A colleague in another state agency has e-mailed you asking if you would like to use the payroll software her agency developed. You wouldn’t. Switching to a new program would take a lot of time, and what you have works well for you. The following messages are possible approaches to giving her the news. How well does each message meet the criteria in the checklist for negative messages?
1.
Subject: Re: Use Our Software? No.

2.
Subject: Re: Use Our Software?
Thanks for telling me about the payroll software your team developed. What we have works well for us. Like every other agency, we’re operating on a bare-bones budget, and no one here wants to put time (that we really don’t have) into learning a new program. So we’ll say, no, thanks!

3.
Subject: Re: Use Our Software?
The payroll software your team developed sounds very good. I might like to use it, but the people here are computer phobic. They HATE learning new programs. So, being a good little computer support person, I soldier on with the current stuff. (And people wonder why state government is SO INEFFICIENT! Boy, the stories I could tell!) Anyway, thanks for the offer. Keep me posted on the next development—maybe it will be something so obviously superior that even the Neanderthals here can see its advantages!