I have just been sent an email by mistake,

[iwantitalltobenormal]

AIBU to be massivley hurt and pissed off from the email I have just read which was sent to me by mistake?

at the begining of this year, I offered to do a monthly blog for our small team, so other departments are more aware of what we do internally - (manager thought it was a great idea ) baring in mind this was my first attempt at this , and by no means a mandatory task , I did it all on a power point presentation , I also do not claim to be a professional blog writer and I really enjoyed doing it, and putting it together, I sent it to my manager back in March, It took a little while due to also carrying out my day to day job.

fast forward to today ( baring in mind I had no response or feedback on my blog, whether it be positive criticism or any type of feedback) someone has unfortunately sent me a long email trail between my line manager to his line manager slating my work on the blog I had done and slating how unprofessional it the content is - but in a really distasteful way , and nasty.

I feel hurt, upset and belittled.

The managers are more than entitled to discuss this, but it should be in a constructive manner especially if it's over email.

If they are using wordings like 'have you seen X work, what a pile of shite' then that's not on. If it's more along the lines of 'I'm not sure we can use the content, wasn't too keen on paragraph 2' then that is ok.

The person who mistakenly sent the email is at fault, but it happens, it's also a warning not to slag off people via email, as mistakenly sent emails are quite common. Managers should know better.

I said initially to do a war and peace, but thinking back I'd email your manager with something short, sweet and professional. Your manager should be suitably embarrassed if they were slagging you off. This will give you the opportunity to discuss the work and how they can help you improve the necessary skills. I'd also use the time, if you feel it's appropriate, to discuss the tone of the email and how it made you feel, give your manager some constructive feedback too

The managers are totally right to discuss it and in whatever way they want. Feedback should be constructive though.

It sounds like neither you or your manager really understand what a blog is, if there was a plan to present it in PowerPoint. Was the colleague who made the negative comments from the communications team, by any chance?

OP I think you need to give us a little more detail about what they said before we can judge.

Feedback is integral to a well functioning business and yes they haven’t gone about this well as they haven’t approached you (yet) with feedback but there’s a large difference between...

“Cor this blog is a heap of shite!”

Or “mentioning our team night out on Friday when Sarah got so drunk she vommed isn’t appropriate.”

Clearly the latter is ok for them to say and is true!

I also think it is ok to discuss colleagues via email. Just in a factual way not a bitchy way.

I have a colleague I’m struggling with and I have emailed our managers about her because:

A) they need to know she’s doing barely anything and that her knowledge is severely lacking.
B) I like to ask for their help on how to manage her as its not my strength.

I do also feed back to her separately to help her improve though.

That’s awful and would really knock my confidence. I would be inclined to go easy on the colleague that inadvertently sent it on to you.

As for the two managers.... they have been unprofessional sharing this with your colleague and replacement.

If necessary, sleep on it, I am the worst for firing off an angry response, but I have learnt over the years this isn’t the way.

Then as previous posters have said, take the moral high ground and send one of the suggestions above that ask for feedback and constructive criticism.

That way, the only couple of twats and unprofessional arseholes in all of this are your line of management.

Fuckers 😡

Oh and requesting feedback is the most positive action you can take here. In a healthy working environment it will put you in a good light.

The managers are totally right to discuss it and in whatever way they want.
not in an email if they can't be trusted to keep it to themselves.

It's like interview feedback, you don't write down anything that is politically incorrect. Rookie mistake!

@PrincessConsueIaBananaHammock

There are three issues here.

The complete lack of feedback and opportunity to improve, whilst also passing it on to someone else without your knowledge.

What language was used , taking the piss and being derogatory,while keeping you in the dark is different to just discussing what's wrong with it ,how to fix it etc.

Sharing their email thread with someone else.

It's sounds like a shower of shite and really bad management, even if the emails were completely professional and just constructive criticism. Given the first and last point I doubt that is the case anyways.

