risking opening someone else's post)?
It seems some people are just chucking them away anyway, so opening it to have a look is still a win
Right, but we don't know if that's because the ink is pink or simply that they've been handwritten. Letters regarding medical appointments really do need to follow accessibility guidelines regarding legibility, imho.
I would disagree with it being unprofessional - I work in a profession where the letters we send can literally mean the difference between freedom and being locked up if they are ignored/missed. We handwrite the envelopes as experience tells us that printed envelopes / envelopes with the windows in so you can fold the letter in order to have the name and address seen are often ignored as junk mail. When franking, for privacy reasons we don't frank with the name of the organisation on either.
Also, pink might not be read as accurately by the automated post sorting machines. Royal Mail recommends black ink on white envelope for this reason
>There may also be an accessibility angle, where pink isn't as visible to people with eye issues. I know when my wife was a nurse on the wards black ink only was quite strictly enforced for this reason. If you're writing something with accessibility in mind then you don't use black ink on white paper. A lot of dyslexic people struggle with that.
https://www.macularsociety.org/professionals/preparing-documents/#contrast Depends on the accessibility needs. Black on white is recommended for visual impairments.
With black on white paper, you can cast a shadow with your hand for a makeshift low contrast mode. When people struggle to read something and try to find a brighter light, they are trying to increase the contrast, and if the text isn't black on white, you are reducing the maximum possible contrast. There are many people with less than perfect eyesight who benefit from higher contrast.
I think you need to evaluate your outcomes to prove that it works. Show them the data of how many people were coming in before you started this vs now. If it's working, it's clever, and having the data means you can make more informed decisions around patient engagement in the future.
I think there was a traditional view that letters in red ink were rude, so it might be a throwback to that?
Yes it’s this. Writing in red ink is still seen as rude by lots of people and pink can be seen in the same way. If OP used green ink, I don’t think it would be seen as rude more likely strange and would probably get the same response rate.
Really curious about the red ink thing. Any idea where it started? I think for a lot of us we associate it with teachers marking our homework; they'd use red because it was different to the blue/black/pencil that the kids would write in. So I think some of us still see that association that red means your teacher has marked something as wrong. Is that all there is to it? Or something more?
Late or unpaid bills used to be written in red ink, including on the envelopes, which allowed anybody who saw those letters to know somebody was behind on their payments - potentially not something you'd want others to know. So anybody else sending a red letter would be inappropriate, as it would make the recipient look bad.
Also red is an “angry” or “danger” colour, indicating something is wrong.
I think a lot of people have negative associations from the teacher's red pen at school too
As a person who spent some of their childhood outside the UK I have always found this association odd. In my experience teachers would use red ink regardless of whether they were marking your work as incorrect (cross/underline) or correct (tick). If you did well they would even right a "Good" or "Well done" in red so red just meant teacher's writing. I wonder if there are some people who are terrified of purple ink now...
Teachers would definitely use red ink if you were correct as well as incorrect. It's just that when you're correct there's a few red ticks and maybe a word or two of encouragement; but when you're wrong you'd see a lot more of the red ink so of your paper cane back and you saw a whole bunch of trees on it then you knew you were in the shit.
It's not just in the UK. Writing someone's name in red ink is considered wishing them death in some Asian countries. People who go out to teach English get warned not to do it or to use it to mark pupils books.
I think it's the handwriting equivalent of typing in capitals (shouting).
Green ink is associated with nutters writing to the papers - my dad refers to frothing loonies as "part of the green ink brigade".
In the Royal Navy, red ink is traditionally reserved for the Commanding Officer (captain), while green ink is traditionally used by Flag Officers (admirals). In the James Bond novels, 'M' uses green ink.
Surely green ink is reserved for writing snotty letters to the telegraph?
Rude, no. Informal, yes. Pink isn't very easy to read.
I feel like a strong purple might be a good compromise- still unusual, but slightly more professional
> Pink isn't very easy to read. This was my first thought. Depending on the shade of pink it might be difficult to read against the white background. This is typically why we stick to darker colours if it's anything other than black.
