Stupid Idea Watch: What Not to Put in a Work E-mail
An account manager in Australia has been fired as a result of writing an obscenity-laced tirade about a client meant to be forwarded to a co-worker and then mistakenly hitting “reply” instead of “forward,” resulting in the message being sent to the client.
Apparently frustrated in her dealings with her client, Abbey Sherwell, an employee of Entertainment Books, reportedly wrote the following:
“This guy is a d–k . . . as you know, I have been trying to get him to track and he has decided to do it himself in some kind of f—-d up way!
“Why are all the people I deal with so f—-d in the head???”
The client, Craig Morrissy, promptly forwarded her e-mail and his response to his business network. “Cancel our business with you immediately, please inform your boss that vouchers will not be redeemable at our cafes from tomorrow,” Morrissy reportedly wrote.
“I’m involved in a few networks of business people around Geelong [Australia]. I can insure that they will be all receiving a copy of your email.”
Sherwell tried to explain her actions, but it was too late.
The e-mail was forwarded to up to 25 businesses and quickly went viral. Bloggers have been having a field day with the story and rival Facebook sites have been launched by supporters of Sherwell and Morrisy.
OK, Magilla Marketing readers: What is the No. 1 never-to-be-violated rule of work e-mail? Yep, that’s it: Don’t ever, ever put anything in an e-mail message you wouldn’t want printed out and put on the company bulletin board, much less forwarded all over the planet.
