E-mail blunders you know you'll regret
Posted by AccountingWEB in Humor on 09/01/2009 - 00:15
- Embarrassing e-mails are quite common in the workplace.
- There are several recurring types of blunder that take place.
- Click the Comment option below to share your embarrassing e-mail stories.
Ever had that sinking feeling when you realize an e-mail clanger has just thudded its way into cyber space?
Everyone's sent e-mails that they've lived to regret, but we're not going to give you another list of e-mail etiquette dos and don'ts.
There's a common five-stage reaction that happens following a serious e-mail blunder:
- Disbelief: “Oh no, surely I haven’t done that...”
- Denial: “Check sent box 50 times.”
- Twitch: “I have done that, bugger.”
- Panic: “PANIC!”
- Damage limitation: “Please ignore my previous message, I was on drugs.
Embarrassing e-mails take many forms, but here are a few of the most common:
- The angry reply: The recipient is unhappy with you and they’ve made that perfectly clear. You feel you’re being unjustly blamed for something or that this person is being unnecessarily curt. Time to give this bozo a textual pummeling so severe he won’t sit down for a week; prepare to unleash the hounds. SEND: Read your reply again five minutes later, refer to the five stages.
- The idiot response: Some recent lobotomy patient has misunderstood what you’ve asked five times, pushing your blood pressure across the 500psi danger-line and wasting your precious time. Looks like it’s time to let this moron know what you think of their cognitive reasoning. Set it out in short sentences, CAPITAL LETTERS and language that would patronize a turnip. SEND: Read your reply again five minutes later, refer to the five stages.
- The classic ‘Reply All’: Dave has invited you to his get together; good old Dave. Unfortunately you notice on the recipient list that Dan and all his friends are also invited. You reply to Dave that you’ll be happy to attend his party, but it’s a shame that Dan and co are coming, as they are a bunch of utter douche-bags. SEND: Oops, reply all; refer to the five stages.
- Forwarded conversations: A customer makes a legitimate e-mail complaint, but there’s no need for them to be so rude. You have a quick e-mail discussion with a colleague to formulate a reply, but part of this conversation includes a comment from one of you alluding to the customer’s dubious parentage. A seemingly satisfactory response is decided upon. SEND: Read your reply again five minutes later, refer to the five stages.
It's a problem that some tech companies have tried to address. Google’s free e-mail service, Gmail, added an unsend message function in March. Taking advantage of the 5-second delay in outgoing e-mails, the new feature allows users to quickly catch messages with errors before it arrives at the recipient’s inbox, preventing some potentially embarrassing situations.
Despite this, it's clear that the only surefire defense against e-mail blunders is cool-headedness and attention to detail.
Have you witnessed an embarrassing e-mail blunder that you're willing to share for the benefit of our sadistic enjoyment? Don't forget to check it before you click 'submit'!
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Gail Perry, CPA
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Workplace email blunders
Workplace email blunders are the cause of many serious consequences. In fact I know that many companies now restrict communication to a trusted few and in government departments the hierarchy of responsibilities is heavy with limitation. Ofcourse, the downside is delayed response to our clients. The solution lies with education and position knowledge and authority.
Regards,
Mike
great list
well, unfortunately, the article is true, we all have at least one story of sending an embarrassing email. This quick little list is quite helpful to keep in mind, and maybe some people would want to post it up on their cubicle wall! There is increasing business in this form of communication, with many startups in the field of email marketing software. It seems that email may be a little too "instant gratification" these days.
GATA COMPORTADA
Worse of everything it is to understand it because people order emails around 5.000, I hate messages with span.
Outlook add-ins to prevent forgotten attachments
How many times have we all sent an e-mail message, only to re-send it a few minutes later with an apology for forgetting the attachment?
There are a number of different plug-ins (for Outlook and probably for other e-mail programs as well) that remind you (when you hit the Send button) to attach a file if it detects words in your note such as "attached," "attachment," "file," or whatever other words you specify in advance. I've successfully used one called theAttacher for years -- it was the best $10 I ever spent.
