Psychologist Thijs Launspach is a stress expert and author of the book Breeding pressure† He marvels at modern working and gives tips every week for more happiness and less stress at work. Today: email blunders
A few months ago, I entered a worldwide essay competition. The prize was publication in a prestigious magazine. When I went through the application page, it said that I could expect a message within a few weeks if I had been selected for the shortlist. I had almost forgotten about the match when I received an email last week. I was – alas, alas – not chosen for the prize. A pity of course, but it can happen, and the organization thanked me in a neat message for my participation. The only thing that was not so handy: they had not put the recipients of the rejection email in the bcc, but in the cc. So all two hundred and fifty unelected candidates could see exactly who else had been rejected.
Chaos followed. The moment I opened my e-mail, there had already been about fifty messages followed, and so it went on for the rest of the day. A shocked apology email from the poor communications officer who made the mistake. An extensive message from the CEO of the organizing party, with heartfelt apologies. Outraged notes from rejected people who felt publicly humiliated. Supplications: “Please take me off this list!” And a number of opportunistic losers who suggested publishing all rejected essays elsewhere.
happy accident
There are no mistakes, television painter Bob Ross often said, there are only happy accidents. Yet almost everyone sometimes commits such a happy accident. Mail is such a lightning fast medium that a mistake is in a small corner. Especially when addressing, things often go wrong. Not only with the cc or bcc, but also when, for example, you want to forward an email with a witty remark (‘Look, another stupid message from Rogier, what a fagot it is!!!’) to a colleague, but instead send it back to Rogier himself via the reply button. Even worse: you press reply all and the whole team is witnessing your misguided joke. In that regard, it is a pity that when sending an e-mail, a pop-up does not appear with: ‘Are you sure?’
It is a pity that when sending an e-mail there is no such pop-up with: ‘Are you sure?’
Moral of the story: if you’re sending a really important message, for example because its content is very sensitive – say a rejection, to hundreds of people – take an extra minute to check everything one more time. Worst case scenario, you waste a minute with an unnecessary extra check. At best, that one minute saves you a day of repair work, and a whole lot of headaches.
Thijs Launspach is a psychologist and stress expert. He wrote the books Fokking Druk (2018), Working with millennials (2019) and Werk kan uit (2020) about this.
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