Top 10 most excruciating e-mail gaffes

My recent piece about workplace mortification made reference to a couple of famous e-mail gaffes and inspired Olivia Bennett, a young journalist working with The Times’ Business team, to compile a list of the most cringemaking examples. If there’s anything that'll inspire you into being more careful with those “reply all” and “forward” buttons, it's the following:

1. Just the two of us. Claire Swire sent her boyfriend Bradley Chait an e-mail recounting details of a sexual act they had engaged in, expecting it to go no further. However, Chait had other ideas: he forwarded the message to his friends. Within hours, it had landed in inboxes around the world and eventually became so famous that the e-mail gaffe phenomenon in itself began to be referred to as “the Swire effect”.

2. Cleaned out. Despite his EUR150,000 salary at law firm Baker & McKenzie, Richard Phillips sent an e-mail invoicing his secretary Jenny Amner for a EUR6 dry cleaning bill after she accidentally spilt ketchup on his trousers. Amner had other things on her mind: specifically, the death of her mum. After the funeral, she let rip in an e-mail. It read: “I must apologise for not getting back to you straight away but due to my mother’s sudden death, I have more pressing issues than your EUR6”. Ouch. Phillips resigned.

3. Control freakery. Citigroup intern Lucy Gao caused a sensation with an e-mail to friends invited to her 21st birthday at The Ritz. The specially selected attendees were given 15-minute slots in which to greet the birthday girl. Also included was a strict dress code, and instructions on how to address Ritz staff. A colleague summed up the general reaction in his reply to the link: “Maybe we need to revisit the intern selection criteria. I think the emphasis on control may be too high!”

4. Ali Asterix. Alistair Campbell, prime minister Tony Blair's media chief, called BBC2’s Newsnight staff “t***s” and suggested they “f*** off and cover something important” in an e-mail intended for a party official. It was accidentally sent to Newsnight journalist Andrew McFayden, prompting an apology from Campbell.

5. Multi-tasking. Trevor Luxton of Credit Lyonnais was forced to resign after sending a boastful account of a sexual encounter with a friend’s ex-girlfriend. Luxton gleefully told friends that he was watching football and speaking to his girlfriend on the phone while the act took place.

6. Hot to trot. Another man who fancied himself as a bit of a stallion was Peter Chung, who e-mailed colleagues at The Carlyle Group’s Seoul branch about his popularity with the ladies. Chung calculated he got “on average 5-8 phone numbers a night, and at least 3 hot chicks that want to go home with me”. He was eventually fired.

7. Spread the word. Away from home in 2003, Alex Hewson e-mailed 30 friends, including girlfriend Sharon Dyson. Dyson replied detailing explicit plans for their reunion. Unfortunately for her, she clicked “reply to all”, and Hewson’s friends were also informed of the couple's plans. In keeping with the Swire effect, the message was forwarded and she achieved global notoriety.

8. Another male mails. Mary Callahan, an accountant, confided via an e-mail to her best friend that her boyfriend was prone to falling asleep during sex. New partner Trip Murray was apparently, by contrast, an attentive lover. Callahan mistakenly sent the report to Murray, who proudly forwarded it to friends. Soon the world was informed.

9. Named and shamed. Proof that e-mail gaffe need not always end in tears: after finding PR executive boyfriend Jim Pritchard ‘in flagrante’ with “some poor young blonde girl”, Tamsin Craigie listed his affairs and their “shattering” effect on her in an e-mail. Recipients rallied behind her in a show of support.

10. Big fat payout. Also, Agnes Wilkie, a television producer, labelled her boss a “big fat thing” in an e-mail to his assistant. She was sacked, but then awarded EUR24,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal. Hurrah!

Comments

[Dave C]

Paul Kelly Tripplehorn Jr. Google it.

[Carol Lewis]

Here is a link:

www.snopes.com/embarrass/email/tripplehorn.asp

[Gareth White]

Well if you had done a bit of research according to "the register" the Claire Swire email was a hoax all along: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/12/is_this_the_greatest_ever/
But of course you should never let the truth get in the way of a good story, eh?

[Paul]

Gareth, wish you had taken your own advice and researched all that article- if you follow the other links on the page it goes on to identify Claire and even documents a conversation she has with the Register- proving it was in fact NOT a hoax. But never let the truth get in the way of a snappy post eh?

[Paul]

A friend of mine working for a publisher and needing crime stats emailed interpol cc'ing in her supervisor. Interpol declined to supply the data by email also cc'ing in her boss. In a moment of madness she replied to all instead of replying to her boss alone a scathing attack on "Those miserable bastards at Interpol"
Interpol responded that "You should learn to use your email" but also included in the mail the original data she had requested!!! Go Figure

[Isobel]

There's currently a brilliant example sweeping New Zealand, with what started as the polite request to a catering company for a quote on some nibbles for a Christmas function from a girl at a Real Estate agency... and swiftly turned into the manager of said caterer's showing her true colours.

The exchange has now featured in all major newspapers, radio and TV...

http://www.spareroom.co.nz/2007/12/18/gourmet-food-store-lets-rip-at-client-via-email/

"How to kill your business in less than 10 minutes".

There's a second email exchange circulating now too, showing it isn't just a one-off.

Gold.

[JK]

That was a horrible article. Their was no background information on most of the story's which made them seem like random blurbs.

[LBH]

To Gareth White:

SNAP!

[poulsbo florist]

this just goes to show that the Internet is a scary and dangerous portal.