With remote and hybrid working becoming fashionable in the aftermath of the pandemic, personal and professional boundaries have largely blurred as neither employers nor employees set limits on what is professionally acceptable and what is not. not.

Additionally, business conversations tend to be more formal over traditional business communication platforms such as email and desktop chat. So when employees use more personal messaging mediums like WhatsApp for communication, should the language used be formal or is it acceptable to use words like “Hey” when addressing seniors? It’s a debate raging on Reddit after screenshots of an office chat went viral on the medium.

Screenshots of an alleged office shared by a Reddit user “show u/Familiar_Mango_7509” showed a boss giving a band-aid to an employee who responded with “Hey” to a query.

“Hi Shreyas, my name is Sandeep. Please don’t use the word ‘Hey’. It’s offensive to me.” “If you don’t remember my name, just use ‘Hi’ . “Other words you should never use professionally ‘Dude’, ‘Man’, only ‘hello’ if you’re not targeting a large audience in a post, to be superior to you ‘guy’, ‘girl’.

It has sparked a debate about what continues to be formal and whether older people can demand respect when they are unable to earn a living.

The thread’s commenters shared their own bizarre stories regarding office conversations.