The OP hasn't given any detail on the language used, or said they were taking the piss, only that the email was 'distasteful' which could mean anything,.

And the more important issue than any of the ones you mentioned is - does she want to keep her job? She is already furloughed, so she is clearly not essential to the company at the moment. And her line manager doesn't rate her. Those are red flags for redundancy, if the company makes any as a result of Covid (I am not saying this is fair, but it is the reality). So is her best move to be a whiny PITA about this - however justified she might be in complaining - or to demonstrate her professionalism? She has a chance to turn this to her advantage, but a lot of posters seem to want her to shoot herself in the foot.

@Esspee I understand that you may be well intentioned in your advice, but there are a couple of points to consider here:

1 - people often write differently online to the way they write in a professional setting. I sure do.

2 - even if the grammar, spelling and punctuation aren't great, the content is what matters. It seems at least two people have read through this blog proposal. So there are two editors right there. If for whatever reason somebody doesn't have the greatest SPaG, it doesn't prevent them from putting forward good ideas. DP has dyslexia and doesn't write too well, but my word is he creative, and it would be a real shame for others if something like this happened to him.

@MrsNoah2020 in the quote you posted, the poster had put two different scenario options in the second point, I'm not sure she was suggesting to take any action at all actually. Just highlighting the problems in the situation?

I would respond to all the relevant parties in a similar fashion as suggested upthread but even more succinctly:

"Noted."

the OP is clearly not a confident or very senior person. I am just reading the actual OP!

baring in mind this was my first attempt at this , and by no means a mandatory task , I did it all on a power point presentation , I also do not claim to be a professional blog writer and I really enjoyed doing it, and putting it together, I sent it to my manager back in March, It took a little while due to also carrying out my day to day job.

It's not school, you don't wait patiently for feedback, either you are happy with your work or you are not. Either it's usable, or not and in that case you ask why. You don't need a manager to correct your work.

With all due respect OP, the way you wrote your post makes you come across a bit needy and not professional at all.

It would be very interesting to read the actual comments that shouldn't have been forwarded to you by mistake - some posters on here are very quick to insult management because they have a chip on their shoulder, but without knowing the actual content, it's impossible to judge.

at the begining of this year, I offered to do a monthly blog for our small team, so other departments are more aware of what we do internally - (manager thought it was a great idea )

Not sure what type of work setting it is. But if it's a business, in my experience in corporate life people will often tell you what they think you want to hear.

I'm also struck that you offered to do a non mandatory task believing everyone would value it. To be honest (in business settings) no one is going to appreciate frills. It would be viewed as shirking the real work.

baring in mind this was my first attempt at this , and by no means a mandatory task , I did it all on a power point presentation , I also do not claim to be a professional blog writer and I really enjoyed doing it, and putting it together, I sent it to my manager back in March, It took a little while due to also carrying out my day to day job

You enjoyed doing it and hoped for praise. But readng between the lines there is irritation with you. Whether they see it as you wasting time on a vanity project or whether line manager is jealous or whether the blog genuinely wasn't good.

Something that hasn't really been picked up on this thread:

I offered to do a monthly blog for our small team, so other departments are more aware of what we do internally - (manager thought it was a great idea )

This isn't just a task the manager has assigned, this was the OP's idea in the first place. The manager has:

1. Failed to provide feedback despite it being requested, preventing OP from resolving any problems and thereby capitalising on her own idea

2. Asked someone else* to deliver the OP's idea instead, ensuring that they and not OP get any benefit eg a raised profile, being seen as an authoritative "voice of the team"

3. Knowingly shared criticism of the OP's work with that colleague.

Now without seeing what was written it might be valid, objective criticism that the OP is oversensitive to, but even if the worst comment was "unprofessional", that is still dicey ground if speaking about to one peer about another - much better to concentrate on specific changes rather than the problems (for example "Unprofessional" could become "Make the language a bit more corporate" or "tighten up the presentation")

Given this context, I'm not sure OP will gain much by making their awareness of the email known.

