Woke up to an email CC’d to 72 people to tell me my work is wrong

[CcWanker]

It literally just says

“This is WRONG Jane. WRONG”

I send out a report each week to all 72 people. One of those people has found an error and replied to all 72 with the above.

The report is literally a rundown of figures sent to me from different people which I collate into this report, it’s basically a weekly sitrep.

1. the error is so minor it makes no difference to anything
2. it isn’t my error it’s the error of the person who sent me that part of the report

This report goes out to exec level people all the way down to the bottom of the food chain. The person who has cc’d everyone is a very senior manager.

Do I respond to just her or everyone and make it clear it’s not my error?

Huzzah!! She is SO up shit creek.

I rarely say this but I think it's time for a little chat with HR about this woman.

Ouch, that's unpleasant - maybe the way to play it is to send a polite note back (to all) thanking the manager for drawing attention to the error and remind them that you only collate the information you don't check the inputs so you will pass their comments onto the originator of the email.

As an aside, this sounds like an episode of bullying to me so you may want to keep a note. Using "CAPS" in an Email (ie the WRONG) is the equivalent or shouting and is not ok.

I would, at all times, avoid writing an email that says or implies anything along the lines of “x isn’t my job”. Particularly about something like validation of data that you collate and circulate. It might deal with the immediate issue at hand, but it’s not an attitude you want anyone to associate with you if you have any ambition to progress. I’d respond tomorrow (not first thing- mid-morning) mega-politely noting the correction - without blaming the person who made the error - and not acknowledging her rudeness, like it’s a bad smell you’re too well-brought up to mention. That coupled with the senior manager’s response makes her look an utter clown and you extremely gracious and competent.

Excellent the twat has been called out at their own level. Monday suggest your manager assert the "appropriate" line of communications in error checking such as contacting your own teams input to the data, confirming what was sent THEN contacting you/ your manager to discuss whether the error is significant enough to be worthy of an amendment.

And I agree never say 'It's not my job' thank the person for their "input" and make it clear that they've got the wrong department and you're happy to resolve it with the correct team. It shows you're bigger than your job and also respectful of boundaries

Big love to the second manager. That's an excellent email. Nicely done.

@Gwenhwyfar

"And then email the sender separately and say that you expect her to advise you privately of any errors in future and if she pulls a stunt like that again you will be involving HR/her manager."

The person is a senior manager and OP is at the bottom of the hierarchy. She can't threaten to report the senior person.

I'd like to think that just because someone is more senior than she is, doesn't mean she gets to be a rude twonk. But hey in the real world...

I'd assumed this woman was only one level up from the OP, should have read the post more carefully.

Glad other managers have stepped in though!

Update person sounds fab.

@CcWanker

Oh oh oh UPDATE

Another senior manager has replied. Same level as ccwanker

“Can I remind all staff of protected rest periods (weekends) and the current focus on staff wellbeing within the company, unless urgent emails should not be sent over the weekend.

Thank you for your work Jane, I’m sure we can pick this up on Monday”

Oh wow, you do not need to do ANYTHING All your boss has done is show that she is a problem manager who needs to be kept in line.

DON'T copy everyone in on any reply to the bad manager. Just send a 'please find attached the updated report' message once you've corrected it. I have been one of the 78 before and honestly, people will just eyeroll at the inappropriate message from the bad manager and will not judge you.

First thing tomorrow work out where the error is and correct it so you are ready for a chat with the decent manager and can say 'yes, missed that mistake but I've sorted it already'. If you can think of a way to stop it happening again even better. Turn this to your advantage and don't stoop to the bad manager's level.

“Cultural”?? I would love to know what culture entitles you to be a raging toss pot. I’m thinking.....none?!

That reply was awesome!! Hope your feel somewhat vindicated OP - certainly not your fault in any way and tremendously rude and unprofessional of her to cc everyone in like that.

“Hi CcWanker,

Thanks for spotting the error, and I will pass this onto the person who prepared that section of the report on Monday.

Kind regards

NotaCcWanker”

Be Polite always - good suggestions above

Additionally next report, bcc everyone (not to or can) - then any responses only go to you and not everyone

Correction: (not “to” or “cc” )

I wouldn't respond to it.
Going forward I would send this to the 72 by BCCing so any future emails will only come back to you.
If a corrected email does need to be sent, BCC everyone and state something like:
My apologies, it has been flagged there was incorrect information in my original email. Please see find attached updated info.

This will infuriate the rude manager because they clearly want a reaction. Don't rise to it.

@NoSquirrels

I might reply with something like

Thanks for noting that, RudeManager.

Could I please ask that everyone double-checks their data before sending through as I collate what’s sent in to me but have no way of checking for accuracy of figures provided.

Many thanks,

Jane

Perfect.

'Can you read?' Would have been soooo tempted to reply 'yes, and write as well. Which you will see when you receive the grievance forms'.

Cultural my arse. She's a bully who gets to get away with it.

I love your updating manager!! Spot on!

Sounds like someone I used to work with.
We used to put out a weekly spreadsheet with updates from departments A,B & C on it. All of these departments were perfectly capable of liaising with each other, but the nature of the company set-up was such that they didn't. So the whole week was spent ringing up departments A, B, and C to find out what progress they had each made with clients D-Z. Again, it was perfectly possible to have all internal systems working in such a way that this information would have been instantly available but they didn't want to connect up their systems.
Week after week I would be reprimanded by my line manager for not updating the data in a timely manner. Even though there were no updates - just the date wasn't changed.

She had no people skills whatsoever and was forever making personal remarks to a colleague (same level as me) about their appearance.

@CoraPirbright

“Cultural”?? I would love to know what culture entitles you to be a raging toss pot. I’m thinking.....none?!

That reply was awesome!! Hope your feel somewhat vindicated OP - certainly not your fault in any way and tremendously rude and unprofessional of her to cc everyone in like that.

Could be read as the person having a background from a more aggressive workplace culture. Not that that’s okay either, obviously.

stops people from using "Reply all" by mistake.

I seriously doubt it was a mistake. Glad she's been called on it OP!

I think you can make yourself look good here. Two tips on dealing with a toxic manager, make sure they are really specific (it’s churlish to simply send a generic email saying a whole piece of work is ‘wrong’) and try and align yourself with them (it’s difficult for them to attack somebody who is agreeing with them - I agree this is hard if they are difficult to get on with). Given that you are only responsible for collating data, you could be proactive and suggest how you could address the issue given your minimal visibility - otherwise you are always ‘at the mercy’ of other people’s errors.

I would say politely (just to the rude manager and your own manager, not all 72), “I am aligned that the underlying data in the report I sent earlier needs to be accurate. Please could you be specific on which element was incorrect, so that I can address it with the correct department. To mitigate the risk of this happening again, I’ll compare the data in this report to last weeks report to see if there’s any variances that look odd (not sure if this is practical, but think if there’s any way you could’ve identified errors). I’ll update the report for the error identified and recirculate by xx time.’

That way you look proactive and are controlling the issue. They will have already made themselves look really unprofessional, job done.

Ha at the cc non wanker replier! A clear sign that the other 70 people on the chain are thinking 'what a c**k".

I'd reply to sympathetic manager and just say a non emotive 'thanks for your message. I'll pass on the query to the authors of the report and update in the working week.'

I’m not sure how I can bcc anyone. I send the original email and the 72 are a contact group. I just type the name of the group and it goes to all 72 of them if you see what I mean.