The paper describes deviations from the conventional norms of politeness in the process of communication via e-mail between students (as subordinates) and lecturers (as their superiors) in the English Department. It has been noted that the students are to a large extent unable to use an appropriate register in their e-mail correspondence, focusing more on the aspects of solidarity between interlocutors rather than power distance between them. These modifications manifest themselves through a variety of elements, e.g. a disregard for the norms of punctuation and spelling, the use of forms of address typical of the spoken interaction with peers, code-mixing between Polish and English, or the choice of vocabulary and style unsuitable for the type of relationship. All these violate the traditional linguistic etiquette. This is additionally augmented by the inappropriate phrasing of requests which formally often employ the markers characteristic for orders. These changes are attributed to the student's predominant exposure to electronic media communication in informal contexts which consequently acts as the prototype for the written communication process in the modern era.