passive-aggressiveworkplaceemailcommunication

37 Passive Aggressive Email Sign-Offs, Ranked

July 8, 20268 min readBy This Is Toxic

An email sign-off is a mood ring for the entire message above it.

A "Best," is fine. A "Best." is the beginning of a performance review conversation. A "Warm regards," from someone who is not warm is a red flag with a hand-lettered sticker on it. And "Per my last email," is not a sign-off, technically, but if it appears in the last line of your inbox this week, you already know what it is.

Here are thirty-seven of the most passive aggressive email sign-offs in the corporate rotation, ranked from "mildly annoyed" to "we are going to need a meeting", plus a decoder so you can tell what your coworker is actually saying.

Tier 1: Mildly annoyed (ranks 37 to 26)

The gentlest tier. Nothing here is going to end your week. But if all of them come from the same person, you have your answer.

→37. "Best,"
→36. "Thanks!"
→35. "Thanks."
→34. "Thx"
→33. "Cheers,"
→32. "Cheers."
→31. "Kind regards,"
→30. "Regards,"
→29. "Regards."
→28. "Warmly,"
→27. "Warm regards,"
→26. "All the best,"

The comma-to-period conversion is doing all the work here. A period says the conversation is closed. A comma says please respond.

Tier 2: Passive aggressive proper (ranks 25 to 16)

The signature move of the mid-level coworker who has been asked to circle back twice this week.

→25. "Thanks so much!"
→24. "Thanks in advance,"
→23. "Appreciate it,"
→22. "Any update?"
→21. "Just checking in,"
→20. "Following up on the below,"
→19. "Circling back,"
→18. "Bumping this,"
→17. "Gentle nudge,"
→16. "Hoping to close this out today,"

"Thanks in advance" is the classic. It thanks you for the thing you have not done yet, and quietly informs you that you will be doing it.

Tier 3: The gloves are off (ranks 15 to 6)

Now we are in the "cc'ing your manager" zone.

→15. "Please advise,"
→14. "Please advise."
→13. "Please confirm receipt,"
→12. "Adding [Boss] for visibility,"
→11. "Looping in [Boss] here,"
→10. "Reattaching for your convenience,"
→9. "See below,"
→8. "As mentioned,"
→7. "Per our conversation,"
→6. "Per my last email,"

"Per my last email" is the "Dear John" of workplace correspondence. It looks polite. It is not polite. It is a formal accusation.

Tier 4: Scorched earth (ranks 5 to 1)

These are the ones you send when the promotion decision was last week and it did not go your way.

→5. "For the record,"
→4. "As previously discussed and documented,"
→3. "Happy to jump on a call so we can align on this,"
→2. "K."
→1. "Sent from my iPhone."

"Sent from my iPhone." at number one because it is the only one that pretends to be an accident. Nobody who is at war forgets to remove their default signature. Nobody.

Translate your sign-off: the decoder

A field guide to what these actually mean, when they arrive at 4:57pm on a Friday.

"Just checking in"

You have already been checked on. This is check-in number three. There will not be a check-in number four. There will be a meeting.

"Circling back"

The circle has been open since Tuesday. It is being closed today, one way or the other.

"Please advise"

I am not going to make this decision. If it goes badly, I have this email as evidence that I asked you and you did not respond.

"Adding [Boss] for visibility"

I have run out of soft-power moves. We are going nuclear at the manager level. Buckle up.

"Reattaching for your convenience"

The attachment worked the first three times. Your inability to open it is now a documented pattern.

"For the record"

This is now a legal document.

"Happy to jump on a call so we can align"

I am furious. I am also afraid to put the furious version in writing. The call is where I say the furious version.

"K."

The conversation is over. Your Slack status is now, and forever, "away".

If you are on the receiving end

A one-off "Per my last email" is a Tuesday. A pattern of these, from the same person, week after week, is a data point. Not a crime. Not a HR case. A signal. If you keep getting sign-offs from tier three and four from the same coworker, the problem is not the email. The problem is the person, and the tone is the paper trail they are building.

For the full playbook on the person underneath the tone, see our guide on how to deal with a toxic coworker without getting fired. And for context on where these patterns come from culturally, our Toxic People Field Guide has the seven signs that apply to more than just your inbox.

Handle the person, not just the email.

The after-hours option

None of this is a crime. Most of it is a small, ongoing renovation project on your Sunday nights. When the sign-offs pile up enough that you can no longer read your own inbox without a slight tightness in your jaw, the actual answer is not a better sign-off from you. It is a private, mailed, off-the-record letter that ends the paragraph you have been rehearsing.

Written after work. Printed on paper. Mailed from a neutral return address. Read once, in private, by the recipient. No reply-all button.

The letter that closes the tab.

→50 Passive Aggressive Examples: /blog/passive-aggressive-examples
→The Toxic People Field Guide: /toxic-people
→How to Deal With a Toxic Coworker: /blog/how-to-deal-with-a-toxic-coworker

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