Business email screwup-How many of you have done this?
Business Email Screwup
Email is easy. One types, one hits “send,” and that’s the end of it. With iPods and iPads and laptops, email is sometimes a faster and easier way to communicate than texting or talking on the phone. But because of its plasticity and universality, the email can often amount to something like a stream of consciousness. And herein lies the danger.
This week, I totally botched it. I sent an email to the wrong person, at the wrong time, by accident. It was not gossip, but it was a professional reflection. The question was: “Where do we go from here, taking this client’s (etc., etc.) into consideration).” And I accidently sent it to the last recipient on earth I would have ever have wanted to see it—the client whom the email was about! I just exposed my reflections on the difficulties of their project and personality to them, and in the most careless and uncharitable way: an email addressed to my co-worker.
Talk about screwing up! I had bungled things horribly, and as soon as I hit “send,” I knew it.
I am usually excellent when realizing that I need to either not work with a potential client; or, if while working with them and realizing it’s not a good fit, telling them in the kindest way possible that I might not be the best fit for them.
But recently, not so. I totally bungled. I flubbed. I made a hash of it. And it was my fault. I was totally embarrassed, absolutely mortified. The client was very upset, and I totally understand. There was nothing I could do about it but apologize.
In any event, I am not out to be unkind—and I certainly would never want to slander anyone—but sometimes a simple but foolish mistake (like not checking who the email recipient is) can cause great harm. This is the first time this has ever happened to me before—and I have been in business for 13 years! I could give all sorts of excuses, but the bottom line is: breathe, sit for a second before finishing emails, and hesitate before pressing the “send” button.
It was an email foul. And I learned the hard way, a very harsh and memorable lesson.
Tags: authors, email, publicist nyc, publicity nyc, screwups, sherri rosen publicity nyc
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2012 at 11:00 am and is filed under Clients, Friends and Colleagues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 1st, 2012 at 7:04 am
er home run, leaving him one shy of 500.” by Jerry Coleman.|”The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.” by George Bernard Shaw.|”It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.” by Margaret Bonnano.|”A person buying ordinary products in a supermarket is in touch with his deepest emotions.” by John Kenneth Galbraith.|”Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke.” by Lynda Barry.|”As a child my family’s menu consisted of two choices take it, or leave it.” by Buddy Hackett.|”Politics is made up largely of irrelevancies.” by Dalton Camp.|”The journey i