My advice is
(1) watch your back - all three of these are worrying. Your manager might not be actively undermining you but they don't respect you or support you
(2) Mention to your manager that Colleague told you he is picking up the blog so of course you've already said you are happy to help him, but you are disappointed you didn't get any feedback and while it's too late for the blog, you'd like to know why it's been passed over so you can do better next time. If s/he responds with a watered down version of the same criticism it's salvageable. If s/he brushes it off or gives you some bland answer that doesn't mention any of the issues you know he had with the work, that tells you you can't trust him to provide the career support and development a manager should, so you find opportunities that don't depend on support from him/her (and probably plan to move on soon).

• a male someone else - which is hopefully irrelevant but sadly happens more often one way than the other

the OP is clearly not a confident or very senior person. I am just reading the actual OP!

It's not school, you don't wait patiently for feedback, either you are happy with your work or you are not. Either it's usable, or not and in that case you ask why. You don't need a manager to correct your work.

At this stage, we have NO IDEA what industry OP works in or what her job role is. She could be a graphic designer with an adventurous spirit, or a care worker passionate about helping to take the company forwards. She doesn't necessarily work in a Fortune 500 company and she never said she's in a senior role. She could be a graduate, or an apprentice.

I'm so confused... why on earth are some people here cracking a whip at OP telling her to 'adult up'? Some companies are laid back. Some do come to you with feedback. Some employers are decent. I appreciate this is AIBU but just answer the OPs question, don't make erroneous assumptions 🤷‍♀️

@Blibbyblobby I was thinking the 'someone else' could be male too. I had exactly the same thoughts as you and I'm very glad you articulated them better than I could have done.

I think it's a massive shame when somebody joins a company with vision and excitement only to end up disillusioned and bitter because other people assumed they were 'naive' and so trampled all over them.

Oh yes, do what @StCharlotte says - “noted”. Says you’ve seen it but gives no clue as to what you are thinking.

slating my work on the blog I had done and slating how unprofessional it the content is - but in a really distasteful way , and nasty

This is so subjective. What I mean is, saying "This blog is poorly written and full of grammatical errors. The writer does not sufficiently communicate the workings of this department." could be seen as hurtful to some, but is neither distasteful or nasty.

While "FFS, Iwantitall can hardly bloody string two words together coherently, and I'm not sure she has the faintest idea what our department even does. This is utter shit." would probably be considered nasty by most people.

We have no way of knowing where on the spectrum these particular comments sit.

Knowingly shared criticism of the OP's work with that colleague

I agree your first two points. But I’d argue you don’t have enough info to say it was knowingly, because it could have been an error, I’ve done it myself. It’s easy done when you’re busy, stupid, but easy done.

However I agree the manager should have told her it was poor and not of an acceptable standard to broadcast what they do across the company.

The op isn’t though complaining it’s been given to someone else, so it might always have been on a rota so your other points may also not stand.

@Blibbyblobby speaks sense.

SuckingDownDarjeeling

She could be a graduate, or an apprentice.
well quite, so the "unprofessional" comment would make sense.

I don't know the industry, but neither do I know the content of the blog and the reason why it was deemed "unprofessional".
"Nasty" is a very subjective concept.

So all the posts abusing the managers are a bit childish. It was a completely unprofessional mistake to forward a thread of emails, but that's how far we can judge.

People don't bother reading not just a thread but the actual OP most of the time. Do you think they bother reading an entire email in real life?

So sending too much instead of deleting what is irrelevant is so easily done. It's wrong, but still very common.

You need to keep a record of this somewhere safe. Respond professionally, something completely unemotional but without cause to come back to you.

Sorry you’ve been treated like this, it’s really shit

It would be good to know what was said. Are we talking insults and slurs, or just blunt criticism of the content?

But taking the role away and passing it to someone else without even giving you a heads up is extremely professionally discourteous, regardless.

Id have to reply so they knew what had happened at the very least.