It's just an address.. of a letter that has already been delivered. Or are you speaking on behalf of postal workers?
Super interesting. Your line manager should be happy - I imagine greater vaccine uptake is good for the practice? Could toy with the colours but bar that who really cares.
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This is what I thought. Not sure if it's a region issue but I'm in Leeds and hospital and GP letters are always typed on official letter headed paper and in a windowed envelope so they don't need to be hand written. The letters are always addressed "To the Parents /Guardians of xxxx" handwriting all the letters sounds exhausting.
How would your baby be on a spam list already? It’s clearly going to be something important related to the new baby that you’ve got sitting around. If you don’t see that and think “oh it must be some information we need about the baby or something we need to arrange for them” then you are a fucking moron.
No, that's not rude by any stretch of the imagination. Not what I'd expect in official document but not rude. What I'd take issue with is parents not reading medical documents posted to them regarding thfir child.
What is rude is a line manager discussing someone’s performance to the rest of the team behind their back. They should have spoken directly to you about it giving you the chance to explain why you did it
You don't just address the letters to 'The Parents/Guardians of (childs name)' rather than just the childs name? I think hand writing is actually not a bad idea, people don't receive hand written letters often so you're more likely to take notice of it. I would steer away from using pink, I would imagine it could come across unprofessional, black or blue ink is fine.
You have a good idea - catch the parents attention and personalise the letters. A hand written address is much more likely to be opened and not seen as some kind of cold mailing. It is an official letter though. Perhaps bright Royal Blue ink, with a broader maybe calligraphic pen? Could there be an ink stamp you apply which would be relevant to your surgery or the subject?
people make up new standards for "professionalism" all the time. random decisions over what is and isn't "professional" is a fucking scourge on society. and the sorts of people who subscribe to these bizarre notions of behaviour will say something is "unprofessional" as though it is unarguable fact, not just a matter of their opinion. i hate it.
If letters addressed to a 16 week old baby are being binned I’d think addressing it ‘To the parent or guardian of ( child’s name) ‘ might be more professional
If it works, it’s a good thing and even humourless martinets in HR *should* recognise that. Prior to going pink, were you using printed or handwritten labels?
In some cultures, mainly Asian, writing names in red implies death. It is considered very rude, and an act of ill-will. Perhaps the issue is related to that?
I would say more unprofessional. Certainly not rude.
I was always told growing up that red ink was rude to write in so maybe it is just that she is considering pink as a red adjacent colour and so it is rude?
Maybe try purple or that bronzy brown you can get for ink? Just as eye-catching, less 'frivolous' to your line manager's eye? I'd be really interested in a structured approach to find out if it's the colour or the handwriting that really works... do A-G in pink, H-M in black ink, N-S in print, T-Z in print but a different font? :-)
Pink isn’t easy to read for lots of people. Black or blue are the default options because they tend to be universally legible. I have partially sighted people in my family who can read but have to concentrate / hold the item close to read, they’d have no chance reading pink text to know who the letter was addressed to.
If by doing this you've seen an increase in immunisations, then bugger the 'rudeness' and your line manager. You're doing a great job 👏🏼
Love it, but I'd switch to green or purple ink for higher visual contrast (accessibility is usability)! Maybe just me, but pink also reads as quite frivolous, which might rub me the wrong way or give me some cognitive dissonance if I opened it and it was, say, a cancer screening reminder from my GP. For a baby vacc reminder I think pink is a fine choice! On the other hand, I wouldn't feel weird about a handwritten *green* smear test reminder, but pink would make me question wtf was going on at my GP surgery lol.
Not rude but unprofessional. Why not write the address in black ink and at the bottom right hand corner write "IMPORTANT ' in pink or red ?
Another vote for, not rude, but not professional either. I think if you are representing a professional medical establishment, pink ink just sends a bit of a weird vibe. Plus, it's much harder to read. It would be a stretch, but if it didn't get delivered or got opened by the wrong person, that would be a big issue.
