13 of the Worst Email Mistakes Made at Work

Doing research for another post I ran across a survey where people were asked if they had ever sent out an email message to the wrong person or copied someone by mistake. Not surprisingly seventy-eight percent of the respondents answered yes they had.

I am sure we all have sent out emails by mistake. I have used the recall button more than once, but usually because I forgot to include an attachment. Respondents were also asked what some of the worst email mistakes they or someone they know have made.

Good for a laugh and a second thought before you click that send button.

• “Someone sent out confidential salary information to the whole firm.”
• “I once sent a job offer to the wrong person.”
• “An employee sent his resume to me by mistake. It was supposed to go to an outside company.”
• “Someone made a nasty comment about a supervisor and it was sent to the supervisor by mistake. It eventually led to dismissal.”
• “A person called another employee an idiot in an e-mail to everyone in the company.”
• “One of our vendors accidentally e-mailed me information about their sales performance, so I gained some inside knowledge about that vendor.”
• “My receptionist sent a very gossipy and catty e-mail about another employee to the wrong person. It was so unprofessional that she was terminated.”
• “We sent an e-mail to a client that was meant for a vendor. It made it difficult when the client had seen our costs.”
• “Confidential information about one client was sent to a different client. It was certainly embarrassing.”
• “Someone crafted a scathing, sarcastic e-mail about a customer and did not mean to hit ‘send.’ It caused problems.”
• “I once sent an internal memo about restroom etiquette to a prospective client by accident.”
• “Someone sent me a copy of an employee’s bank records by mistake.”
• “Someone meant to send a racy picture to a couple of friends but ended up sending it to the entire staff, which caused her much embarrassment.”

Source: “DOH” The Creative Group