Hello everyone! Could you help me to clarify whether it is correct, please? I can’t understand why sender used past tenses and such an unusual form of question in the following sentence.

“We have reviewed your application, and I was wondering if you were available for a quick chat on Monday 1st November?”

Question

Hello everyone! Could you help me to clarify whether it is correct, please? I can’t understand why sender used past tenses and such an unusual form of question in the following sentence.

“We have reviewed your application, and I was wondering if you were available for a quick chat on Monday 1st November?”

Answer

This is a normal way to politely ask a question. Sometimes we use ‘were’ when ‘would be’ is actually more correct.

Answer

Hi Andrej, this is one of the options to ask for something in a polite way. English and American cultures are very indirect. Meaning, if you are able to soften your questions and requests - do it as much as possible.

Just compare:
1. Are you free for a call on Monday?
2. "I was wondering if" you were available for a quick call on Monday?

Which one sounds friendlier and more pleasant? The first one is too direct (that sounds fine for people from Post Soviet Countries, but not for native English speakers.) 
There are various options how to sound polite such as "would you mind", "is there any chance", "I wonder if you could", "could you please", "do you mind if", etc.

FYI if you are interested to learn more about this let me know. I'll be more than happy to help, since I have spent plenty of time learning such cultural differences in the States.