I was watching Oprah the other afternoon, wishing I had a wonderful glass of wine iced tea to enjoy it with. It was about how to handle various social situations. Perhaps, you saw it?
Well, one situation was where a gal found herself in a “real e-mail pickle,” to quote Oprah. She sent an e-mail gossiping about someone…..to the someone she was gossiping about!
Yikes! How to recover from that one?
She was given the advice to never, ever gossip via e-mail again. As a matter of fact, don’t write anything in an e-mail you wouldn’t want to see on the front pages of the NY Times. You know what happens. You send an e-mail. It gets forwarded. Forwarded again.
Even text messaging can produce the same “oops.” In today’s world of mass communication, these blunders are all too common. I can’t tell you how many times my husband has texted our pilot, Blue (yes, that’s his real name), telling him/me how much he misses me, wants to kiss me, wants to……
You get the picture.
As a result, Blue’s job is secure for the rest of his life.
I’ve written e-mails that were forwarded but meant for private eyes. (Just typing “private eyes” makes me suddenly break out into the Hall & Oates song. I’m so not kidding.) Anyway, I’ve also texted the right message to the wrong people.
Another issue that e-mail and text messaging presents is how we interpret the tone of the sender’s voice. That’s why we put the little smiley faces at the end of nearly every sentence these days. As if to say, “Hey! Don’t take me seriously!”
The art of communication can be lost so easily these days. And, the risk of Susie finding out how ugly you thought her dress was last night has never been greater.
Best thing to do? Don’t type it.
Has this ever happened to you?
