To be considering reporting a colleague?

[missmaryp]

I have just recieved an email from a work colleague, from and to a work addres (local authority) and I find it highly offensive. I can't believe in the organisation we work she would send this on. Well I can't believe it's been sent full stop really as I find it racist.

Am I over-reacting to be considering reporting this email?? A big part of me doesn't want to get the lady 'in to trouble', but another part of me is annoyed she would ever think it's ok to forward this.

Here is the email:

YOU SEE MY FRIENDS IT AINT JUST ME WHO IS PISSED RIGHT OFF WITH ALL THESE "CORRECT WAY TO LIVE AND DO AS I SAY NAZIS" TELLING ME WHAT HOW I SHOULD LIVE MY LIFE.

TAKE A READ!

This should be required reading for every man, woman and child in the UK , United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand etc.

"I'm 55+ and I'm Tired"

I'm 65+. Except for brief period in the 50's when I was doing my National Service, I've worked hard since I was 17. Except for some serious health challenges, I put in 50-hour weeks, and didn't call in sick in nearly 40 years. I made a reasonable salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, it looks as though retirement was a bad idea, and I'm tired. Very tired.

I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth" to people who don't have my work ethic. I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it.

I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honour"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offence; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers"; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.

I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries use our oil money to fund mosques and mandrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in Australia, New Zealand, UK, America and Canada, while no one from these countries are allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia or any other Arab country to teach love and tolerance.

I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate.

I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses or stick a needle in their arm while they tried to fight it off?

I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of all parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.

I'm really tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems.

Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 55+... Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughters and their children.

There is no way this will be widely publicised, unless each of us sends it on!

This is your chance to make a difference.

" I'm 55+ and I'm tired.

If you don't forward this you are part of the problem".

Aw Pan, were you missing me

Anyway, I agree it is not a suitable email to be sending at work, it is unprofessional, and not work related.

Quint would "proper mail filtering" be costly in terms of man-hours or money to an organisation the size of a local authority? (Genuine question).

If she has just forwarded it rather than written it, then you can't be sure she actually believes it. And her email account may well have been hacked. I would delete and forget about it.

Thanks for your help.

I have replied to let her know my thoughts and to ask she not send me things like that again and also forwarded it to my boss. Passed the buck a bit basically, she can decide to report it or not as appropriate.

People have lost their jobs for less - would you really want her to lose her job over an admittedly unprofessional and offensive email? Have quiet word with her and let it go.

No, not really. It is something that can be outsourced. Many vendors today offer tailored solutions where the companys own IT bods will just manage the solution, wich is web based. This way your prevent both spam coming in to your company, and from being sent, in addition, you can prevent highly sensitive materials from being sent to outside email addresses by mistake.

I'd email person back saying "did you mean to send this or is your inbox hacked - some people could get really pissed off"

Depending on the reaction I'd then look at what to do.

And re Squeaky's point, this is just the standard hard right NeoCon doctrine, and a lot of it is arguably based on some unpalatable home truths- its just unpleasantly put and signed to ensure a commotion..

I had this (IMO nasty) one sent to me - and other member of an email group I belong to - many of us were very vocal in saying it was racist and please don't send things like that to the list - the person who sent it was horrified as she didn't think she could be racist as she was mixed race! ho hum.
TBH I would consider that as it was via work email you actually have a duty of care to your employer to report this - it is certainly inappropriate use of work email - by receiving it and not reporting it you are colluding with her, and if the shit hits the fan it might hit the people in the organisation who received it and didn't report it!

Working in the same environment I would report it.

If she's forwarded it to you, she's probably forwarded it to loads of other people- all of whom are probably having the same debate.

To me, there isn't an issue. She's not a close friend, she's obviously stupid (well, you're not going to be best friends with her now, are you?), and you work in a role where you are, at the very least, administrating to some of the groups she mentions.

Report it. You'll probably find that half the office has already done so.

I have replied to let her know my thoughts and to ask she not send me things like that again and also forwarded it to my boss

WTF did you ask us for?

I asked because I was debating if reporting her was the right thing to do.

OP, I think you did the right thing in reporting it to your boss and also asking her not to send things like that to you in the future. It's a pretty offensive and stupid thing to send to a lot of people, particularly the bullying last line.

Thanks Quint, much appreciated. :) (Technophobe here - if it hasn't got 4 legs, a tail and doesn't bark I haven't a clue!)

I report emails all the time! We get ones at work (large organisation, multiple sites) saying "Has anyone seen my keys?" or "I've left a pink folder somewhere and can't find it - have you seen it?" Drives me nuts.

Those emails were sent globally, I meant.

Imperial

It may be anti Islamic - but it is not racist, as Islam is a religion with adherents from many different races.

I thought there'd be more security on a public sector network, Pakdooik. Surely they'd have something set up to stop that happening?

It's not a very liberal view, and if you're liberal I can see why you might find it offensive to your outlook. But where's the racism?

I would report it - it is offensive. I'm sure your employer would have strong views about this sort of thing being banded about attached to their email address! When logging on, we have to acknowledge a message that tells us using the work computer for accessing, distributing etc obscene & offensive materials is potentially gross misconduct. For a first offence, I doubt she would get sacked but she (and others) would be made aware that her conduct was unacceptable.

Ok, you're right, racist was the wrong term to use. I meant anti-islamic and at the very least uncharitable!

It does offend me personally, as I am very liberal. The problem is however more to do with the fact that we work with many families with drug addictions, who are unemployed for various reasons and who are muslim. Exactly the kind of people this email is rallying against.

Thank you to everyone who made me realise it was acceptable to report the email to my manager and gave me the little confidence push needed to reply to the silly lady directly.

I am less than impressed that you have found it necessary to spend 1.5 hours of your working day debating this trivial matter on the internet but, given that you are employed by a local authority, I won't be at all surprised if you are of the opinion that engaging on this site has been an appropriate use of your employer's time.

I'd be worried about that being in my work inbox.

Izzy seems a bit miffed.

I think she didn't get her free goat.