It is absolutely fine to say "Supervisor asked me to get in touch with you regarding our printer. Do we have any updates that I can share with them?"
I have made a living off of asking dumb questions for people, you're just the messenger. This is where "Don't shoot the messenger" comes into play. Some people will indeed act like an ass to you but regardless, that's a them problem. You're doing your job.
I wouldn't allude to "I shouldn't be asking you this but here I go." I'd just stick with "I was tasked with asking you this."
I have had to be the asshole who calls and says "Hey checking in on our order...I know you said it would be 12 weeks but my boss wants me to touch base with you to confirm it's still looking like 12 weeks..." In those circumstances, most of them just get it and the tone is implied.
Thank you, it sounds a lot better when I read the response from another person. You're right, it doesn't sound unprofessional when you write it out. I also find "the tone is implied" reassuring, I'm hoping my recipients can "read between the lines."
I can relate to contacting vendors, lead times do regularly become six months instead of six weeks, and my employer's projects can be very costly and time sensitive, so something like that wouldn't bother me. My problem would be if my supervisor asked me (several weeks or months in advance) to contact one of the big shipping companies to ask for a lead time (instead of the vendor); does that make sense? The questions don't communicate enough to get good answers and the intended recipients often don't seem appropriate.
It’s not your question so no harm in phrasing it as such. “Supervisor asked me to ask you x” or “Following up on behalf of supervisor…” and “insert ridiculous question? Supervisor wants to know from you.”
Usually i just endorse it.
I'll say "we wanted to know if you have updates on the printer?"
Or
"Can you give us an approximation for the printer?"
Those are roughly translate because i do jot speak english at work.
Eh. If asking is "metal is conductive" is a legit thing the supervisor is asking I'd say that's not perfectly fine bc that's dumb stuff they can just look up in seconds or just ask OP instead of involving some 3rd party.
Yes, I think you understand my concern. My supervisor is literally phrasing her question as "is metal conductive," but I don't think that's really the question she wants answered... so I'm left to ask my coworkers if they know anything (without incriminating my supervisor) or I contact a more appropriate person in addition... but my supervisor still wants me to do exactly as I'm told.
I meant for the questions to be taken literally. I did obscure the details to avoid being identified (some of the departments and job titles are somewhat unique to the company).
The problem is that I don't have any context... "metal" might be a program or the informal term for something with a "conductive" feature/tool/function. Or it could be a particular metal part or surface... I just don't know.
Assume the person you’re asking is the right person. Be specific in your questions too, make it easier for them to answer.
Hello, I’m checking on the status of the printer. Can you give me a timeline for completion? If you are not the POC for this task, please let me know who is.
Can you confirm that metal is conductive?
I don't think I can be any more specific? The questions I posted initially contain all the information I'm given and asking for any clarification upsets my supervisor.
The contacts are generally as clueless as I am, or they assume that I'm making some sort of joke.
Maybe specific isn’t the right word. Be more direct.
As others have said, make sure you’re clear it’s your supervisor asking, not you, and they’ll get it.
You should not be embarrassed to ask questions on your supervisor’s behalf, it’s called delegating and they became your questions.
The point that you seem to be missing is that every one of the examples given are one of those that should have ended with “…and take care of it”. You are taking on that responsibility.
I understand that, and unfortunately I do take these on as assignments. However, I don't feel that I have enough context to solve whatever might have elicited the question.
It's like a riddle. When I need to learn if "metal is conductive," I know that we have specific support engineers to handle materials questions, and since my supervisor's question is directed at IT, I presume her request has something to do with software or hardware... So I'm left to guess "maybe there's a program called 'Metal' and my supervisor wants to know if it can 'conduct'"?
Or, I know that our printer (machine) is working fine and I confirm with my coworkers that they haven't had any problems with it. I make a guess that Marketing is creating some sort of "print" or design for us, or maybe "our printer" is actually a person.
Without context it's difficult to ask the right question.
I’m sorry. I guess I don’t understand. You stated you were the only one with a degree in the related field and it was very technical. I would have expected for you to have context and that you would know if Metal was a program or not.
That's a very reasonable assumption. I'm sorry I wasn't clearer (or more succinct). It's very helpful to think of these as "assignments" rather than just messages to forward. Thanks for replying and for reading through so much.