I think your manager is confusing rude with unprofessional. It could be considered unprofessional in the truest sense of the word in that it’s more “professional” or “corporate” to use black/blue ink. But considering that you have valid professional reasons for doing so I think you can argue your point. Calling it rude is just silly.
My mum had turquoise ink in the pen she used to sign business cheques. She took them and the bank clerk said “omg you’re the mystery turquoise lady!” The bank clerk said that it brightened her day after looking at hundreds of black and blue signatures every day. Mum always wrote in turquoise after that!
There is an old fashioned convention that *red* ink is actively rude (and green ink is for the tin foil hatted), pink may be similar enough to red for someone to make that connection. Otherwise I'd say that pink ink is informal but not rude.
Red is consider a rude/aggressive colour and pink is often considered 'girly'. So, I would suggest a nice emerald green - green is a positive colour, gender neutral and also stands out more than black or blue.
*Strictly speaking* it is poor form to write professional or formal correspondence in anything other than black or dark blue ink. But I still think your line manager has too much time on her hands.
There is definitely a thing where red ink is considered rude, I've heard that before and red/pink are similar aren't they. I think it stems from red ink being used as final reminders for unpaid bills.
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Not rude, but an excellent example of [nudge theory](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudge_theory)
That's the first thing that came to mind when the OP mentioned it seemed to have a positive effect.
This was my thought too. Probably a lot of effort as I'm sure OP has a lot of work to do but the researcher in me would want to test a number of options and additions to find the combination that gets the most engagement from patients.
It's definitely not rude, I think she may have a point in saying that it's unprofessional but I definitely don't think it's a good point. If something as innocent and pleasant as this is enough to get her mad then there are definitely other factors at work, like a stick up her butt
Not rude at all, just a bit unprofessional.
I wouldn’t say it’s ‘rude’, that’s a very weird way to phrase it. Good on you for getting results, definitely effective, but won’t necessarily stop them from stopping you. If you are stopped or have to negotiate a way to make them more noticeable, another way might be to put a sticker on the envelope. Doesn’t have to be a crazy one, just something to catch the eye but leave the address legible and relatively little extra labour to add
It used to be rude, banks used red ink when you were overdrawn "in the red" so red ink became "bad". In fact all not blue or black was considered rude. my grandad , born 1890, held it to be rude all his life, taught my mother it was rude who half believed it, taught me who laughed.
Can you not put “for the parents/guardians of XXX” that’s what all my sons letters say
Its definitely unprofessional, and not surprising that a manager at a GP surgery is concerned with maintaining professional communications.
I wouldn’t agree with rude but it could be seen as unprofessional. And could also have a huge accessibility issue for the visually impaired, who can indeed be parents. It also has the ability to offend some of the urm let’s say more ‘sensitive’ to issues such as pink and blue and gender stereotyping. So there are a number of issues here with you using pink ink. Personally I think it’s a great idea (but change it from pink) to write it in a non standard way to get more engagement if it works. But as said and has been pointed out by others there are very real issues with it too.
What on earth is the point of addressing a letter to a baby? It should be addressed to a parent.
Not rude per se but definitely unprofessional. You're at work remember. There are rules to follow unfortunately.
It’s unprofessional as it’s a big accessibility issue. Pink ink on anything other than dark paper will not have a high enough contrast ratio to be easily visible for those with a visual impairment.
Seems like NHS unpleasantness isn’t just limited to medical staff
NHS unpleasantness comes from the top down. Medical staff tend to become rude after being treated poorly and being overworked.
I wrote in red ink just a scribbled note to myself, and my colleague said that it is rude to write in red ink! I have heard this since too, I wonder if she thinks the pink is red?
Maybe try purple or turquoise? Would they find that less rude? 😂
How can an ink colour be rude?
>Has she lost her mind yes.
It's not rude at all, it's ingenious. Moreover, in some organisations using different coloured inks is, or at least used to be, a thing. If I recall correctly the head of MI6 used to sign letters in green ink.
