A client emails a question you cannot answer until Thursday. The rubric-safe response is:

Answer

Reply within 24 hours — acknowledge and promise a time

Options - A. Reply on Thursday, when you have the answer ready - B. Reply within 24 hours — acknowledge and promise a time - C. Reply within two hours in every case, whatever the question - D. Reply within the week; clients expect analysis to take time Why - A. Silence until Thursday is read as a decision or an oversight. The norm is about the reply, not the answer. - B. Correct — Smith's table: within 24 hours, sooner if policy requires. If the answer is not ready, acknowledge the question and promise a time: "the figures by Thursday noon". - C. Two hours is a fast-workplace expectation Smith mentions, not the norm the rubric marks; and a reply in two hours can still be an acknowledgement. - D. A week is not a norm anywhere. The analysis may take a week; the acknowledgement takes a day.

Smith 2.3 (Table 2.3), 6.1, 6.1.2, 6.2; Olds ch 13 tips; concept map J01, J10, J18