Petty I know but (Would) IBU to copy everyone into the reply?

[VladmirsPoutine]

I know this is quite a petty gripe but it's been eating away at me all evening so I've turned to the reasonable minds of MN.

I'm working on a project in which I have to complete a certain aspect before a colleague can complete her bit. The deadline is looming so about 3 weeks ago she e-mailed me asking me to send her my bit when I was done. I replied that same afternoon with my finished section saying if she wanted me to make any changes or had any comments to let me know soon as and it'd be my first priority.

I didn't hear anything back so all was well in the world. Earlier this afternoon I received an e-mail from her basically saying "Vlad, I asked you to send me xyz 3 weeks ago so I could complete abc as the deadline is nearing. Where is it? Can you send it ASAP." She'd copied in her manager, my manager and their managers too, along with a few others on the edges of the project.

She's not a malicious person so what I suspect happened is that her manager basically asked her where it was as he probably wanted to have a once-over before we declared it finished. So she must have panicked and just sent the e-mail to everyone.

Thing is, if she'd just e-mailed me or just came over to me to ask about it I would have happily said 'Here it is.... I sent it to you that day but you must have overlooked it.'

Now I feel like copying in all the people in the e-mail she sent with a PA reply. As I see it - even if I take the high road and just quietly e-mail her to the others it will look as though I dropped the ball and suddenly picked it back up again when brought to attention.

I've had quite a fairly long and extensive career so I'm not a stranger to these sorts of antics but for one or two reasons this has really irked me.

If you're still with me: WIBU to copy everyone else into the reply saying I sent this to you the same day you asked me about it (which incidentally was to schedule), or should I just send it to her alone in an e-mail and think no more of it?

Havaina I’ve since left the company so don’t have the exact email but the email was something along these lines:

‘Lisa. I have done my best to be fair with you but do NOT argue with me. Anyway, my email wasn’t for you, it was for Tim (the senior manager) and I’m sure he is capable of replying himself, so no need for you to stick your oar in’

The joke was that ‘Tim’ had told me to reply as I did because he had already clocked that the guy was trying to play games!

MsHomeSlice that sounds goady! It’s no more effort just to send it again regardless and put a note simply saying I did send this on x date, here it is again.

She had no qualms about dropping you in it. Forget taking the high road; protect yourself and forward the original from your sent folder, copying everyone in.

The playing games office types are so immature.

I used to cc mails to myself under a different email address because I worked in two locations and couldn’t access internal stuff from elsewhere. The offside email address was anonymous, you couldn’t tell it was my address. Immature Office Person must have thought it was my boss because they started emailing this person (me) with suggestions, many of them mine, and moans 😂

I resisted the urge to reply and they stopped after a while.

What have you decided to do, OP?

Is there an update OP?

Another one checking in. Please tell us you cc’ed everyone.

While i see the satisfaction to be gained from a perfectly polite and businesslike show the world it was her, not you, if she was generally pleasant and Ididn't yet know her, i would take the opportunity to make a friend. Wonder over to her desk, help her find your original then, reply all and say glad we got that all sorted out so everyone one knows it's all sorted. It would be obvious to everyone on the thread that you had you already done that was necessary and that you have a mature attitude to managing other people

Try the kind route first. You might make a mistake someday and be glad of a helping hand.

No-one likes a sneak.

Reply to all. IME if the shit ever hits the fan or you get into a personality clash or redundancies are looming, they go looking for petty stuff like this to 'justify' their actions. Never give anyone amunition.

How is it sneaky to reply to an email, as suggested by the recipient, who has accused you of not doing required work and correct them?

Sneaky and trying to drop someone in it is ccing everyone in and stating that you haven't been sent the work rather than private emailing first. Making that person look bad to everyone. On this occassion they look the idiot since the work was done several week prior and they missed it or sat on it. It would not be sneaky to point that out.

Reply to all.

Dear X,

Attatched is the email i sent on X date, please let me know if you need anything else.

Finally OP got thrown under a bus by this colleague and you want to berate her for being a sneak?

What is it at the moment? So many threads using that incredibly childish word, so many posters advocating women just lie down and be complete doormats!

Depends who it is but I've replied in situations like this with a polite but lighthearted jokey reply. Obviously that wouldn't be appropriate in all circumstances but it's a good way to make sure people hear you. A lot of people don't read emails properly and a factual 'see my earlier email dated XXXX' might not register with the recipient. Sad but true!

It’s quite normal protocol to include people who’ve been cc’d in follow up correspondence. Especially as one is your manager.
If she was being catty she’ll pull her claws in, if it was accidental, she’ll be more circumspect in future.

Am I the only one annoyed that the OP hasn’t bothered providing an update?

Presumably she's at work?

stevesmithsmum

She posted after ten last night! There’s no reason to think she will be around at all today never mind until then. She’s not at our beck and call or here for our entertainment.

Ye gods! She's probably at work, dealing with this in real life!

Try another channel!

She posted after ten last night! There’s no reason to think she will be around at all today never mind until then. She’s not at our beck and call or here for our entertainment

Not to mention the fact that she's got to wade through 260-ish comments all saying the EXACT SAME THING, because apparently some people were concerned that the first hundred or so identical comments might not be sufficient.

I'd forward her the original email again, copying her manager in (and maybe my own) but nobody else. And I would keep it purely factual, saying I was resending it in response to her email at 09.45 or whatever. Ime there's nothing more irritating than being erroneously copied into an email, or chain of emails, so I wouldn't add to people's inboxes who have nothing to do with it, other than having been copied in by mistake.

Fair call. It’s my evening entertainment given my time zone.

Tuning in tomorrow morning then. Night ladies.

Cancel the cheque. Sorry. Send the email to everyone.

I imagine that OP is currently at work, sending the email to everyone.

Forward original!

Of course you reply all - all those people currently think you are at fault here, they need to know that isn't the case. She brought them into this, so now they all get to see it's actually her fault.
A public accusation needs a public retraction.

Cancel the cheque. Sorry. Send the email to everyone

Sorry, could you clarify ? I'm still not clear on what everyone thinks the best course of action would be