“Please” and “Thank You” (to a Bot?)

You’ve just started your first job.

New laptop. New logins. New everything. And then… your first interaction with the company’s virtual agent.

“Hi… could you please help me find the onboarding pack?”

You pause. Add a “thanks in advance.” Maybe even a smiley face. Just in case.

Because when you’re new, everything feels human – even the bot.

There’s a quiet nervousness in those early days. You don’t want to sound demanding. You don’t want to get it wrong. And somehow, that spills over into how you speak to a machine.

But fast forward six months…

“Send onboarding doc.”
“No that one.”
“Wrong link.”

What changed?

Maybe confidence. Maybe time pressure. Or maybe the slow absorption into workplace tone – efficiency over empathy, speed over softness.

Which raises a curious thought:

Would the bot treat you differently if you stayed polite?
Would a “please” unlock better help?
Would a blunt command get… blunt results?

Right now, probably not.

But in the future? When tone detection, behavioural memory, and adaptive responses evolve?

Politeness might not just be nice… it might be strategic.

So here’s the nudge for new starters:
Hold onto that instinct to be human – even with machines.

Because the moment you stop saying “please” might not just be about the bot…

It might be when work starts changing you.