What is Expected When You Are Cc’d in an Email?

What does Cc: stand for? Back in the stone age, when typewriters were all the rage, carbon paper was used to make an identical copy of the typed letter.

You would put two pieces of paper with a sheet of carbon paper in-between to type your communication on. The Cc: noted at the bottom of the letter let the person the letter was going to know who would get that “carbon copy.”

Speaking from experience, it was a real pain when you made a typo! Email Cc: is referred to as “Courtesy Copy” because there is no real hard copy to send.

I’ve been Cc’d – what should I do?

Unless the Sender specifically asks for your input, a response is not necessarily required. By being Cc’d, you are FYI’d while being allowed to comment. But… here is where discretion is essential!

You need not respond if there is nothing to say. One example would be if you were sent meeting minutes. Unless something is wrong or omitted – no response is necessary or expected.

Say you were Cc’d on an email with many other folks noting that a meeting time had been pushed out or changed. In that case, I would reply with a “Thank you for the update – I’ve changed my calendar accordingly and look forward to…”. In addition, I would want to know that folks got the reschedule note and are good to go if I sent that email.

No need to reply if there is no need to reply.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen onliners who need to reply when they are not adding anything valuable to the conversation.

It’s a fact, that if a doctor writes a prescription for tylenol or pedialyte, etc

then Medicaid will pay for it. Children would come in with 104 temperatures, and if you asked the parent why they didn’t give tylenol or something, they would say that they couldn’t afford it.

I frequently had mothers bring in four kids plus her and one of her boyfriends all to be seen in the ER for colds at about $1,000 per person instead of going to the health department or their assigned doctor. They didn’t care because they didn’t have to pay for it.

I also would ask where they would like a prescription called in. With chain pharmacies costing around $ for the same Rx they could get at Walmart for $4.00 or Publix for free. They would state, “call it into the pharmacy ($150). I have Medicaid.”

If an elderly patient who worked all of their life had come to the hospital more than they were allowed in a month, they were denied Medicare payment. Medicare never helped the elderly, who paid into the system, with their medications. If you work and pay into the system and suddenly become disabled by a stroke or heart attack, etc., you have to wait two full years before you can get any medical help.

You can’t qualify for Medicaid because you’ve worked all of your life, and you can’t qualify for Medicare for two years, or until you turn 65 years old.

Why does everyone think it became so fashionable not to marry? Those moms don’t want a husband to take away their welfare check.