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Original poster

WARNING - Personal Emails At Work!!!

26 replies

M2T · 16/03/2004 14:50

Hi all....

On Friday afternoon I received an email from one of the girls in the office. It was a close up photo of a penis with a ruler next to it showing it was only 1.5 inches in length (erect). I had a chortle and then deleted the email. She had sent it to about 5 of us.
By the afternoon 3 of the girls (including the one who sent it originally) were suspending pending an disciplinary meeting.
The Union have told them there is nothing they can do it help as it is a sackable offense.

I suppose we all know it is, but don't ever really think it'll come to that. Well...... sometimes it does!!!

One of the girls is getting married in 3 mths.

Thank goodness I deleted it!!!!

Just thought I'd share that with you all.

OP posts:
Original poster
M2T · 16/03/2004 14:51

Should've added that the 3 girls had forwarded on.... you can't get sacked for receiving them, but you can be sacked for sending them on.

OP posts:
Sonnet · 16/03/2004 14:53

oh my god - you're right you don't think it will come to it do you...glad you deleted it.

I was sent a "rude" email once, tried to open it couldn't and forgot about it. It cam back to haunt me a bout a year later as it had been saved on my hard disk and I got a warning letter about it.....
thanks for the reminder..
How's your brother bythe way?

fio2 · 16/03/2004 14:54

OMG I am so shocked sorry but I PMSL until I read it to the end.

Is it only sackable because it is a penis?

FairyMum · 16/03/2004 14:54

It's like that wheer I work too. I never open anything. I feel sorry for the girls who hadn't even sent them mail. That's very harsh I think. Is the manager a man by any chance? Perhaps he has a very small penis himself and got very upset? I wonder if the same had happened if some guys opened an attachment with a pair of tits? If they sacked every man here for opening such posts, there wouldn't be any man left in the office.....

Kayleigh · 16/03/2004 14:55

Oh M2T that's terrible, those poor girls.
Can't think how many times I have forwarded naughty jokes or pictures. Will stop immediately.

Still can't kick the Mumsnet habit at work though

Original poster
M2T · 16/03/2004 14:55

Hi Sonnet.
I had a major clearout of my email system this morning!

I don't know how my brother is yet as I couldn't get hold of my Mum yesterday. I'll phone tonight when I get in and let you know. I'm hoping that no news is good news.

OP posts:
twiglett · 16/03/2004 14:57

message withdrawn

Original poster
M2T · 16/03/2004 15:00

2 of the girls in question had received the mail then forwarded it on. Someone saw it on one of their PC's when they opened it, took offence and reported it. We don't know who it was. They then traced it back to the original sender who is the 3rd girl...

In the terms & conditions it states that you can be sacked for sending out ANY emails deemed inappropriate.

It's not really reinforced unless someone is receiving and sending large attachments which are a virus risk and also take up space on the server.... these girls were just unlucky that someone reported it.

You just never know who's watching....

OP posts:
Original poster
M2T · 16/03/2004 15:01

Nobody has spoken to me yet, so I'm assuming they have checked that I hadn't forwarded it to anyone else. PHEW!

OP posts:
fio2 · 16/03/2004 15:03

lots of things could be deemed inappropriate though. Seems really harsh, as though redundancies were on the cards anyway

Original poster
M2T · 16/03/2004 15:03

Twiglett - Everyone is at it, but to be honest it's mostly the young girls who send filthy attachments. I think there will be a big clamp down on it now. It is extreme the way they have all reacted to it.

The hearing is on Thursday.... I really hope they just get a slapped wrist.

OP posts:
Sonnet · 16/03/2004 15:06

We have the same T&C conditions too....I think I'll clear out my Email system too - just in case.....

Thomcat · 16/03/2004 15:11

god those poor girls. I hope they just get a bit told off too, they must be so scared.

udar · 16/03/2004 15:13

Even if somebody didn't notice or report it, the IT departments can do searches under the servers for certain types of files to see whether any offensive material is being stored on company equipment.
Were the emails forwarded on outside of the company, as at our work all attachments coming in or out of the company are checked to see if they are work related. We also have no access to things like hotmail or yahoo at work either.
I would think that the policy at your work M2T would be quite common. Well done for deleting it.

Original poster
M2T · 16/03/2004 15:24

Udar - Yes it's just the standard T&C of work in the UK.
Please don't praise me for deleting it. I am a big culprit for forwarding on funny stuff .... I had a good contact in IT in the last company I worked for and I picked up a few tricks of the trade to avoid being noticed.

You can still access Yahoo and hotmail if you want to you know....

OP posts:
Fizog · 16/03/2004 15:36

A guy I used to work with got sacked about 5 years ago for forwarding something. I've never forwarded anything since (not internally anyway).

It's worth remembering though - companies are fairly lenient with this and tend not to bother too much unless it's really offensive OR if they are looking for an excuse to get rid of the person.

Original poster
M2T · 16/03/2004 15:40

It's very unnerving that companies can just let people carry on emailing each other jokes just so they can have that little ammunition up their sleeves if they ever want to pay someone off! Makes me shiver.
I mean they could do that to me for checking MN and then I wouldn't receive a penny of Maternity Pay!

brain rattling with that thought<

Better go now I think.....

OP posts:
suedonim · 16/03/2004 15:46

Dh's company enforces this matter pretty strictly and they've sacked men for passing on rude emails.

Original poster
M2T · 16/03/2004 16:00

I know a few people who were sacked for looking at dodgy websites..... 2 of them were NHS Nurses! They've had to work in the Private Sector ever since as the hospital wouldn't give them a reference. Seems a bit extreme for a 1st 'offense', plus there was a Doctor looking at the webpage with them and he was given a slap on the wrists! The NHS have spent a lot training these Nurses and 3 yrs after qualifying they can't work in for the NHS!

OP posts:
Original poster
M2T · 23/03/2004 14:52

Quick Update:

1 girl was dismissed 2 were allowed back to work! The one that was dismissed had other issues too though.

The company has since sent an email telling everyone that they have until this Friday to clear any inappropriate emails from our systems.

Anyone caught after the Amnesty will be instantly dismissed!!

Does anyone else think they wouldn't have a leg to stand on if you went to a tribunal??... "We let those 2 girls off with it, but we're going to fire you for the same thing"...

Eh??

OP posts:
fio2 · 23/03/2004 14:56

sounds like an excuse to get rid of people to me

Original poster
M2T · 23/03/2004 15:03

Yup.... that's what it sounds like to us too. Horrible isn't it??

OP posts:
fio2 · 23/03/2004 15:07

yes, my dh's place are doing the same atm they are disciplined for using mobiles too much in the building. Dh says they dont 'much' but how can you clarify too much? iykwim

beansprout · 23/03/2004 17:13

If they are going to sack people it needs to be very clear in their e-mail policy that this is the action they will take. They would be foolish to go for this option in the first instance though, most refer to some sort of disciplinary process.

The problem with this whole area is that most policies talk about staff being allowed "some personal use", but ultimately these are discretionary decisions made by management, including what is deemed "appropriate".

I used to work at a union that defended a 16 year old who had sent a whole series of e-mails to his friend, outlining his strategy for his mum not sussing out that he masturbated in his bedroom. The cunning ruse was to w*nk into his sock and then PUT THEM IN THE WASH!! Foolproof!! Well maybe, until he got caught. Bless, his mum actually came to the disciplinary hearing as he was so scared too.

twiglett · 23/03/2004 17:17

message withdrawn

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