There are several other similar programs out there (and maybe I could even give you a copy of theAttacher since it's apparently no longer being sold?), such as the following, in no particular order:
1. Forgotten Attachment Detector -- by Microsoft Office Labs -- $free
http://www.officelabs.com/projects/forgottenattachmentdetector/Pages/default.aspx
(works with Outlook 2007)
2. Onlooker -- by Polychrome (a Microsoft partner) - $10
http://www.polychromenz.com/products/onlooker.html
(works with Outlook 2000, 2003 and 2007)
3. Outlook Attachment Alarm -- $30
http://www.ablebits.com/email-attachments-missing-outlook-addins/index.php
(works with Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007)
4. SSW LookOut for Outlook -- $101
http://www.ssw.com.au/SSW/LookOut
(works with Outlook 2003, 2007)
5. Attachment-Forget-Me-Not -- $20
http://www.sperrysoftware.com/Outlook/Attachment-Forget-Me-Not.asp
(works with Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007)
Outlook rules to avoid regret
Reg. setting up Outlook rule, one way to do this is to use Tools -> Options -> Mail Setup tab & uncheck 'Send immediately when connected' (the 'Send/Receive' button alongside provides a way to set up the time interval). To override this for urgent email, you can always just press the 'Send/Receive' button in Outlook & it'll do that immediately.
Beware autocomplete
We all know that you can start to type an email address into the "To" field, and your email program will bring up its best guess regarding what it thinks you're about to type. It's a very handy feature and saves a lot of time, and often saves you when you barely remember an address that you need. But this feature can be your enemy. Make sure it's bringing up the correct address before you fire off your email. I've been burned badly by it.
Set up an Outlook rule that delays sending by a certain # of minutes.
Hi all, I use two wonderful little features of Microsoft Outlook 2003 that allow me to avoid sender's remorse.
1. Under Tools > Rules, I created a rule that uses the "defer delivery" option for a specified number of minutes (2 minutes in my case) for the specified Outlook account. This has saved me countless times.
Sometimes when an e-mail is too urgent to wait the 2 minutes (such as when I'm already on the phone with someone who is waiting for an e-mail that we need to discuss), I use a *different* e-mail account that is not subject to the above rule, so that the message is sent immediately.
2. After I write a message but before I click on Send, I go to View > Options and put a checkmark next to "Do not deliver before" followed by the desired date & time. I use this option for the "angry reply" scenario. I usually set it for a day or two from now (which gives me some time to calm down and change my mind), while also avoiding the risk that it will just be forgotten in my Drafts folder forever.
Technical note: When you use this checkbox, you MUST choose the "different" e-mail account that I referred to in item #1 above. Otherwise, the 2-minute rule will kick in and will override your desired date & time.
By the way, this "Do not deliver before [date]" option is also a fantastic way to write a birthday e-mail to someone days or weeks ahead of time with the assurance that it won't actually be sent until the actual birthday!
Email blunders you know you'll regret
One I remember is sharing the 'amended' internal audit plan with the statutory auditors and copying it to the existing internal audit firm instead of my boss. Not too big a gaffe, you could say, but it resulted in a rebuttal ('Reply All') from the cantankerous internal audit firm manager.
Reg. 'The angry reply', hackneyed as it may sound, I find it always useful to hold such replies for some time in Draft folder (this folder itself acts as a great punching bag-cum-morale booster!), preferably for a day if possible. A re-reading usually leads to a decision to either trash it/keep it in Draft (for another day!) or change it substantially.
Reg. 'Reply All', besides the unintended ones, a lot of email senders just don't realise how annoying un-targeted email can be, clogging up your mailbox with a long chain on inane chit chat.
Besides Gmail's Unsend feature, MS Outlook has a 'Recall' feature (in the 'Actions' menu on an opened sent message) - works as long as the recipient hasn't yet opened the email.