H ave you ever experienced that “OH MY GOD” moment when you’ve accidently sent the wrong email to someone by mistake at the office? I have! And this was closely followed by frantic panic at having sent the wrong email and then having to apologize for the mistake. You may not think it can happen to you, but never say never.
We all rely on our emails as our primary form of communication. But we don’t just send professional emails, we sometimes tend to email our colleagues and friends as well, am I right? I know I do it sometimes. But when an email full of office gossip is sent to the wrong recipient by mistake, that can cause unnecessary problems for you.
Sometimes in our haste, we tend to do things so quickly that we end up making mistakes and not realize them until it is too late. Especially when it comes to sending emails. Sending to the wrong recipient I’m sure has happened to a lot of us. If you’re lucky, it could be a minor thing that won’t cause you much problems. But if you’re unlucky, say if you were gossiping about another colleague and you accidently send the email to her, well, that can cause a lot of tension and unnecessary problems in the office, especially since you work together.
Not only can sending the wrong emails at work cause problems between your relationship with your colleagues, it is also unprofessional. It can be especially catastrophic and affect your reputation, especially if you have, say, included some swear words in the email. Here’s how you can avoid making this mistake:
- Double check: Always make the time to read through your email properly, and more importantly, double and triple check that you are sending to the right recipient before you hit the send button.
- When gossiping, use personal emails if possible: If you really do want to have non-work related conversations with your colleague or friends, try to use your personal email to do so instead of the office email to avoid making unnecessary mistakes.
- Don’t be hasty: We’re always rushed and tend to do things quickly, and this includes typing and clicking the send button almost immediately when you’re don’t typing. Stop! Slow down and take a minute to check that you’re sending to the right person. Check the content of your emails, especially when emailing at the office.
- Spamming: Avoid forwarding unnecessary emails to your colleagues too often. Especially when it is a group email involved. When you hit the “Reply All” button, sometimes you could be sending replies to people who don’t necessarily want to read them.
Be careful when sending emails at work! Remember, one little mistake is all it can take to ruin your reputation and work and make you seem unprofessional.
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You experienced the “oh my god” moment before? really? hahahaha
Yes I did
It was my inspiration for writing this article