Part of this is the way that work has sprawled beyond the rigid nine-to-five; the expectation that we will be easily available at any time, via email or phone, means that the demarcations of home and work life have blurred. And perhaps that’s the problem with trying to negotiate the tricky etiquette of workplace manners – we don’t know quite where we are, home or work, during these times. Is emailing a colleague with a smiley face normal practice or too casual? Can a text be an official work missive or not? Do we understand where the formalities can be bent, and where they need to be enforced? The very different opinions of Shah and Elsesser suggest we don’t know.