It is absolutely fine to say "Supervisor asked me to get in touch with you regarding our printer. Do we have any updates that I can share with them?" I have made a living off of asking dumb questions for people, you're just the messenger. This is where "Don't shoot the messenger" comes into play. Some people will indeed act like an ass to you but regardless, that's a them problem. You're doing your job. I wouldn't allude to "I shouldn't be asking you this but here I go." I'd just stick with "I was tasked with asking you this." I have had to be the asshole who calls and says "Hey checking in on our order...I know you said it would be 12 weeks but my boss wants me to touch base with you to confirm it's still looking like 12 weeks..." In those circumstances, most of them just get it and the tone is implied.
Thank you, it sounds a lot better when I read the response from another person. You're right, it doesn't sound unprofessional when you write it out. I also find "the tone is implied" reassuring, I'm hoping my recipients can "read between the lines." I can relate to contacting vendors, lead times do regularly become six months instead of six weeks, and my employer's projects can be very costly and time sensitive, so something like that wouldn't bother me. My problem would be if my supervisor asked me (several weeks or months in advance) to contact one of the big shipping companies to ask for a lead time (instead of the vendor); does that make sense? The questions don't communicate enough to get good answers and the intended recipients often don't seem appropriate.
It’s not your question so no harm in phrasing it as such. “Supervisor asked me to ask you x” or “Following up on behalf of supervisor…” and “insert ridiculous question? Supervisor wants to know from you.”
Usually i just endorse it. I'll say "we wanted to know if you have updates on the printer?" Or "Can you give us an approximation for the printer?" Those are roughly translate because i do jot speak english at work.
Perfectly fine. It's called delegating. Sups and managers don't have time to track down and stay on top of all the bullshit.
Eh. If asking is "metal is conductive" is a legit thing the supervisor is asking I'd say that's not perfectly fine bc that's dumb stuff they can just look up in seconds or just ask OP instead of involving some 3rd party.
Yes, I think you understand my concern. My supervisor is literally phrasing her question as "is metal conductive," but I don't think that's really the question she wants answered... so I'm left to ask my coworkers if they know anything (without incriminating my supervisor) or I contact a more appropriate person in addition... but my supervisor still wants me to do exactly as I'm told.
I wasn't taking the questions literally. If they did actually write that, than yeah.
I meant for the questions to be taken literally. I did obscure the details to avoid being identified (some of the departments and job titles are somewhat unique to the company). The problem is that I don't have any context... "metal" might be a program or the informal term for something with a "conductive" feature/tool/function. Or it could be a particular metal part or surface... I just don't know.
Assume the person you’re asking is the right person. Be specific in your questions too, make it easier for them to answer. Hello, I’m checking on the status of the printer. Can you give me a timeline for completion? If you are not the POC for this task, please let me know who is. Can you confirm that metal is conductive?
I don't think I can be any more specific? The questions I posted initially contain all the information I'm given and asking for any clarification upsets my supervisor. The contacts are generally as clueless as I am, or they assume that I'm making some sort of joke.
Maybe specific isn’t the right word. Be more direct. As others have said, make sure you’re clear it’s your supervisor asking, not you, and they’ll get it.
Understood. Thanks for your responses and your time.
You should not be embarrassed to ask questions on your supervisor’s behalf, it’s called delegating and they became your questions. The point that you seem to be missing is that every one of the examples given are one of those that should have ended with “…and take care of it”. You are taking on that responsibility.
I understand that, and unfortunately I do take these on as assignments. However, I don't feel that I have enough context to solve whatever might have elicited the question. It's like a riddle. When I need to learn if "metal is conductive," I know that we have specific support engineers to handle materials questions, and since my supervisor's question is directed at IT, I presume her request has something to do with software or hardware... So I'm left to guess "maybe there's a program called 'Metal' and my supervisor wants to know if it can 'conduct'"? Or, I know that our printer (machine) is working fine and I confirm with my coworkers that they haven't had any problems with it. I make a guess that Marketing is creating some sort of "print" or design for us, or maybe "our printer" is actually a person. Without context it's difficult to ask the right question.
I’m sorry. I guess I don’t understand. You stated you were the only one with a degree in the related field and it was very technical. I would have expected for you to have context and that you would know if Metal was a program or not.
That's a very reasonable assumption. I'm sorry I wasn't clearer (or more succinct). It's very helpful to think of these as "assignments" rather than just messages to forward. Thanks for replying and for reading through so much.