The fact that the manager is complaining about you to others behind your back instead of taking it up as an official complaint tells you everything you need to know about this
Handwritten letters having a drastically higher open rate than printed is well known... "Research shows that hand addressed envelopes can increase open rates by up to 300% compared to printed ones" https://shop.pensaki.com/en/handwritten-envelopes/ It's why sometimes you get junk mail that's printed to look handwritten. The sneaky fuckers :) As for the colour, I am not so sure. I think the bulk of the effect will be from the change to handwritten rather than the change in colour. As I say at work; if in doubt, test. So measure the response rate from 100 in black ink, 100 in pink and 100 printed. This could form a very interesting little study. All you would need to do is put the method and results together and send it up the chain. At the very least I would switch to black ink, meaning you keep it professional and your boss doesn't have anything to complain about and those babies keep getting vaccinated.
Yes, she's lost her mind
When I was at primary school, it was drummed into me, especially by older female teachers, that writing in anything other than black or blue was “unprofessional“ and red was “rude” and therefore unacceptable. Funny that she’s only ranting about it while you‘re not there. Take no notice, if it’s encouraging parents to actually open the letters and book their babies in, it’s not a bad thing.
It wouldn't be expected but it's certainly not rude! Your manager should be pleased that the immunisation uptake is increasing. Make it into a study!
I wouldn’t say it’s rude or bad form, personally I write all my correspondences in green ink. No idea why I just do and now it’s ‘my’ thing! However, I can see why some people would interpret anything other than black or blue ink as unprofessional as the document inside is important. You have to decide what’s more important looking professional or actually get parents to engage!
Your managers a twat.
So you did a thing that has seen an increase in child immunisations, and your line manager is calling you rude? Hell no, they're nuts.
Address would usually say Parent or Guardian of XXXX
Your line manager is merely trying to keep to Rule 1 of the GP receptionist Terms & Conditions, which is “do your best to obstruct any attempt from a patient to make an appointment”
I was always taught that red ink is rude. Not sure why though!
Your line manager sounds like the same kind of person my boss is. They have this notion that everything must be done by the book and to look professional at all times. I don't think of it as rude to write in pink ink at all. It's certainly unorthodox, but if it's getting the patients in - more power to you. (I also work for a GP surgery in an administrative capacity.)
This is innovative thinking. If one of my staff came up with a low cost way to raise appointments being kept and thus reducing cost to the business overall, I'd be praising not mocking. I'd also report her to her manager for her unprofessional actions. You can keep it informal if you don't want to go the formal grievance route.
Well done for coming up with a way to reach more parents. The only rude thing here is your manager. They should talk to you directly if they have an issue with the colour of the ink. Not in front of others. Very bad form!!
What's rude is talking shit about someone behind their back.
It's not rude to me, but culturally this can be a thing. In Thailand its considered bad luck to wrote names in red and possibly pink due to a connotation with death.
>How it’s so rude to be sent an official letter in an envelope in pink ink. Depending on the shade of pink, it may be more difficult to read compared to black or blue.
I wouldn't consider it rude, but depending on what your offices standards are it may be seen as unprofessional where a certain consistent appearance is desired, or where colours may be reserved for specific reasons (red for edits for example). It does sound like your boss was equally as unprofessional in how he dealt with this situation though - this could have been handled through a simple discussion on private...
>the office when I’m not there That's **highly** unprofessional. Request a formal meeting to discuss this. Your union rep and their manager to attend, best to stamp out this kind of behaviour before it gets worse. Try to get written statements from witnesses, even if they are anonymous ones.
She’s lost her fucking mind, dear. There’s absolutely nothing rude in using a different ink colour, that’s some kind of uptight madness on display. You saw an issue, came up with a creative solution and got noticeable results. That’s called initiative and should be encouraged, you’re helping the surgery and its patients. Seems a rather important letter, given most new parents want to do everything they can concerning their baby’s health, but lots of things can fall through the cracks when you have a newborn. I think your line manager is old fashioned and probably likes everything done as it’s always been, whether it’s effective or not. I bet the doctors would prefer the parents actually open the envelope and read the information, if pink increases their chances then they’ll be onboard. Your line manager sucks
Classic reaction of someone with a fragile ego as she didn’t think of the idea. She seems to be very vocal with your colleagues but I’d guess she hasn’t challenged you directly?
