Personal Email sent to whole department by mistake

[MuppetsGalore]

I've ducked up and worried about potential outcomes of this faux pas

An was sent to staff with platitudes about Caroline flaks suicide which I found infuriating, I've also been really annoyed by comments on social media about suicide ect

I thought I'd hit forward on the email but got reply and got distracted by other work and used it for writing notes and during my shift also wrote a bit of a rant for my diary

Anyhoo fast forward to the end of the night I'm knackered and in a rush to head home i just hit send on a couple of the emails i had open only to realise i sent my ramblings onto the whole department 🤦‍♀️

Worst case scenario i get fired for being a trouble maker best case scenario they all have a good laugh at me 🤦‍♀️

Aibu to be mortified by this?

Who writes their ramblings and rants in full sentences organised into neat bullet points using carefully crafted rhetorical devices? Who has time to do this at work rather than in their own time at the end of a day? Who were you going to forward the original email to when you thought you'd hit forward? Why did you then leave the email open and use it to write your notes and also a rant for your diary?

If you're a writer by trade or hobby, it doesn't take very long at all to bash out something rhetorical like the OP's post. (and it's not, as some are saying, word perfect and carefully crafted) It reads at the same level as my first draft work blogs, that take about 20-30m to get the concepts down before reworking.

I wrote half my first novel at work whilst my employers were dithering around in a slump period deciding what to do with me .

thecat, that is true. And as for the people saying she shouldn't have time in work, do some people in office type jobs really manage to focus 100% on work all day? I thought it was a well known thing that people lose concentration regularly and end up wandering off to make a cup of tea or whatever. Is that just me??To be fair, it might be as it is one of the reasons I left office based work! I really cannot sit on a seat staring at a computer for hours on end without losing focus now and again

Do people really write like this to themselves? You sound full of yourself and like you are speaking to an audience making a grand speech.

Just recall the email! It’s easy to do on outlook and I’d imagine your email system will allow it too!

Gosh, that is embarrassing, OP.

Do you think people will be surprised or are you like this in real life too?

Why did you write TLDR in your diary to yourself?

@thecatsthecats
If you're a writer by trade or hobby, it doesn't take very long at all to bash out something rhetorical like the OP's post.

I'm astonished that anyone would think that any level of writing skill, training or ability is required to produce this sort of thing.

"TLDR Suicide rates will plummet if we act conscientiously and take accountability of how we treat each other."

@BuzzShitbagBobbly
When I was an angsty teen and life was SO UNFAIR I would leave (what I thought were) carefully crafted treatises about my woeful existence and how precarious my survival was, somewhere my mum would "accidentally" find them, realise the error of her ways and I would be globally acclaimed as the wisest, most perceptive 14 year old ever. I cringe looking back at myself then. Except this reads like an attempt to tap into the collective morally superior handwringing zeitgeist about CF and get laurels by being that 14 yo genius I thought I was.

Absolutely. This is spot on.

• How do you send an email to your entire organisation by accident? I'm intrigued*

The original email had been sent to the whole department. OP says they pressed 'reply all' instead of 'forward'. Everyone who received the original email will get a copy of OP's.

In the groups I post in, there’s a strong correlation between the most self absorbed and previously unkind types, and those posting “be kind blah blah”.

Maybe that makes sense, as they’re the ones to be hit with a bit of self reflection?

It just makes me 🙄 though.

If I received the email. I’d think virtue signalling patronising twaddle - and then get on with my day. Just style it out.

I'm astonished that anyone would think that any level of writing skill, training or ability is required to produce this sort of thing.

Funnily enough I find rhetoric easier to write than real sentiment. It's very patterned, repetitive and easy to mimic.

Same goes for witty repartee - it's easy to create a conversation where characters bounce off each other humorously.

Far, FAR harder to create credible, everyday dialogue that real people would use that also isn't bland.

People think rhetoric is difficult because it has a high impact-per-word count. And it's highly trite and memeable .

(Two of my secret, petty ambitions as a writer are to craft a bit of prose that ends up being used as a wedding reading, and to successfully plant three trite but original truisms that get more than 100 highlights on Kindle.)

If this really happened then yes, you are NBU to be mortified. Although the details don't really seem to match up to what happened so I'm very doubtful tbh.

@thecatsthecats It's a long stretch to call what she posted 'rhetoric'. I really don't think anyone would believe it takes skill or talent or training to produce that sort of thing. Or indeed that it has any content.

It's like being lectured by a 12-year-old. It physically hurts me* that she was so proud of writing this that she invented an entire scenario to give her a pretext to post it here.

