Bow to your master, the exclamation point!

Plus: Fighting schadenfreude with freudenfreude, and the greatness of Irene Cara

When it comes to workplace communication, insecurity abounds.

Even in my day job at Showtime, where there isn’t an unkind person to be found, there is an implicit recognition among all that the tone of emails or Slack messages can easily be misunderstood. A humble request can come off as a command. Even a “thank you” can sound insufficiently grateful.

From that unease, a dependence on the exclamation point was forged.