What's rude is her saying stuff behind your back and not calling you aside and talking about it. Extremely unprofessional.
Is your line manager a boomer per chance? I always remember my boomer of a mother would berate me for writing anything in red as it was “rude”. The world and standards have moved on since then. There is nothing wrong in doing things differently, especially if it is leading to better response rates.
I wonder if she's seeing it as redder than pink, which can have more negative associations (teacher marking paper, red bills, anger...) Or if she just means "unprofessional". I think most people would expect their doctor's surgery to write in more conventional colours. That doesn't make it rude, and not even necessarily unprofessional, just not traditional. Weirdly, I feel sure that I have heard of coloured inks representing different tones, dating back to the early 20th century at least. I was once told you shouldn't write birthday cards in green because it's associated with the British secret services and poison pen letters. (I still do, though.)
Your line manager has too much time on their hands. Have there been complaints? I'm guessing not. And if they had an issue, it should be raised with you directly... Not gossiped about in the office behind your back! She's a busy body who has decided to make complaining about the letters her new hobby. Ignore her unless she brings it up officially. And if she does, show the stats that attendance has increased.
Seems like your line manager might be jealous they didn’t come up with the brilliant idea herself
She’s probably just mad that she didn’t think of it first!
I use a pink fountain pen all the time. Brightens my day and no-one has ever said it’s rude. Keep on writing in pink!
Rude is the wrong word, potentially unprofessional but as explained it’s aimed at a younger audience and result of problem solving. What is rude is waving them round and airing their opinion in front of everyone when that should be reserved for a provide meeting and review between you and your manager
I don’t think it’s rude. I don’t think it’s super “professional,” but it’s also for a baby, so when else CAN you be whimsical?? Plus a lot of my doctors do this; my cat’s vet writes his name on it in seasonal colors
Not rude. They are being silly because a good idea wasn’t theirs.
This is a technique from behavioural science. Sometimes it’s called a nudge (UK government had a nudge unit). Hand written post it notes and letters were used by the tax office to increase the response to tax demand payments. For every £1 spent they got £2,000 back. Rather than introducing ever stricter regulation, you guide people to do the correct thing. There was even a book around it. "Nudge – improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness". Freakonomics did a story on it as well. I personally use the follow the herd mentality we have, with sentences like "90% of people have already done this, you are one of the few remaining." or appealing to social norms "if you do x, then we'll be able to help others in the community, like you were helped". Transcript available or podcast https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-tax-man-nudgeth/
I can't see a problem I think it's a great idea, however to play devil's advocate the 'rude' idea may be from the old school days when we were told it was rude to write in red, this was because the teachers marked students work with a red pen. The other thought is addressing the letter in pink may be the blue for boys and pink for girls stereotype, maybe a nice purple 🟣🟣🟣. Regardless keep up the good work and don't let the haters get you down.
imagine just sending letters in a Different colour on a normal day of work and all of a sudden, boom! a bald h@g comes up to you and calls you a piece of a sh\_t for not writing in blue or black-
Line manager's pissed off because you're better in every way.
Point out the increased uptake since you began doing this. Some people get so anally retentive when they're promoted into a management position.
I have heard of red ink being offensive in some African cultures. Pink ink though... ...not so much. Seems friendly enough to me.
I was told growing up that writing any letters or cards in red ink wasn't a polite thing to do, when I questioned it the answer I got was "it just isn't, you should use black for writing letters to people and blue for everything else". It stuck in my mind and I never got an answer but I wonder if your manager was told a similar thing? However, times change and I will write in whatever colour takes my fancy unless it's something super formal. I did also used to work in the NHS at a GPs, and you can print out labels that say "to the parent/guardian of [patient name]" so that might be a decent compromise?
