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I am wondering about this scenario.

My colleague is sitting in our break room. I come in. She pulls away the letter she was looking at.

If I wanted to sit down and wanted to let her know that it was not my intention to read the letter, could I say the following?

Don’t worry. I won’t be reading the letter.

gotube
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franziska bohn
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2 Answers2

8

Probably not, but it would depend on what kind of letter this was.

The only time you would say, "I won't be doing X" is when there is some expectation, or possibility that you ordinarily would "do X."

For example:

  • I usually watch Jeopardy every evening, but I won't be watching Jeopardy next week, because I'll be working late.

  • "Are you coming to the office holiday party this year?" "No, I won't be coming this year."

  • I'm going on vacation next week and I won't be checking my email until I come back.

If your colleague is reading a personal letter, there would be no expectation that you would read it, so it would not be appropriate to say, "I won't be reading it."

If your colleague were reading a memo that was being passed around the office, then you might say, "I won't be reading it."

As to what you could say instead, there are a lot of options which might have slightly different implications. As this is a somewhat delicate social interaction, choosing the right phrasing might be difficult. Some options would include:

  • I wasn't trying to read your letter
  • I'm not going to try to read your letter
  • I'm not trying to read your letter
  • I'm not interested in reading your letter
Juhasz
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    I think it would work, in a sort of mocking way, to imply that you think that she thought that you expected to read her letter, and that that belief was incorrect. – nick012000 Dec 18 '21 at 11:43
6

This is more suited to Interpersonal Skills SE, but I personally would not mention the letter. She does not need to know you did not intend to look at it. It's her private letter. To mention it would be worse than not mentioning it.

If you had not sat down yet, and the other person puts away the letter, there is no reason for you to suppose anything about that action, and if you mention it or deny intending reading the letter, you may seem over sensitive or intrusive and this can be annoying or seem weird. You seem to want to make it about you. Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut.

For all you know, she might have put away the letter to be polite (because it might seem ill-mannered to ignore you by reading it after you entered the break room).

Michael Harvey
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