*hyperbole

"The original email had been sent to the whole department. OP says they pressed 'reply all' instead of 'forward"

Well she says she pressed "send" rather than reply all so it would have only gone back to the sender rather than everyone. After she had written her diary and other assorted notes on the email, rather than anywhere else on her PC. Well who doesn't write their diary on the bottom of an email they have received?

I don't think this will end up in classics, sorry OP.

Also, when I am writing these diary notes on a email I have received, I also start with "I'm in rather a reflective mood"

Even typing that made me laugh a bit as well as cringe

Personally, I would re-call ( but they can still read it if they choose, ask IT to recall it - they can do delete any unopened emails, then send out a quick note to everyone, saying sorry but you sent out the wrong thing to them all, please ignore as it's not work related.

@ScarlettBlaize

I'm referring to the form of her writing, which is rhetorical in style and devices employed. And this thread begins with responses with high praise, and a lot of people saying it's 'carefully constructed' etc.

Yes, it lacks substance and depth, but that's rhetoric for you. Feels all very powerful in the soundbites, but it doesn't have depth or nuance because it isn't supposed to, generally.

However, as an aspiring writer, I have to say it's harsh to bash her so roundly for it. It's neither exceptional nor terrible.

Hahaha

Self absorbed sends email to self absorbed team then posts on SM for more attention? Next next level

@thecatsthecats
I've been a professional copywriter and editor for over twenty years. The main thing I've learned is that most readers aren't very discerning, a lot of absolute shit gets published, and success is far more to do with an author's marketability than anything inherent in their writing.

However, as an aspiring writer, I have to say it's harsh to bash her so roundly for it. It's neither exceptional nor terrible.

The writing may just be bog-standard (although the standard of writing in the initial post is well below a normal post on this forum ("Anyhoo fast forward to the end of the night I'm knackered and in a rush to head home i just hit send on a couple of the emails i had open only to realise i sent my ramblings onto the whole department").

But inventing an entirely bullshit (and unconvincing) fictional scenario as a pretext for posting that tawdry, empty, sententious, self-important, patronising, and factually wrong screed deserves all of the criticism it's received. And more.

Some of us don't like being lied to. We don't like being lectured. And we especially don't like both at the same time.

Self indulgent twaddle I'd be very unimpressed especially if you tried to pretend it was an accident

Tried to recall the damn email but it didn't work, so wonder what the bloody point of the recall function is on outlook if people can still open the email

I never bother with 'recall'.

It's worse than nothing.

I casually disregard a lot of emails - but as soon as you get that message saying 'Joe Bloggs recalls the email' (or whatever the auto generated wording is), my immediate reaction is "ooh, what's that about?"

It just draws attention to the email that's being recalled

A disciplinary for an email? It's not like you were rude or mean. This is while I'll never go back to working for a cooperation. The idea that I can be disciplined for a mistake or for anything for that matter (crime aside), is mind boggling now I'm out of that sort of environment.

What you've posted above reads like a fully formed blog entry, not notes and a bit of a rant. Was this all you sent? If so, it seems a bit preplanned rather than in error.

It's certainly much more polished than the OP and doesn't contain any solecisms such as "ect". The style is noticeably different.

I think it was either intentional or the person who wrote it isn't the person who wrote the OP.

Nasty comments on here. The irony!

Got nothing else to add but that I don't agree it looks like you are stealth boasting

I also agree with Oysterbabe. It's odd how often posters are 'mortified' about something that many, lemming-type people, consider portrays the writer in a positive light. Hence the 'hero' post fired off as they always are.

Never humiliating, never self-effacing, never embarrassing... and never truly to the writer's detriment.

I wouldn't have written this if i were 'on thin ice'. Perhaps the ice is much thicker than stated and actually merely a light dusting on the concrete? That''s what I imagine anyway but it's a good 'out' to throw for the dissenters on the thread.

Taking it on face value, if I were a colleague, I'd delete it and think you have zero brakes when it comes to letting fly with your stream of consciousness. If I were your employer and you did send this to me, I'd wonder about your workload and respect for the strict IT policy you apparently have in your workplace.

Wow.

I'd be incredibly fucked off if I received that.

Not only are you 'telling off' colleagues you're putting a DV perpetrator on a pedestal.

If it was one of my team that did it, there would be an investigation and action.

Don't explain, don't complain. I'd be inclined to go with "i meant to send it" attitude and cringe at your leisure and for many years to come! Forward it to HR and ask if you can set up a MH at work initiative (and then follow through) Don't admit the error whatever you do.