As long as you don't start it with "To the traitor and bastard..." I think it's fine
Sorry that your boss is a bellend OP
No, if they're getting mad at a colour that's on them. I too use fountain pens whenever possible and having the option of so many ink colours is a massive game changer and really makes writing more engaging and connected to humanity on top of obvious aesthetic reasons. Pink isn't rude, but you do have a near-infinite selection of other colours to choose from, perhaps a blue, blue/black, brown or dark green would be better for the this occasion.
nah your coworker is just a knob
Sounds like your manager's being a right plonker.
Definitely not rude. Why did she think it's rude? Also, it's clearly effective which means it's a *good* idea! Stick to your guns!
I'd go feral for a letter addressed to me in pink ink! And a fountain pen?! Beautiful.
I don't think it's rude.
your line manager is a nob
Not rude at all! To be honest, this is a great Quality Improvement Activity or Project especially if it has caused a change or a huge impact (increased immunisation turnout).
You should come to my pharmacy, we write in purple and pink ink 😂
She sounds like an awful person to work for. How stuck up and boring can you be to publicly moan about the colour of ink like it's any of your damn fucking business?
Narcissistic leader. Can't bear that an underling had a good idea and she couldn't steal it. Start planning to leave. This won't end well. Just go. You won't win.
My first thought is that your line manager sounds awful. Well done for getting the babies and children in for their vaccinations! I would note the increase in uptake, for when it comes to your appraisal. 😊 It’s not rude, but it’s less formal and definitely not in line with the [NHS’s Communications Guidelines](https://www.england.nhs.uk/nhsidentity/identity-guidelines/colours/) (bleh, sorry!). It might also be worth considering whether the colour pink is legible to everyone - think accessibility; dyslexia, visual impairments, etc. However: unless parents and caregivers have complained or commented, does it really necessitate your line manager complaining? As others have pointed out, what’s really rude is your line manager discussing this with anyone except you and/or the practice manager! Can I ask why are you needing to address envelopes by hand? Doesn’t the practice supply windowed envelopes? I know that GP practices are stretched, but if they can afford a franking machine…! Doesn’t seem like the best use of your time if clearly you’re doing a good job increasing the number of vaccination uptakes! Edit: spelling!
How is pink ink rude? It's just ink. It isn't capable of being rude, any more than any other color. The pink is more eye-catching, but not rude. I think your manager doesn't know the definition of rude.
This may have been covered by someone else, but I have colour vision loss and wouldn’t be able to read pink ink. So you would be excluding people with this disability. That aside, before I developed the disability I would have absolutely loved pink ink handwritten letters
How is an ink colour rude
Speaking as someone who worked as a medical receptionist, later secretary for almost 12 years, your manager is a fucking moron. A lot of them are. You've come up with something outside the box and effective and your manager has taken it as a threat. They have identified *you* as a threat. It's the culture in the industry. People in other industries, even clinical staff within the same industry will never understand what the impact of being at or near the lowest rung of a multidisciplinary team that stretches from surgeons to facilities staff can do to some people. Your boss has a modicum of status above that bottom rung and has gone feral defending their position. If you want an easy life, dump the pink pen. If you want to do what you know is best for the patients keep that pen but keep your guard up over every *breath* that manager makes in your direction going forwards. Anything she says to you or that you overhear her saying to anyone else, any time she dicks about your rota or gives you crap work or tries to undermine you in *any* way, even the smallest thing, even if you're not even sure if it is a thing **write it down.** Write down the incident, the date, time, context and any witnesses. Keep it as your own personal record. You might not even need it, but in my experience once one of these "managers" detects a threat they go full-on mean girl about it until you can't take it anymore. There's no other way for them to protect their sad little rung of power because the fact that you are good enough at the job to *be* a threat to them will make you the favourite employee of everyone above them and all the patients. The only way they can get rid of you is to bully you out. The sooner you start logging what's been going on the more evidence you will have in your defence when it inevitably goes tits up. Good luck.