E-mail creates the perception that we have another medium through which to reach a person besides the telephone. And as long our message doesn't bounce back, we feel certain it has reached the intended recipient.

But that perception might not work with several top executives to whom time means money. The longer you spend checking your e-mail - and those messages could come from thousands of people you have met at business functions or include scores of spam every day - the less time you can spare for discussions with staff or promising business partners.

So don't ever expect that an e-mail address you get from someone's name card will actually establish a definite means of connection.

Among top executives who do not check e-mail is MR Sasiprin Chandratat, CEO of Ayudhya Securities Plc.

During a recent interview with business reporters, he urged them all to contact him if they wanted more information about the company's business plan. Not wishing to annoy him with phone calls, the reporters said if they did need more information, they'd send him an e-mail. Sasiprin immediately told them not to. He said he never checked his in-box, in which about 200 messages landed each day. But that doesn't mean all the e-mails go unread, because his secretary screens them all and streams the ones he will want to see into his mobile phone.

That seems to fit the perception that if you want to reach a top executive, it's always best to go through the secretary.

A radical makeover

Some Thai parents are scratching their heads these days over what their teenagers wear and how they behave. But they should feel themselves blessed they did not have their children in New South Wales, Australia.

The Associated Press reported an apparent rise in the number of teens under the age of 18 there seeking breast implants, Botox injections and nose jobs.

Increasingly, parents are being asked to pay for implants or nose jobs as a birthday or graduation gift. In the old days, the biggest fear parents faced was whether to allow their children to have their ears pierced. Then it was tattoos. Now it's cosmetic enhancement.

But new laws are in the works that would make it harder for minors to go under the knife without counselling and parental permission. Indeed, they don't need to go through a lengthy process. Just wait a few more years, and they'll be free to do whatever they want with their bodies. Kids just don't know how to wait, huh?

achara_d@nationgroup.com